SPORTS OPINION: All of Madison Co. should pull for Liberty this week

This week’s column is a little different, but I think everyone reading will be OK with it – just this once.

I don’t normally pull for a team to win. I’m not supposed to. Sports media – just like media covering government – is supposed to do our work without bias.

But watching college football this year, I’ve seen alleged broadcast journalist Mark Ingram (former Alabama player and Heisman Trophy winner) on FOX Sports go and hug Alabama’s running back after they got a big win over Wisconsin.

And we watched ABC’s journalist openly fact check Donald Trump during the recent debate with Vice-President Kamala Harris while fact-checking none of her statements.

So while I generally stay unbiased in coverage, I won’t for this.

Liberty Crusaders, we’re all looking at you this week.

Your seniors were in seventh grade the last time this program won a game on the field.

A lot has happened since that last win: 2 coaching changes for this program, a global pandemic, Marlon King getting hired, at least three principals at Liberty, at least two retirements for Tom Brady and I’ve had four jobs.

This has gone on long enough. One look at the players in the locker room shows anyone who watches football that y’all have the physical capabilities to compete.

A look at your head coach’s resume shows that he has the ability to lead this program to success.

And maybe it would’ve been better if you hadn’t started the season against three teams that have a combined record of 13-1.

But the schedule is what the schedule is. You’ve taken a few more lumps this season, but you have a chance to hand someone else a lump this week.

Each guy just needs to go out and do his job when the ball is snapped for four to nine seconds on the play until the whistle is blown, then walk back to the line of scrimmage and do that again another 60 times or so. But either way, it is doable.

I’m picking it. All of Madison County wants to see it. Go make it happen.

As far as my picks last week go, there were a couple of risks taken last week, but one of them paid off with the Jackson Central-Merry win over Milan. The other two risks – South Gibson over USJ and South Side over Chester County – weren’t successful as I finished 5-2 for the week to bring my record to 18-9.

Here are this week’s picks for Week 6:

North Side 26, Dyersburg 20: Dyersburg is possibly the toughest team the Indians have played so far this year, including the team that beat them in Week 1. The good thing about that is this should be a good test for them and it’s not a region game, so if they were to lose, it shouldn’t have any effect on their playoff hopes. But a game like this is needed because if North Side has aspirations of not just making the playoffs, but making a run, then they need to be used to playing tougher competition than what they’ve played the last month or so.

Riverside 34, TCA 20: The biggest thing against the Lions is their lack of depth compared to the defending Class 2A state champions. But they showed fight in this matchup last year not many expected to see from them when they had a couple of turnovers and took a big lead on them into the fourth quarter. If they plan to win, they’ll need another big lead going into the fourth because Riverside will probably make a strong comeback once again.

South Side 16, Lexington 12: Both teams’ season trends are very similar. Lexington is scoring more points than South Side and allowing more points than the Hawks’ defense. Both teams’ opponents’ records have a winning percentage of more than 60 percent. South Side has a consistent defense that they could hold Lexington to few points all night. So South Side will pick up what many might consider an upset win.

JCM 24, Adamsville 7: The Cougars don’t normally score a lot of points, but they did last week out of necessity. They won’t need to score a lot this week because Adamsville struggles to score against quality teams in their region. That trend continues this week.

Jackson Christian 42, Tipton-Rosemark 21: Tipton-Rosemark is scoring more points this year even if they’re also giving up more points. Jackson Christian could potentially score closer to 70 points if they wanted to, but their coaching staff has shown themselves to be more conservative this year.

USJ 35, St. George’s 7: The Gryphons are struggling this year as their coach tries to right the ship and return the program to the prominence USJ fans in Jackson are likely to associate St. George’s with. USJ could be caught looking ahead to a big matchup the next week, but with this being the first game in region play, the Bruins would hopefully for their sake be locked in on this opponent this week.

Liberty 21, Scotts Hill 14: Liberty has the athletic ability to score on other teams. They scored first against Westview and North Side. If they can do that, then they should be able to consistently move the ball on Scotts Hill and the defense make a few stops to give Liberty its first win on the field since Oct. 25, 2019.