FOOTBALL PICKS: Football season is fun, memorable so far
This has been a good week to be associated with high school football in Madison County.
Jackson Christian and University School of Jackson are meeting on Friday at Carlock Stadium. And I’ll be honest, there have been some years since I moved here 16 years ago where I did not look forward to this game.
It was viewed like an Eagle being led to slaughter because oftentimes that what it was.
But as it’s been said in this paper multiple times, the job Darby Palmer and his coaching staff has done in making the Eagles program into one of the top places for high school football players to want to be and then a place for them to get development once they get there.
The teams aren’t even in the same classification, but for this week, this game means something, and that’s fun to look forward to.
And public schools are getting to celebrate small wins this week too.
One they get to celebrate is as a group, they’ve already accomplished something they didn’t in 2023.
The four teams in Jackson-Madison County Schools combined for two wins in 2023 over teams not in JMCSS. North Side’s miraculous comeback at Lexington and Jackson Central-Merry’s win in Week 11 were the only victories any of the four teams enjoyed last year in which they weren’t beating each other for the Commissioners’ Cup.
We’re three weeks into the 2024 season, and JMCSS teams already have three wins over non-JMCSS teams – South Side over Ripley in Week 1 and the two wins in Week 3 by North Side over Obion County and JCM over Camden.
Speaking of having fun, I had fun last week going 3-1 in my picks in the four games that were actually played last week, improving my season record to 9-6.
Some of the games this week will be tough to pick, so make your own picks and see if you do better than me.
Jackson Christian 49, USJ 42: Honestly, you can make an argument for either team to win this game, and it would be hard to argue with it. Both teams have quality defenses, but I think both teams will score a lot of points. This game might see more points than when the Bruin and Eagle basketball teams meet on the hardwood later in the school year. My official pick is Jackson Christian has the ball last and scores before USJ runs out of time trying to tie or take a very late lead.
Crockett Co. 23, South Side 14: The Cavaliers have played well on defense the past two weeks after escaping North Side with a win in Week 1. So far, the Hawks are doing a good job of playing to their competition and having a competitive game in the fourth quarter. That will happen again, but Crockett will secure a win to go up two scores in the fourth quarter and stifle South Side’s offense late.
Westview 42, Liberty 7: Here’s a statistic that will cause a lot of brows on eyes reading this to shoot upward – Westview beat Scotts Hill 70-7 last week. They didn’t play the second half, and the Chargers had their points early in the second quarter. I heard an update on local radio while driving between games that Westview had 70 points with eight minutes left in the second quarter, meaning Westview scored 10 touchdowns in 16 minutes. I’m not going out on the tallest, smallest limb on the tree and calling for Liberty to shock the world with a win, but I am picking Liberty to have some fight in them and some pride in the maroon and gray. Then if they do shock the world, I’ll stand in the line of the shocked and will gladly be wrong in the process.
North Side 36, Lexington 12: Javonte Smith made a name for himself with a couple of late scores in this matchup last year to help North Side come from behind to win. One of those scores was a fourth-and-very-long situation. There’s nothing to indicate those dramatics will be needed this time around. Other than a Week 1 beat down of an inferior opponent, Lexington isn’t scoring a lot of points. They didn’t even move the ball in Week 2. If North Side plays a quality defense and the offense doesn’t make any unforced errors, the Indians have the capability to win this game handily.
TCA 49, Fayette Aca. 21: TCA wants to cleanse itself of last week’s lop-sided loss. This is a great opportunity for that as the Lions’ talent and physicality should be enough for them to open play in Division II-A West region with a victory.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
