THE POST ROUTE

Liberty at Jackson Central-Merry

Last year’s score: JCM 30, Liberty 0

Players to watch: Liberty WR/DB Ethan Schweer; JCM DL Daveon Johnson

What to know: Both teams feel the need to start with a win. For the Crusaders, it would be their first win in nearly five years on the field. For the Cougars, they’re in a tough region, and they’re the smaller school in all of their non-region games. So both teams see a need to start with a win, build momentum early and try to establish their identity on both sides of the ball.

Historical game: Jackson-Madison County Schools officials have confirmed this game will be played at Lane Field, the edifice formerly known as Rothrock Stadium. The place where the Cougars played their home games for decades. No other home games in the stadium have been confirmed as JMCSS said Lane College also wants to ensure their home playing surface is good to go when the Dragons play home games this fall. According to records on high school football websites, the last game JCM played at the stadium was against Westview on Oct. 23, 2015. The Chargers won 51-0 as the Cougars were closing out an 0-10 season.

Crockett Co. at North Side

Last year’s score: Crockett Co. 39, North Side 15

Players to watch: North Side WR Javonte Smith

What to know: The Indians felt like they had opportunities in this matchup last year, and they feel the same this year. If they are going to show more improvement this season and win a few more games, this is one of the matchups that could go either way and is an opportunity to show early improvement.

Coaching matchup: North Side’s Woodrow Lowe Jr. and Crockett County’s Kevin Ward have only coached against each other twice before this week. The first time was Lowe’s first official game as a head coach at Bolivar in 2014. The second one was last year’s game, Lowe’s first game as North Side’s head coach. Ward and Crockett County won both matchups.

University School of Jackson at Peabody

Last year’s score: USJ 14, Peabody 7

Players to watch: USJ RB Noah Spencer

What to know: Last year’s game was almost a coming out party for the Bruins in the first year with a new coach as they looked to show their toughness against one of the premier programs in rural West Tennessee and came close to shutting them out. Peabody was a really young team last year that didn’t hit its stride until about midway through the regular season when it began winning games and won just enough to make the Class 2A playoffs and upset the opposing region champion in the first round. A lot of the players who did that are back, experienced and have a year of growth on them. USJ, meanwhile, lost a good bit, especially on defense, and will be the smaller team on the field more times than not – this being one of those games.

Histories of success: These two programs have combined to make it to a total of six state championship games in the last decade. Peabody is 4-0 in its games. USJ is 0-2.

Jackson Christian at Northpoint

Last year’s score: Jackson Christian 21, Northpoint 13

Players to watch: Jackson Christian WR Jay’Len Mosley

What to know: The Eagles lost a few good players in key places to graduation, but they didn’t lose a lot in quantity. And considering how good the program has been in recent years, there’s a good bit coming back in quality as well. Northpoint has a lot coming back too and is looking to challenge Lausanne for their region championship in Division II-AA. Mosley hasn’t taken a single hit in the entire offseason as he wraps up rehab from the surgery to repair the damage done to his knee in the TCA game last year, so he is a question mark until he takes that first hit and gets back in the huddle.

Recent offseason trend: This is the third offseason in a row in which a key player from Jackson Christian hasn’t been able to take a hit during the preseason and summer work. Jay’Len Mosley was this year’s player, and quarterback Austin Kelley’s was last year after he had a severe facial injury during baseball the preceding spring.

Trinity Christian at Chester Co.

Last year’s score: TCA 27, Chester Co. 20

Players to watch: TCA QB Cooper Vailes

What to know: Both teams lost a lot to graduation, but Chester County as a 4A school in Division I probably did a better job replenishing its sideline. That is probably the only advantage Chester County will have in this matchup as they lost the bulk of their talented experience while TCA brings back a number of key players on both sides of the ball that led them various statistics including receiving yards, rushing yards, passing yards, tackles and interceptions.

College opportunities: Vailes’ two main weapons on the offseason side of the ball for TCA have multiple scholarship offers for college football programs – running back Lekhy Thompkins and receiver Brayden Waller.

South Side at Ripley

Last year’s score: Ripley 22, South Side 9

Players to watch: South Side

What to know: The Hawks have improved throughout the offseason and are looking to get 2024 started the right way. Head coach Lester Narcisse and the coaching staff have worked to ensure the team can continue to play at a high level for four quarters. This game will be a good measurement for that after the Hawks played with the Tigers well for three quarters last year before the game got away from them in the fourth quarter.

Tiger streak: With the exception of 2020, the Hawks have opened every season since 2017 against Ripley. South Side won the first two, but Ripley has won every matchup since 2019.

Compiled by Brandon Shields