Weekly picks are building momentum

Week 3 was “good enough” for me.

Here’s why: Out of five games picked last week, I was correct on four.

And on that fifth one that I missed – North Side’s loss at Obion County – I came close to picking how many points North Side scored. I just thought the Indians’ defense would hold the Rebels to two fewer touchdowns.

But the reason I say “good enough” is because after that abysmal Week 1 I had in missing every pick, my perfect Week 2 and my near perfect Week 3 gives me a record for the year of 8-7, so I’m picking correctly more than not.

And if we don’t count Week 1 (shouldn’t I also get a jamboree that allows me a chance to figure out what I’m doing without it counting against my record?), I’ve been right on eight of nine picks.

But I always have a check in the back of my mind when I’m making these picks.

If you watched Deion Sanders’ postgame press conference after his new team at the University of Colorado upset Texas Christian on Saturday, he’s the rare breed of coach that when a media outlet picks against them, he admits to reading those picks, remembering how they picked and calling them out after the sports journalists are incorrect about his team and the program at Colorado.

So if anyone who is at the University School of Jackson-Jackson Christian game this week and sees what looks like could be an awkward conversation between myself and USJ’s Derrick Pritchard or Jackson Christian’s Darby Palmer, it’s possible that one of those coaches have done what Sanders is doing at Colorado and is “keeping receipts” to keep track of all the doubters.

So here’s another receipt for local coaches to keep:

Jackson Christian 31, USJ 21: This is a tough one to pick because we won’t know until Friday night which edition of each team will show up, and if that edition will be there for the entire game. If the USJ that has outscored its opponent 34-13 in the second half the last two weeks is on the field for the whole game, then this pick could possibly be wrong. But I believed in preseason and still believe it now that Jackson Christian is the best team in Madison County and is underrated by media outlets who think they know enough to rank teams. And unless the Bruins coaching staff have a few tricks up their sleeve, the Eagles are good enough to win by two scores.

Crockett Co. 42, South Side 21 – The Cavaliers are moving the ball consistently and getting to the end zone with a dependable regularity. South Side keeps making mistakes, but the good part about that is head coach Lester Narcisse likes the way they don’t continue to make mistakes once they’re corrected. But the Cavaliers appear to be too much for the Hawks.

TCA 35, Fayette Aca. 14 – Fayette Academy’s defense has been susceptible so far as Adamsville and Bolivar both looked like state championship contenders against them in Weeks 1 and 2. And it’s possible that neither of them have an athlete carrying the ball as effective as TCA’s Lehky Thompkins. Also, they probably don’t utilize the option like the Lions do either. TCA will be tough to stop.

North Side 21, Lexington 13 – So North Side hasn’t lived up to the hype everyone in Jackson automatically started believing after the Indians routed their jamboree opponent. But they did get a rout that night and another two weeks later. Those two opponents are inferior. The Indians have struggled against a pair of opponents that are noticeably better. Is Lexington closer to those two opponents (Crockett County and Obion County) or the inferior ones (Haywood and Liberty)? They’re probably right in the middle but maybe a little closer to the inferiors.

Westview 42, Liberty 14 – The Crusaders will improve their play even more and get a couple touchdowns, but Westview has enough experienced athletes all over the field to make them pay for the mistakes they’ll continue to make.

Brandon Shields is the managing editor of The Jackson Post. Contact him at brandon@jacksonpost.news. Follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon or Instagram @Editorbrandon.