If last Saturday was any indication, the two-time defending North Half Champion Calhoun City Wildcats should be in for another stellar season.
The Wildcats dominated J.Z. George in a preseason scrimmage at Oxford High School on Saturday.
“We have some little things to work on, but overall we played really well,” Coach Perry Liles said of the scrimmage.
The Wildcats lost a lot of starters off last year’s team, mostly in the offensive and defensive lines, but return a passel of talented skill players.
Brieton Sykes, listed by most media outlets among the best players in Class 2A, leads that list of talented players.
“He lives up to the billing,” Liles said of Sykes. “He needs to work on some little things, but there’s no question he’s a dominating player.”
He’ll be joined in the backfield by the lightning-fast Jesse Nabors and the powerful Jaalen “Turbo” Thomas. Combine that with an incredibly quick receiving corps, and the Wildcats have no shortage of offensive weapons.
Jesse Nabors
“Our speed on offense and defense is definitely a strength of this team,” Liles said. “You can’t replace speed, and this team is the fastest we’ve had here in a while.”
“It will be hard to focus in on any one person,” Liles said. “That’s a big asset for our offense.”
Leading the offense will be Jo Gray, who takes over for four-year starter Chakel Gates at QB.
“Kel was a great runner. Jo Jo is a great decision maker,” Liles said. “He understands he doesn’t have to win the game for us. He just has to make the right decision, and he’s very capable of that.”
Defensively, Liles is confident in his secondary and linebackers, but like the offensive side of the ball, is needing to see improvement in the new faces on the line.
Among the weaknesses would be the depth among the lines, putting a premium on staying healthy.
“Health is a key for any school our size,” Liles said. “It’s also important for us to handle success and failure well. I don’t mean just on a week-to-week basis but on a play-to-play basis.”
The Wildcats haven’t had a lot of failures the past few years averaging double-digit wins every season.
“We’ve never gotten too low or too high,” Liles said. “I believe that’s a big part of our success. We truly focus on one team at a time and nothing else.”
“Our kids really appreciate winning and understand what it means when we tell them, if you buy in, you won’t believe how good we can be,” Liles said.
Calhoun City
Aug. 21 @ Coffeeville
Aug. 28 Houston
Sept. 4 Water Valley
Sept. 11 @ Aberdeen
Sept. 18 Velma Jackson*
Sept. 25 Notre Dame (TN)
Oct. 2 @ East Webster
Oct. 9 Okolona
Oct. 16 @ Bruce
Oct. 23 @ Eupora
Oct. 30 Winona