ND begins playoff hosting Hebron

By Angie Ledbetter

The North Delta Green Wave football team will start a new season tonight when it hosts the first round of MPSA Class A playoff action against the Hebron Christian Eagles from Pheba.

The Green Wave are the District 1A champions and the Eagles are District 3A runner-up behind Winona Christian, who North Delta defeated last week 34-24.

The Eagles finished the regular season 6-4 overall,  4-1 district, losing to Winona for the district championship.

With an 8-3 overall record and a 4-1 district record, the Green Wave are very excited to be in the playoffs again this year.  They had to overcome some adversity this season to get here tonight, but they never gave up. The entire team continued to fight week after week to capture the district championship victory.

Every team player expresses a will to continue to win and make it to the MPSA “A” State Championship game on November 30 in Clinton.

The Eagles opened their 2007 season shutting out West Memphis 35-0.  On the following two weeks, Hebron lost to Newton County Academy 28-26 and Benton Academy 30-22.  

They came back the next two weeks strong and shut out Immanuel Christian 41-0 and Macon Central 45-0.  Desoto beat them the following week 31-25.  They defeated Tupelo Christian 40-14 and Calhoun Academy 39-0 before getting shut out 48-0 by Winona Christian.  They finished their regular season defeating Alpha Christian 23-19 last Friday.

Head Eagles’ Coach Sam Pearson will bring his team of 17 players from Clay county, dressed out in navy and gold, to play football on the Green Wave field.  The roster consist of five seniors, five juniors, one sophomore, and six freshman.  One key player to keep an eye on will be Eagles quarterback, No. 3 JoJo Pearson.  

He is a junior who does most of their scoring and he is fast and quick on film.  

Other key players to watch will be No. 49 Bradley Jones, No. 23 Matt Collier, No. 11 Joseph Johnson and No. 1 Tate Cutshall.

Head Green Wave Coach Richard Russo said Hebron brings 21 offensive formations and a multitude of offensive plays to the table.  

“Their offense is built around the quarterback No. 3, which is the head coach’s son, and the fullback No. 49,” Russo said. “ We have to be very sound on defense to stop their offense.”

Russo said the team had to put in some extra practice time to make sure they recognize some of the plays.  Defensively, Hebron uses a 4-4 base defense which they will adjust and to a 6-2 look as well.

“They played two teams from our district very tough so we had better be prepared to play our best game of the season thus far,” Russo said. “In the playoffs, it is win or go home.  There are only sixteen teams left in the state in 1A, and our boys need to be extremely hungry to be in the final eight next week.”

Russo invites the entire the community out tonight and support them to another victory in this first playoff game at Green Wave field.

The pep rally for the team will be at 2:20 p.m. today in the school gym.  Kickoff for the game tonight is at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.