By Brad Greer

One of the top running backs in Class AA Academy football will go up against the best defensive units in the state tonight as the North Delta School Green Wave takes a three hour trip south to Mendenhall to tangle with the No. 2 ranked Simpson Academy Cougars in the opening round of the State AA playoffs. The winner of tonight’s game will move to the second round where they will play the Indianola- Winston Academy winner.

Simpson comes into tonight’s clash sporting a 9-1 record and is lead on offense by six-foot, 195-pound running back Kyle Munn who is currently third in the state in rushing with 1,269 yards and 21 touchdowns. Two weeks ago, Munn rushed for 333 yards and six touchdowns in leading the Cougars to a 48-21 victory over previously undefeated Lamar.

“He (Munn) is one of the top running backs we will face all season. He and the kid from Marshall (Tyler Childress) are about the same, but the difference is with Simpson they have three or four guys just like him and they are really good on the offensive line. They are big and come off the football well. They are going to be tough,” said North Delta head coach Dan Werner.

Munn is joined in the backfield by sophomore Cade Eiland ( 5’9” 165) who has registered nine touchdowns this season. The Cougars only loss this season was a 37-14 setback to No. 1 ranked and undefeated Brookhaven Academy. Simpson is averaging 28 points per game on offense while allowing 12 points per game on defense.

“Simpson runs out of the shotgun formation and is a lot like a West Virginia type offense. Munn will take the direct snap from center and either hands it off or will run with it. They are about the same on defense, they are very physical and can run to the football,” said Werner.

The Cougars will have their hands full against a Green Wave defensive unit that has given up 28 points in the last seven games and is leading all of Academy football in giving up 9.5 points per game.

“The main thing that jumps out about North Delta is their defense. It does not matter what league its in, if you give up only 20 something points in the last seven games, that is saying something about how good they really are. If you take away the first game of the season against Magnolia Heights then it would be more impressive than it already is,“ said Cougar head coach Billy Wayne Hankins.

Offensive linemen Coner Ferguson, Carson Bailey, Travis Overall, Sy Pritchard and Bill Gurley will look to open up holes for running backs Tres Brasell and Bryan Nickle as they did last Saturday in the Green Wave’s 12-0 victory over Kirk. Brasell scored a pair of touchdowns as he and Nickle combined for 235 yards rushing. The Green Wave defense meanwhile held the Raiders to 157 total yards.

“North Delta is very good on offense. When Brasell and Nickle get their hands on the ball they can score from anywhere on the field. We are going to have our hands full with them,” said Hankins, who in a twist of fate, spent his first two years of coaching at North Delta in 1989 and 1990.

Simpson and North Delta are no strangers on the gridiron as both played in 2005 as the Cougars put a end to the Green Wave’s perfect season at 12-1 in route to their only state title this decade.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.