By Brad Greer

When North Delta takes the field tonight against Lee Academy to open up the 2011 high school football season, they will notice a familiar face standing across the field from them.

Benjy Pierce, who served as the Green Wave’s defensive coordinator last season, now holds the same position at the Clarksdale school.  He said while he is looking forward to seeing some of his former players it will still feel a little strange going against them on the gridiron.

“It is going to be a little bittersweet to say the least, “ said Pierce, who’s brother-in-law Ricky Weiss is the Colts first-year head coach. “When I was at North Delta last year, my son Ben was playing here at Lee so this season is kinda vice versa. Even though a lot of the kids I coached at North Delta have moved on, it is still going to be fun seeing everybody from over there. I know (North Delta head coach) Dan (Werner) will have his team ready to play like he always does,” said Pierce.

Lee will be trying to snap a two-game losing streak against the Green Wave as North Delta took a 28-22 come-from-behind victory last year in Clarksdale. Both squads saw action in jamborees last week as Lee downed Magnolia Heights 7-3 before falling 13-6 to Pillow while North Delta tied Carroll 6-6 then bounced back to take a 7-0 win over Kirk.

Senior quarterback Taylor Allen Flowers leads the Colt Wing-T offense and will be joined in the backfield by Bradley Willis, Robert Bobo and Yeager Bass. Senior defensive linemen Zachary Flowers and Ben Pierce anchor the defense for Lee while Landon Borgognoni and Scott Berry will plug the middle at the linebacker spot.

Green Wave head coach Dan Werner expects another close game between the schools just as the last two meetings have been.

“They are the same type of physical team as us and for two years in a row the games have gone down to the wire and we have been lucky enough to come out on top,” said Werner.

“We have corrected some of our mistakes we made in the jamboree last week and hopefully will come out and play well tonight,“ said Werner.

Junior signal-caller Tyler Pirtle will direct the Green Wave offense while junior tailback Taylor Morris and sophomore fullback Parker Jones join Pirtle in the backfield. Senior Colby Pirtle and junior William Dean will start as wideouts.

The offensive line will consist of Kyle Devazier, Carter Gant, Bradley Booth, Hunter Pitcher and Blake Snyder while Will Magee holds down the tight end spot.

On defense, Devazier, Pitcher, Snyder and Steven Houston will  hold down the front four while Magee, Sy Pritchard, Jones and Luke Latham will start at linebackers. Senior Bailey Gurkert leads the defensive backfield along with Colby Pirtle and Dean.

Kickoff for tonight’s game is 7:30.