By Brad Greer

With  ‘pre-season’ portion of their schedule complete, the North Delta Green Wave now sets its sights on    yet another District 1-AA championship as they host Kirk Academy  in a 7 p.m. kickoff.

The Green Wave (2-2) enters tonight’s contest looking to snap a two-game losing streak. North Delta won its first two games of the season  over Lee Academy and West Memphis, Ark. before falling to Washington (40-0) and to Magnolia Heights (44-14) last Friday at home.

Kirk got a jump start on district play last week by defeating Carroll Academy 20-13 to even their overall record at 2-2 on the season under first-year head coach Katlan French. The Raiders opened up the year with a 35-7 win over West Memphis before losing to Magnolia Heights (49-20) and Leake (53-20).

Junior running back Dalton Turner led the Raider rushing attack in the victory over Carroll with 120 yards and one touchdown. Turner’s fellow backfield mate Chase Carpenter added 105 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Sophomore Cole Crenshaw and senior Tyler Kirk will also be in the backfield for the Raiders.

North Delta head coach Brandon Ciaramitaro said Kirk will use a number of different sets on offense from the I-formation to running the “wildcat” package.

“Kirk is playing with a lot of fire and energy right now and most of that comes from having a new coaching staff. Coach French is doing a great job with his kids and they seem to enjoy playing for him,” said Ciaramitaro.

“Their main go-to guy that we have seen on film is No. 23 (Kirk), they like to run him out of the Wildcat. Defensively they run a ‘split- 4’ just like us so we have been getting some good looks at practice during the week,” said Ciaramitaro.

Skyler Lawson is set to make his third start of the season under center for North Delta as senior Tyler Pirtle mends to a knee injury sustained four weeks ago. Look for Taylor Morris and Austin Hagstrom along with tight end Will Magee to be North Delta’s main offensive weapons. Hagstrom accounted for one of the Green Wave touchdowns with a 65-yard reception in last weeks loss to Magnolia Heights.

The Green Wave will be looking to extend its district winning streak to 11 games as their last loss came in 2009 with a 6-0 loss to Marshall.