New field, new attitude, new season for WMCS

New field, new attitude, new season for WMCS

Sports Editor A new season in a new home will lead to new expectations for the West Memphis Christian Black Knights.

After a 1-9 finish in 2014 and a 2-8 showing last year, West Memphis Christian is looking to take off this fall.

Part of the reason for optimism is the opening of the school’s brand-new, on-campus football stadium, Knight Field.

The project was completed on time for the school’s home opener on Friday, August 19 against North Delta.

It’s also Darrow Anderson’s third season on the West Memphis Christian sideline, and he says that the biggest difference in this team and his first outfit is something that usually doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.

“The biggest thing that’s different for us has been maturity,” says Anderson, also the school’s athletic director.

“That and consistency, and some continuity has gone a long way and made us better. When I first got here, we were in between changing coaches, changing kids. You name it, and we changed it. I think in the past, we’ve had to play some young kids because of the lack of maturity and consistency at the high school level, but this group should be the most mature and physically talented team that I’ve had.”

Anderson credits a weight regiment to the team’s physical improvement, while another year of experience to their maturity.

“When we first got here, we didn’t have a weight-lifting period for the high school kids,” says the coach.

“After football season, they’d all go play basketball and we couldn’t get with them then either. So we may have been able to get them to lift over the summer. Now, the junior high and the senior high are on a weight program nearly year-round.”

The West Memphis Christian junior high program has produced a 12-2 record over the past two seasons, including an outright district title last fall, and that makes up the core of this season’s varsity roster.

At press time, West Memphis Christian had 23 players on their active roster, but just two seniors, meaning that the 21 remaining players were all part of those junior high teams for at least one season.

Offense While the Black Knights may have just two seniors on their roster, they will be playing crucial roles on the team’s offense.

In quarterback Evin Cooper and running back Jameson Smith, West Memphis Christian has a pair of experienced starters to go to when the chips are down.

“Having a senior at quarterback is huge,” Anderson says. “Jameson has done well for us. You couldn’t ask for a harder worker than Evin Cooper.

He’s worked very hard in the offseason for us, and we’ve also tailored our offense to his strengths.”

The receiving corps is deep and experienced, led by projected starting Xreceiver Bryce Waller, H-receiver Matthew Baker, Y-slot Thomas Warren Jr. and Mason Shidler at the Z-receiver.

Left tackle will be played by Biron Rossell with Hayden Ellis at left guard. Charlie Farr will anchor the center spot, while Mason Nicks fills right guard and Hunter Hicks will hold down the right tackle position.

“We’re young there, all juniors and sophomores, but there’s a lot of ability there,” Anderson says. The coach also says that a few freshmen could fill in for depth behind those five starters on game nights.

That crew will be a part of a newlooking offense for Anderson’s troops.

In his first two seasons, West Memphis Christian has been a team that favored the pass.

Some of that was due to personnel, and some of that was due to Anderson’s own ideal scheme.

However, that may not be the case this season.

“In the past, I’ve liked to throw it more. I still like to throw it,” Anderson says with a laugh. “But we have to put our quarterback in the best possible situation to succeed. Evin is fast, he’s physical, he’s tough, and he’s a leader. Knowing that, we’ve put in some mid-line veer stuff. We’re still in the spread stuff, we can still do everything that we’ve been doing, we’re just utilizing our speed more, with some of our receivers on jet sweeps and things.” Defense The Black Knight defense had a good season according to Anderson in 2015, but their lack of depth wore on them as games got later and later.

“The problem there hasn’t been on our talent level, it’s just been about us getting tired,” says the coach.

“They go from offense, we punt and then right on defense. Maybe on defense we take two plays off when we don’t really need to. But we’re rotating more guys in this year, and that should help us there.”

Warren and Baker will be West Memphis Christian’s starting cornerback duo.

“That’s our speed, our quickest guys. They can come up and set the edge defensively and make tackles in the backfield. That’s a big deal for us,” says Anderson.

At the safeties, Shidler and Waller are the starters.

“They both have a lot of range. You’re not gonna throw it over their heads, because they have good size,” says the coach. “Mason’s really sharp on finding the football and getting where he’s supposed to be, and Bryce has gotten a lot more physical and is faster than he appears.”

Up front, Rossell will be a starter at the left defensive end, with Ellis playing next to Hunter Hicks or Daniel Rivera, depending upon the matchup. Farr fills out the defensive line by holding it down at the right defensive end position.

The linebacking squad will consist of Nicks at middle linebacker, Patrick Ratliffe at one outside linebacker. The other outside spot was going to belong to Manning Shidler, but an injury will keep him out for 2016.

West Memphis Christian got an unexpected addition when Hunter Weathers came out when school started. He could be in the mix at the open outside linebacker spot.

District outlook All three of West Memphis Christian’s wins over the past two years have come in the district.

The Black Knights have beaten Lee Academy twice in addition to a 19-12 win at DeSoto School early last September.

That bodes well for a team that is looking to return to the postseason for the first time since 2013 this fall.

West Memphis Christian got a close look at their district rivals on Friday, August 11.

The Black Knights went 1-1-1 in that event, battling DeSoto to a scoreless tie, losing 14-0 to Tunica and beating Lee 76. Marshall Academy is also involved in West Memphis Christian’s district this year.

“None of the teams we saw that night were overly dominant,” Anderson says. “I thought we moved the ball well, and I thought we tackled well for the most part. Tunica looked pretty good on that night, but I think if we do what we do then we’ll give them a good game. DeSoto and Lee have been good games recently.

“Do I think we can beat all of them? Yeah, I think so,” Anderson continues. “On the flip side, if we don’t play well, or we come out cocky or down or whatever, we could very easily get beaten by them. It’ll be that close this year.”

Marshall Academy lost in the Class AA title game in 2012 and 2013, and has traditionally been the toast of West Memphis Christian’s league.

That may be the case once again this season.

“I haven’t seen them in pads.

I did see them at 7-on-7s and they’re our measuring mark for district play and until someone else other than them beats them, we probably all feel that way,” Anderson says of the Patriots. “That’s why us beating them last year in junior high was so big, because they’re always a good team.”

West Memphis Christian’s path to the playoffs seems to get muddier and muddier each season, and this year is no different.

In the past, the top two teams from every district has been guaranteed of a spot in the dance, leaving just six at-large berths to go to teams ranked third and below in their respective leagues.

This year, however, the formula has been amended again, and it favors playing more competitive non-district games.

“Pretty much every game we play in the MAIS is a playoff game. That’s the direction we’re going anyway,” says Anderson. “We’ll play North Delta and if we beat them then we get 13 points, which is huge. That’s 10 points for a win and three points for playing a Class AAA school with us being a two-A. But if we lose, then we get points for however many games they win down the line. They’ve won eight or nine consistently over the years. We basically have just three games that don’t affect our playoff status.”

The system seems as though it’ll remove importance from the existing district systems present in the MAIS.

“You’d like to think that in our league, if we win three or four of those games against Marshall, Tunica, DeSoto or Lee, then we’d be automatically in,” says Anderson.

“That would be a big help, but that’s not necessarily how it’ll go. It all goes back to who you played, how you did against them and even how they did.”

West Memphis Christian is in 2016 and open district play this Friday night at home against DeSoto School at 7 p.m.

By Chuck Livingston