Division 5-3A heats up
By By Marty Stamper / staff writer
Sept. 24, 2004
After one week of league play, Division 5-3A looks very much like it did last year.
Forest and West Lauderdale are both 1-0 with lopsided wins, while Morton is also 1-0. Newton County is 0-0 in the league, while Choctaw Central, Southeast Lauderdale, and Carthage are all 0-1.
West Lauderdale and Newton County tangle Friday night in Decatur.
The leaderboard doesn't surprise McCain any, but he knows any of the teams could stumble on any given night.
Last year, Forest, West Lauderdale, and Newton County all finished with identical 5-1 division records with Forest taking the top spot based on point differential.
Forest has been putting points on the board with alarming regularity as the Bearcats are averaging 45.8 points per game while allowing only 9.5.
Forest quarterback Keith Brown has thrown 16 touchdown passes in the first four games. Wide receiver/defensive back Michael Townsend has eight touchdowns, while Marcel Wash and Tremayne Bowie both have three.
West is 3-1 with its lone loss coming to 4-0 Philadelphia. The Knights have scalded Class 2A teams Clarkdale (55-20) and Enterprise (49-13) and blanked winless Choctaw Central (31-0).
Newton County faced three Class 4A teams to start the year, losing to Kosciusko (26-14) and Lafayette County (28-7) before blanking Northeast Lauderdale (22-0).
That would appear to leave Morton and Carthage battling for the fourth and final playoff position and the Panthers beat the Tigers (24-14) last week in their head-to-head matchup.
Key league games have Forest hosting Newton County on Oct. 1, Newton County hosting Morton on Oct. 8, West Lauderdale hosting Forest on Oct. 15 and Morton on Oct. 22, and Morton hosting Forest on Oct. 29.
