The Loyd Star Hornets host the Region 6-2A St. Andrew’s Saintsfor homecoming Friday night at William E. “Sambo” Smith Field. Thegame begins at 7 p.m.

In other Lincoln County games, Bogue Chitto is at Pisgah,Enterprise entertains McLaurin and West Lincoln invadesPelahatchie.

Loyd Star is coming off a 21-12 region win over Enterprise lastFriday. The Hornets, under first-year head coach Ryan Ross,improved to 3-3 on the season and 1-3 in the region.

St. Andrew’s, coached by David Bradberry, is coming off a 40-7victory over Hinds AHS. The Saints are 5-2 overall and lead theregion with a 3-0 record.

Loyd Star head coach Ryan Ross watched several films on St.Andrew’s and was impressed with the Saints.

“St. Andrew’s just reloaded,” said Ross after talking with otherregion coaches. “They have outstanding skill guys who are gettingthe football. They make things happen. The strength of the footballteam is their front folks, the offensive and defensive lines. Theyare manhandling everybody.”

Ross said the Hornet starters on the offensive line for Fridayare Allen Wheeler, right tackle; Nathan Schroder, right guard; AdamSmith, center; Grant Britt, left guard; and Trey Reid at lefttackle.

Starting at quarterback for Loyd Star will be sophomore JosephShelby (5-11, 165). “Shelby came in last Friday night and finishedthe game for us,” said Ross. “He put us up by 9 points. Joseph hasdone a good job in the JV games. It was time to put him inthere.”

Ross talked about the Saints’ tenacious defense.

“St. Andrew’s runs a 4-man front and are never going to be outof position,” explained Ross. “They don’t beat themselves. They’rewell coached. Those (SA) kids respond to him. The last two weeks onfilm, St. Andrew’s hardly makes any mistakes.”

In the win over Enterprise, Loyd Star was led on the ground byTradareous Wilson with 14 carries for 26 yards.

In the air, the Hornets were led by Donald Shorter and Shelbywho combined to complete 4 of 9 passes for 65 yards. Shortercompleted 1 for a touchdown. With 3 catches for 27 yards and a TDwas Glen Thomas.

“It’s a district game,” added Ross. “They are the favorites ofour district. It’s our homecoming. We need all the support we canget.”

Last year, St. Andrew’s crushed Loyd Star 49-14.

Bogue Chitto saw its winning streak come to anend last Friday night in a 35-0 loss at the hands of the defendingClass 1A state football champ Puckett Wolves. Coach Gareth Sartin’sBobcats (6-1, 6-1) are looking to rebound Friday at Pisgah (2-5,2-5) when they take on the Dragons in another Region 4-1A test.

Last week, Pisgah fell to St. Aloysius 21-7.

“Pisgah has a very athletic running back(Donatello Luckett),” said Sartin. “They’re fast and strong. Theytry to get the ball to him (Luckett) a lot. They’re a scrappy team.They like to run.”

Junior quarterback Seth Avants proved the spark on the Bobcatdefense in the loss to Puckett. Avants completed 9 of 16 passes for145 yards and was intercepted once. He completed 4 passes to BrianRobinson for 79 yards and 4 for 47 yards to D.J. Turner.

On the ground, Avants directed the Bogue Chitto running gamewith 23 carries for 52 yards. Donyea Dillon had with 6 carries for48 yards.

“We need to try to get back with a win,” added Sartin. “We’retrying to avoid a letdown after last week. It’s always tough to winon the road in district.”

Enterprise suffered a close loss at Loyd Starlast week and now Coach Roe Burns’ Fighting Yellow Jackets (2-5,0-3) entertain the McLaurin Tiger for another Region 6-2A test.

McLaurin (3-4, 1-2) nipped Pelahatchie 28-24 last Friday in anon-region contest.

“McLaurin has a quarterback , Michael Young (6-2, 190),” saidBurns. “He runs and throws the ball. He is 70 percent of theiroffense. They have a 275-pound fullback (Kentrell Quick). Youngruns behind the fullback. They get in spread offensive and throwall over the field.

“They play man-to-man coverage and run a 5-3 on defense.”

In the loss to Loyd Star, Deon Pendleton led the Jacket runninggame with 24 carries for 102 yards. Josh Nations followed with 37rushing yards on 8 carries and scored a touchdown.

Enterprise quarterback Cody Brister completed 2 of 9 passes for25 yards and was intercepted once.

On defense, Travis Leggett paced the Jackets with 16 tackles.Jake Walker finished with 8 stops.

“It should be a close game,” added Burns. “We should have wonlast week. We had two punts blocked. The one with the leastturnovers wins the game.”

West Lincoln travels to Pelahatchie afterlosing to Salem 56-14 last week. The Bears, coached by BrooksBurns, remain winless in 7 games and are 0-6 in Region 4-1Aplay.

Pelahatchie (3-4, 3-3) fell to McLaurin 28-24 last Friday.

“Pelahatchie is a running team,” said Burns. “They run a lot ofthe same stuff we run. They have a couple of offensive men who arebig and physical. Their quarterback is really big. Their tailbackis very quick. He does a good job of making the defense miss.

“Defensively, the Chiefs pretty much run a 5-man front,”continued Burns. “They blitz with a lot of different people.”

In the loss to Salem, West Lincoln was led by Nathaniel Pruskiwith 24 rushes for 146 yards. Finishing with 7 rushes for 42 yardswas Jeremy Byrd.

Defensively, Jamie Rushing directed the Bears with 8 tackles and6 solos. Kolby Burris followed with 7 tackles and 6 solos.

“We look forward to going and competing. We need to get somebreaks to go our way for a change,” added Burns.