Quick Facts

•Matchup — Lamar School (1-1) vs. Jackson Academy (1-0)

•Location — Lamar School

•Kickoff — 7 p.m. Friday

•Previous Games — Lamar School is coming off a 43-21 loss at Starkville Academy last Friday. Jackson Academy defeated Washington Academy 25-7 last Friday in its season opener.

•Notable — Jackson Academy is coached by former Meridian High School head coach Larry Weems. Weems served as defensive coordinator for many years for Lamar School coach Mac Barnes when Barnes was head coach at Meridian.

 

Barnes on facing his former assistant:

“ I know all their coaches over there well, and of course Larry and I have known each other since we coached together in 1978,” Barnes said. “When I saw we were playing them, I recognized it, but we haven’t even talked about it. He’s trying to get his team ready, and we’re coming off a tough loss.”

 

Navigating early season injuries: 

“We’ve lost four players now for multiple weeks, and that’s caused us to move some people around,” Barnes said. “We’re sort of searching now for the best thing to do for us on both sides of the ball.”

On last week’s loss to Starkville Academy:

“We got beat; this wasn’t a fluke,” Barnes said. “Starkville outplayed us; it was one of the worst games I ever coached. We just seemed a step slow. We’ve had two long, hard weeks of practice getting ready for Bessemer, and then the Bessemer game was extremely taxing. We just never seemed to recover totally. We seemed a step slow. I think Starkville looked quicker than us. They had a very good game plan and executed it.”