West Lauderdale almost didn’t get to play last week.

The Knights’ original Sept. 18 opponent, Quitman, was forced to cancel last week’s game against West and this week’s game against Northeast Lauderdale due to the number of players in precautionary COVID-19 quarantine. This left West without an opponent until Tupelo finally agreed to play the Knights.

The Golden Wave edged the Knights 21-20, but West head coach Brock Clay said he’s just grateful to have filled that slot in the schedule.

“The kids deserve to play, so that was our big push,” Clay said. “With the way the whole thing can play out this season, none of us are guaranteed a game next week, so that was our fear. If there was anyone out there that would play, that’s what we wanted. It really didn’t matter who. We got told no by 16 schools (before Tupelo agreed).”

Now, the Knights (1-2) will turn their attention to Southeast Lauderdale (1-2) when they travel there Friday, and Clay said back-to-back losses against quality opponents in Neshoba Central and Tupelo hopefully highlighted to the players the need to clean up some of the mistakes they’ve made.

“We’ve played two really good teams, and we’d obviously love to be 3-0,” Clay said. “We turned the ball over too many times the last two weeks to win against that type of opponent, and that really sums up both games. I say this every week on every interview I do, but if you win the turnover battle, you’ll win the game most of the time.”

Against Southeast, Clay said he’s expecting a much tougher game than last season when West blanked the Tigers 45-0.

“They’re a much-improved football team from a year ago,” Clay said. “They have a ton of athletes across the board, and they seem to be heading in the right direction. They played a 6A program last week (in a 41-35 loss to West Harrison) and had a big win against Northeast, so they’re definitely improving.”

Southeast head coach Calvin Hampton could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday at Southeast.