It’s been nearly two months since Jerry Rice, Warren Moon and Marshall Faulk left town, but Madden Madness is still strong in the eastern Leake County community.

Leake Academy has been creating its own excitement. The Rebels bring an 8-0 overall record into tonight’s MPSA District 3-AA matchup with Simpson County Academy at Dr. A.L. Thaggard Memorial Field.

The Rebels are 2-0 in the league. Simpson is 1-1 in the league and 4-4 overall following a 35-7 loss to MRA last week.

Leake, Enterprise and Wayne County are the only remaining unbeatens in east central Mississippi eight weeks into the 2006 football season.

Leake is averaging 41.9 points per game with a season-low of 30 in a season-opening 30-7 win over Heritage Academy.

Junior quarterback Allen Johnson has thrown 20 touchdown passes — nine to Brandon Estes and four each to Austin Byrd and Brian Saxon. Derek Wilcher

has rushed for 11 touchdowns and also scored on a pair of interceptions.

Trent Travis has five rushing touchdowns.

“Offensively, we’ve been real pleased with our performance,” Leake head coach Brian Pickens (36-15, fifth year) said. “Our line has done a real good job protecting (Johnson) and allowing us to run. Most of them are seniors.

We’ve got one sophomore and one junior. Most of them have been playing for three years. That’s a lot of what has made the offense productive this year.”

Offensive linemen are junior center Will McBeth (6-1, 204), senior guards Brandon Chipley (5-11, 215) and Brant McNeese (6-1, 201), senior tackle Justin Perry (6-3, 230), sophomore tackle Travis Coate (5-11, 280) and senior tight end Adam Byrd (6-3, 190).

Occasionally overlooked is the Rebels’ defense which has given up just 38 points with 15 coming in a 54-15 blowout of Carroll Academy.

“Defensively, we’ve had a real good year,” Pickens said. “It makes it easy when they’re not scoring much.”

Meanwhile, the wheels have seemingly fallen off the Simpson express as the Cougars have lost their last three games to Central Hinds Academy (14-11), Indianola Academy (14-0) and MRA.

“They’ve still got a good team,” Pickens said. “They’ve got a great history down there with three straight state championships. They’ve won the conference consecutively since the early ‘90s. They’ve got a good looking group of kids and good coaches.”

Simpson has beaten Leake each of the past 10 years, including a 57-27 spanking a year ago.



Going Old School

Several old rivalries are on tap for tonight as well.

Neshoba Central hosts Louisville in Division 4-4A. The Rockets improved to 3-5 with a 37-21 win over New Hope last week. Louisville, 5-3, edged West Lauderdale 31-28 on a last-second field goal.

Louisville leads the series 26-5 with the Rockets’ last win coming in 1993.

Newton hosts Philadelphia as the Tigers and Tornadoes meet for the 79th time since 1926. Newton, 2-5, lost a 21-20 heartbreaker to Scott Central last week, while Philadelphia, 4-4, was taking a 20-7 beating from Union.

Philadelphia holds a 53-23-2 series advantage over Newton.



5-4A Showdowns

In Division 5-4A, Wayne County hosts Petal, while Quitman hosts Laurel.

Petal is 7-1 overall and 3-1 in Division 5-4A, while Wayne County is 8-0 overall and 4-0. Both teams are coming off shutout wins. Petal blanked Quitman 43-0, while Wayne County won over Northeast Jones 39-0.

“They looked like they played with a lot of enthusiasm last week,” said Wayne County head football coach Marcus Boyles.

Petal’s Bubba Davis told wareaglesports.com that he hopes the War Eagles do not take too much steam out of the Panthers’ sail. “We’re still not at their talent or skill level. That’s where we’re trying to get, but we’re not there yet.”



Bottoms’ Up

In Division 5-3A, Choctaw Central goes to Forest in a battle of league bottom feeders. Choctaw fell to 2-6 with a 42-21 non-division loss to Enterprise last week, while Forest was blanked 6-0 on a pair of field goals by Velma Jackson.

In Division 5-2A, league co-leader Enterprise goes to Kemper County.

Enterprise improved to 8-0 with its victory over Choctaw Central. Kemper County improved to 3-5 with a 33-28 win at Clarkdale.

In Division 7-2A, Bay Springs, 6-2, goes to Taylorsville, 7-1, and Heidelberg, 5-3, hosts Pelahatchie, 0-8.



Small School Showdowns

In Region 3-1A, Lake (7-1, 5-1) travels to Nanih Waiya (5-3, 4-2). The Hornets jumped out to a 41-0 halftime lead in crushing Noxapater 53-20 last week.

Nanih Waiya defeated Thomastown 28-18.

In MPSA District 5-A, Newton County Academy hosts Heidelberg Academy, Sylva-Bay Academy hosts Central Academy and Wayne Academy hosts Brookhaven Academy.

NCA fell to 3-4 with a 17-13 loss at Canton Academy last week. Heidelberg improved to 3-5 with a 12-0 shutout of Prentiss Christian. Heidelberg is 2-1 in 5-A, while NCA is 0-2.

“We are going to Newton with the thought that we have to win this game to make the playoffs. It is going to be a big challenge and a big game,” said Heidelberg Academy head football coach Mike Taylor.

Sylva-Bay fell to 2-4 with a 37-6 loss to Leake Academy last week. Central dropped to 3-3 with a 54-0 pasting from Winston Academy.

Wayne dropped to 6-2 with a 42-14 loss to Lamar School last week.