Derrick Dotson took one sideways glance at his teammate Caleb Watts and gave him an amazed chuckle and some odd praise.

“He’s a freak of nature,” Dotson said.

Coming from someone who on Saturday might take home the trophy as the strongest guy in Mississippi, it was one of the biggest compliments Watts could receive.

Watts, a 220-pound junior, and Dotson, a super heavyweight, will both be in the running for state championships at the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s Class 6A powerlifting meet at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson.

Dotson enters the meet as the top seed in his weight class, while Watts is the No. 2 seed. A third Warren Central lifter, eighth-grader Lee Fortner, qualified in the 114-pound class but will skip the state meet to participate in a scholastic competition in Orlando, Fla.

Getting to the state meet is a triumph and a breakthrough for both Watts and Dotson.

Dotson has been on the Vikings’ powerlifting team for four years and made it to the North State meet in 2013 and 2014. The top three advance to the state meet, and Dotson finished fourth both times.

“It feels like I finally made it. The last two years, coming up short, this is going to be my year,” said Dotson, a Hinds Community College football signee. “Two years straight being in fourth place at North State, it builds up. This is my year and nobody can take it from me.”

No one so far, at least.

Dotson has finished first in all three of Warren Central’s meets this season. At the North State meet, his total of 1,530 pounds in the bench press, deadlift and squat was 65 pounds better than runner-up Jermaine Clark of Hernando. It’s 75 pounds better than South State winner Bradley Terrell of Jim Hill.

Although he knows he needs to put in a good day’s work, the state championship appears to be Dotson’s to lose.

“It’s going to feel like I completed what I needed to do,” Dotson said of a potential victory. “Sent it off right my senior year, and gave Coach (Chad McMullin) a pretty good trophy.”

While Dotson is trying to put the capstone on a solid career, Watts is just beginning to tap his potential. The 220-pound junior whose muscles seem to explode out of his shoulders is only in his second year as a powerlifter. He lifted 1,360 pounds to win the North State meet by 50 pounds.

“Anything I throw on the bar, he’s done,” McMullin said. “We haven’t figured out his max yet. By Saturday, we will.”

Watts made it to North State in 2014, but slipped getting out of bed one morning and severely cut his hand on a glass. A fractured hip further derailed his promising season.

“I couldn’t lift. My whole hand was numb,” Watts said. “It’s just motivation.”

Watts will need plenty of motivation to bring home a state championship. Although he finished first at the North State meet, his total was more than 100 pounds less than South State winner Micah Booker of D’Iberville.

That’s a big number to overcome, but Watts was confident he could make a run at it.

“I think I can at least get 600 in the deadlift,” said Watts, who lifted 565 pounds at North State. “I need a challenge.”