From staff reports

Coming into the season, Hinds AHS coach Michael Fields had few returning players with game experience.

In one week, that all changed.

Juniors Darius Newton and Jeremy Lee combined for five offensive touchdowns and Lee had two interceptions as the War Dawgs defeated Amite County 42-14.

“It was conditioning. We were fresh and they wore out,” Fields said of Amite.

Tonight, the War Dawgs play their first home game against rival Crystal Springs. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Utica.

“The field looks beautiful right now, but we may tear it up tomorrow,” Fields said of the soggy turf at the War Dawgs’ home stadium.

Newton ran for 142 yards on 22 carries and scored two touchdowns in the win over Amite, while Lee ran for two scores and threw another. Amite took an 8-0 lead into the second quarter after easily driving down the field for an opening touchdown.

Crystal Springs is coming off a 21-0 victory over Port Gibson.

Veritas at Tallulah Academy

For Doug Branning, the difference between an opening-night loss and last week’s win over Claiborne was simple.

“We didn’t play Glenbrook, for one thing,” said Branning, referring to the defending MPSA Class A champions who beat Tallulah 26-6 in the opener. “We executed.”

Tallulah will go for two in a row tonight at home against Veritas, which routed Sharkey-Issaquena in its opener and had an open date last week.

Amite at Central Hinds

Once again, mistakes hurt Central Hinds last week in a 20-16 loss to Prentiss Christian. The Cougars fumbled a punt, had a pass interference penalty in the end zone that allowed Prentiss to continue a scoring drive, and gave up a long kickoff return that set up another score.

It was the third straight week, including the preseason jamboree, that Central Hinds (1-1) has hurt itself with its own miscues. Even so, first-year coach Bobby Allen said he was confident things will click soon for his young team.

“We’re doing well. We’ve only got one player on the offensive line that’s played in that position before,” Allen said. “It’s a pretty normal progression with a new coaching staff and people playing different positions. We’re just ate up with inexperience.”

PG at Jefferson County

Port Gibson will try to snap its 10-game losing streak when it hosts archrival Jefferson County.

Jefferson County has won three straight in the series, outscoring Port Gibson 99-14 in those games. Jefferson County won last year’s meeting 41-0 in Fayette.

Briarfield vs. Humphreys

Briarfield’s change to the Wing-T has paid off big for the Rebels under first-year coach Ben Durham.

The Rebels (2-0, 1-0) will try to make it three straight to start the season and maintain first place in the Academy 2-A tonight when Humphreys Academy visits Hopkins Field.

“I couldn’t ask much more out of the kids,” Durham said. “Prairie View was a great win for us and we got to Sharkey big in the first half. I may have let off the gas pedal too quick.

“We made some changes and they (SIA) came back on us,” Durham said of last week’s 42-20 win over the Confederates. Briarfield led 36-0 at the half.

In the second half, SIA scored three touchdowns, but BA was playing its second team and was also without starting safety Gabe Lensing.

“Gabe is our captain back there and he had a mild concussion in the first half and we decided to hold him out,” Durham said. Lensing will be back for Humphreys (0-2, 0-0).

South Delta at Mound Bayou

The Bulldogs (0-1) head deep into the delta to battle the John F. Kennedy Hornets of Mound Bayou tonight. This will be the second straight Bolivar County team South Delta will face in the early season. Last week, it lost in Rolling Fork to Class 3A East Side, 25-18.

The Trojans held South Delta running back Darrell Barnes to just 38 yards and two TDs.

Deer Creek at SIA

In two weeks, the Confederates have matched last year’s offensive production of four touchdowns. The bad news is that the losing streak is now at 14 games. SIA (0-2) tries to break the string tonight when the Deer Creek Warriors visit.

Ferriday at Madison Parish

In its only action so far, Ferriday got into a fight with Natchez High School and had to call off the second half of its Miss-Lou Collision pre-season scrimmage two weeks ago in Natchez.

Tonight, Ferriday heads to Tallulah to face the Jaguars.