Black Knights look to build confidence against Delta Streets Academy

Black Knights look to build confidence against Delta Streets Academy

Coming off of a 50- point victory, West Memphis Christian looks for more of the same tonight against the visiting Delta Streets Academy

sports@theeveningtimes.com

The West Memphis Christian Black Knights (1-2 overall, 0-0 1-1 MSISA) look to build off the confidence from their 50-0 victory over the Columbus Christian Academy Rams (0-2) as the Black Knights welcome to West Memphis the unique defensive approach of Delta Streets Academy (0-3).

Though the Black Knights have never seen Delta Streets in person, West Memphis Christian head coach Darrow Anderson has been hard at work with the Black Knights offensive line, scheming to block Delta Street’s 5-3 defense with five defensive lineman.

“From a defensive standpoint, they’re very unorthodox,” Anderson said. “They have five lineman but they’re all kind of standing up. They may come down. But, you really don’t know who you’re getting. So, it’s going to be a challenge to come out and make sure we know who to block and where to block them.”

But, if the Black Knights offensive line can figure out the Delta Streets defensive scheme, expect West Memphis Christian to leave the ball more in the hands of their quarterback Parker Benson this week.

Anderson says that the passing game is something the Black Knights need to develop as the season progresses and believes that quick passes will be friendly to West Memphis Christian this week.

“Also, throwing the football wise, I feel like we can throw the football a little more this week with a little more play-action or even just quick hits to the flats,” Anderson said. “The passing game is one of those things that we’re going to have to develop as the season goes along.”

“Based off of the film I’ve seen, we should be able to hit the quick passing game on this team, based off the coverage I’ve seen them run,” Anderson added. “I feel like we can hit the quick outs and quick screen passes and maybe turn them into some big plays.”

Expect the majority of those passes to go to Thomas Warren, Tyler Little and Hunter Hicks.

Warren and Little led the Black Knights in receptions last week, although West Memphis Christian had little need to air the ball out much with a dominating running game against Columbus Christian. And, Hicks’ daunting 6-7 frame at tight end could very easily create matchup problems, benefiting the Black Knights.

West Memphis Christian should also continue a strong ground game which saw the Black Knights accumulate 325 total yards and six total touchdowns last week, led by Warren with 129 rushing yards and Little with three rushing touchdowns.

Surely, facing Delta Streets in West Memphis, the Black Knights bring a lot of confidence onto their home turf with them this week following their lopsided victory seven days ago. Anderson says that that confidence actually brims from a Week 2 2921 loss to Marshall Academy, a school which defeated West Memphis Christian 56-0 last season.

“I think even in the loss to Marshall, we gained a lot of confidence,” Anderson said. “Marshall has been one of those games that we’ve really struggled in as far as having a chance to beat them in high school during the past three or four years. For us to come out and do what we did against them and be in it with them until the end, I think that was a big step for us coming into this (Columbus Christian) game. And then, coming out of that game, I really just believe we need to keep building confidence every week… I think the confidence level is way better than it’s been in the past and it’s only going to continue to go up.”

Kickoff at West Memphis Christian between Delta Streets and the Black Knights is slated for 7:00 p.m.

By Collins Peeples