From staff reports

New Port Gibson coach Lynn Lang has the Blue Waves believing.

They won the first battle of Highway 18 last Friday by beating rival Raymond 16-6. Tonight, they’ll take on another rival from the same stretch of road, Hinds AHS.

This is the second time in three years the Waves are 1-0, but they haven’t had much luck after that. Since reaching the playoffs in 2005, Port Gibson has gone 3-36.

To go to 2-0, the Blue Waves will have to beat Hinds AHS, a preseason Top 10 team in Class 2A. The War Dawgs feature the Vicksburg Post’s 2008 Area Player of the Year Darius Newton, who opened his 2009 season by rushing for 244 yards in last week’s 24-7 loss to Hazlehurst.

“They have some good backs, but I didn’t know that about Newton. I’m looking forward to that challenge,” Lang said.

War Dawgs coach Michael Fields hopes his team can avoid the turnover bug. Hinds had four fumbles against Hazlehurst.

“We just went back to work on fundamentals. We didn’t even go in pads Monday. We need to stay healthy and we could get more work in on some things,” Fields said.

The veteran Hinds coach expects a tough game from Port Gibson, which ran for 285 yards against Raymond.

“They are going to be sound. It’s going to be physical. They looked to be more patient with their offense and they were more physical than they’ve been in the past,” Fields said.

Central Hinds at Greenville Christian

Central Hinds hits the road for the first time this season to play a Greenville Christian team that coach Bobby Allen said shares some similarities with last week’s opponent Hillcrest.

That would be a very good thing for the Cougars.

Jordan Currie threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, and Hunter Farrior scored on an interception return, ran for a touchdown and caught a TD pass in a 40-0 rout. The win ended a seven-game losing streak to Hillcrest, which had outscored CHA 99-26 in their last three meetings.

“We kind of reversed that on Friday night,” Allen said with a laugh. “Our offensive line did a pretty good job. Physically, I thought we hit them. We’ve got the kind of football team that we’re going to have to hit people. I think we’ll have a chance to win several ballgames.”

Simmons at South Delta

South Delta opens its home schedule against traditional Highway 61 rival Hollandale Simmons. South Delta quarterback Jeremy Barnes completed 8 of 11 passes for 83 yards in an 8-6 win over McClain last week.

SIA at Carroll Academy

Sharkey-Issaquena Academy (1-0) heads on the road to Carroll Academy tonight as it tries to better last year’s win total. SIA opened the 2009 season with a 25-15 win over North Sunflower last week. Abbott Hodnett scored two touchdowns to lead SIA, which went 1-10 last year.

Briarfield at Deer Creek

Briarfield looks to go to 2-0 with a road win at Deer Creek (0-1). The two teams were district rivals for the last two years, before the latest MAIS realignment.