Class 6A Horn Lake falls to 5A West Point in battle of defending Mississippi state football champs

HORN LAKE, Miss. — The matchup between defending Class 6A state champion Horn Lake and Class 5A state champion West Point would have never happened if the team Horn Lake originally scheduled for Week 1 didn't opt out of it. 

"We were searching anywhere for a game and it just so happened that West Point had this same date open and Coach (Chris) Chambless and I decided we’d play," Horn Lake coach Brad Boyette said. 

West Point prevailed Friday night with a 34-6 road victory. The three-time defending state champion Green Wave have now won 43 of their last 44 games. It was the first loss for Horn Lake since they fell in the second round of the 2017 playoffs to Starkville. 

TJ Anderson opened the scoring with a 55-yard touchdown catch. Horn Lake answered with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Jamorris Hopson in the first quarter for its only score of the game.  

Then the West Point running game took over as the Green Wave scored four rushing touchdowns. Dantaryius Cannon broke loose for a 95-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Quarterback Gray Berry punched one in from 20 yards out. Brandon Harris had touchdown runs of 38 and 65 yards in the second half.

"We’ve got to fill in gaps. Everybody ran outside and they started pounding the ball down the middle when we shut down the outside," Horn Lake linebacker Jakivuan Brown said. 

The Horn Lake 2019 senior class that featured Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean and LSU athlete Raydarius Jones and took the program from 2-10 in their freshman season to a 15-0 record last year is gone. On Friday all but four of Horn Lake's starters were starting their first high school football games. 

"I’m proud of their effort but just a lot of them were in the game they’ve never seen the speed of. You’re talking about 18 of the 22 starters on offense and defense started their first game tonight, so it was a great opportunity for them to see what high school football is all about," said Boyette. "And that’s what it is all about. I don’t know that if we had an easier opponent we would have found out the things we found out about them tonight." 

It was the first time Horn Lake has lost a season opener since 2015.

"That’s the thing about this, they say iron sharpens iron. Our blade is pretty dull right now and this is a good opportunity to sharpen it," Boyette said. 

The Eagles hit the road next week to take on Cleveland Central on Friday at 7 p.m.