State Championship Preview: 5A

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The State title matchups are all set and will begin this Thursday with the 1A and 5A matchups followed by 2A and 6A on Friday and 3A, 4A and 7A on Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Check out our preview of all the action below, continuing with 5A:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Who</strong>: West Point (10-3) vs. Laurel (8-6)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>When</strong>: 7:30pm, Thursday November 30th. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>What to watch for:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>West Point</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Without getting too far into this preview, [player_tooltip player_id='344052' first='Kahnen' last='Daniels'] has to be mentioned by name. The Green Wave SR RB willed the team to victory last week going for over 200 yards and 2 rushing TD's in the 21-14 win over Clarksdale. The University of Florida commit is must see. The Green Wave is certainly no stranger to the state championship weekend and will look to win the first of the new format since the MHSAA adopted seven classifications this year. Coach Chambless and company have hung their hats on defense and power football for well over a decade and this year's team falls right into the same category led up front by [player_tooltip player_id='370239' first='Zay' last='Lowery'] and in the secondary by [player_tooltip player_id='503391' first='Coledan' last='Carter'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><em>Laurel</em></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Golden Tornadoes have a running back in [player_tooltip player_id='567058' first='Brayden' last='Jordan'] that they feel just as good about as West Point feels about theirs. Jordan also carried his team to victory last week with 28 rushes for 209 yards and 3TD's. Don't let yourself be fooled by the Laurel record, either, as they played among the toughest non-division slates against teams like West Jones, Hattiesburg, Oak Grove and Meridian, all of which are much larger. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Key to the game:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Can anyone stop the other's running back? With Daniels for West Point and Jordan for Laurel, if you like elite running back play you will be in the right place.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->