Lafayette Commodores Playing for State Championship Saturday

After a rough first eight games of the season, the Lafayette Commodores have overcome a 3-5 start and will be playing for the Mississippi Class 4A State Championship on Saturday afternoon against the Forrest County Agricultural Aggies.

Losing five of their first eight games probably isn’t something that Lafayette head coach Eric Robertson wanted to happen. But ever since their three game losing streak came to an end when they blew out New Albany 44-7, the Commodores haven’t looked back or lost a game.

The New Albany game was just the first victory in what has become a seven-game winning streak that has extended into the playoffs. The end of the regular season saw the Commodores clicking on all cylinders on the offensive side of the ball averaging 41.3 points per game.

The playoffs have been a completely different story, however. The defense has manhandled every Lafayette opponent in the playoffs, compiling two shutouts in the first four rounds. The offense hasn’t been able to put up very many points though.

The rushing attack for Lafayette has been it’s strength on offense all season. That hasn’t changed in the playoffs. Lafayette has two players with more than 1,000 yards rushing on the season. Senior DK Buford is second on the team with 1,001 yards on 209 carries and leads the team with 15 rushing touchdowns. Sophomore Tyrell Price leads the team in rushing with 1237 yards on 210 carries and has five rushing touchdowns.

In the playoffs, Price has 408 yards rushing on 88 carries and two touchdowns. It is crucial that Lafayette gets both Buford and Price going early and often. The Aggies defense has been mediocre at best this season so Lafayette’s offense should be able to get some points on the board.

The game will be decided by Lafayette’s defense though. Forrest County Agricultural has been putting up huge numbers all season and in the playoffs. They’ve scored at least 35 points on three of their four opponents in the playoffs and are averaging 37.8 points a game. Lafayette has played stellar defense all season long, but they will have to play their best game on Saturday to bring home the state title over the Aggies.

From all of us here at HottyToddy.com, Good luck to Coach Eric Robertson and the Commodores Saturday!

–Justin Taylor, Associate Editor, HottyToddy.com

–You can email Justin at justin.taylor@hottytoddy.com