Minden High has enjoyed a week-long homecoming celebration complete with themed dress-up days at school and a parade. The annual homecoming dance takes place Saturday night, but Crimson Tide head coach Spencer Heard is hoping to see his team bust a few moves Friday in The Pit against the Northwood Falcons.
Many coaches fear distractions around homecoming week, but Heard isn’t worried, saying he wants his team to embrace the festivities.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on up at the school,” Heard said. “It’s all good; it’s all for the kids and for the alumni coming back. Everyone’s getting excited, but from our standpoint we just have to treat it the same in terms of the way we prepare and make sure the guys understand the most important thing is coming out on the winning side of this game.”
The Northwood Falcons come into the game with a 3-4 record, fresh off a close loss to North DeSoto and looking for a big win to improve their playoff hopes.
The Falcons boast a talented offense led by University of Houston commit Marquez Stevenson.
Throwing Stevenson the ball is Peyton Bogan, who tossed a pair of touchdowns last week against the Griffins.
“They’re a solid team,” Heard said. “They’ve had a couple of close losses where they weren’t ever out of the game. They are going to come in here and give us a tough game, so we have to match their effort. They have a couple of receivers outside of Stevenson who can really go and the quarterback has some talent. The defense is solid, too.”
Heard hopes the Tide can continue to get production and points from their talented special teams unit.
“We’re doing a great job finding those creases on kickoff return,” Heard said. “Those guys blocking are doing a great job of creating the holes too. Hopefully we can continue having the advantage their this week.”
It will be the last homecoming game for a group of seniors who have helped put Minden football back on the map.
“It’s a very tight group,” Heard said. “They’ve built a family, brotherhood type of atmosphere in the locker room and out on the field, too. They aren’t a vocal group that does a bunch of talking, but I almost like it better that way. They’ve done a great job of leading.”
With North DeSoto waiting for Minden next week, the Tide have to avoid looking ahead.
“I don’t think we’re looking ahead at all,” Heard said. “I think the guys understand we need to win them all and that no game is more important than the next. I don’t look at this as a trap game or anything like that.”
The Crimson Tide and Falcons will get underway at 7 p.m. from The Pit.