Lee Academy has just three home games scheduled for the 2020 football season.
One of them is homecoming Friday night against Tunica Academy with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
The Colts (2-2) are on a two-game winning streak coming off of a 56-14 win at Rossville Christian Academy in Rossville, Tenn., two weeks ago. Lee also won the week before that at Strayhorn High School 19-0.
Lee is coming off of a bye week last Friday.
Going into the game at Tunica Academy in 2019, the Colts had the same 2-2 record they have this year. They lost their first two games and won their next two games in 2019 – a pattern they repeated in 2020. Lee won at Tunica Academy 35-6 in 2019 and is looking to repeat its performance from one year ago Friday night.
“Tunica is much improved team,” said Lee offensive coordinator Chad Foster. “They’ve got some big backs we’re going to have to corral and not let them get started. Defensively, they’ve got a couple of guys that just came over that helping them out tremendously. We’ll have to do well of a job up front getting them blocked so we have lanes to run in.”
All Colts are expected to be available Friday night.
“The extra week gave these guys some time to recover from injuries,” Foster said. “We think we had one or two guys banged up with ankles, just general stuff like that, nothing big. They should be full speed for this week, so it should help us as far as that off week gave us.”
Foster said ball control will be the key for Lee being able to win the game.
“We’re going to take care of the football and try to limit their possessions on offense with us taking care of the football,” he said.
The Colts had significantly fewer turnovers in the two wins than the first two weeks of the season.
“We’ve gotten better,” Foster said. “The offensive line has started jelling and coming together and driving people off the ball. We’ve been able to be successful in the last two games.”
In addition to Graydon Gullick’s punt return touchdown against Rossville Christian, Nickos Nolan ran for four touchdowns, while Russell Cook, Tripp Dulaney and Jackson Spinks had one each. Luke Crumpton is the starting quarterback.
Foster believes his team can continue to play the way it has and earn a win for homecoming.
“Homecoming or not, we like to defend our own field,” Foster said. “Anybody that comes in here, you want to win to protect your own turf, so it’ll mean a lot for us to get this third in a row. We’ve lost homecoming before. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen again, but it means a lot. We need to win the games we’re capable of winning. Hopefully, this is one that we can.”
Three of the first four games for Lee were on the road. The Colts only have two more regular season home games the next two weeks.
“It’s more comfortable for the kids,” Foster said. “They have their own surroundings with what they’re used to coming into and doing, so, obviously it plays a factor in how you prepare and all that. We’re more comfortable being at our own facilities. It should help us the next two weeks.”
