Tupelo vs. New Hope

It wasn’t the best of circumstances for the Tupelo Golden Wave going into last Friday’s contest in New Hope.

An experience depleted squad left for New Hope Friday afternoon with a lone returning starter, Senior Ro Hogan. Not only were they ill-equipped at all of the “skill-positions”, but in less than a week lost two starting offensive linemen due to undisclosed reasons. A third, tight-end Matt Robbins, was out with a hurt Achilles tendon. “Inexperience played a big factor,” junior quarterback Nathan Wallace said. “Whenever the D would make a big stop and we would turn it over, it really hurt.” New Hope struck first midway through the first quarter to go up seven. After a Mckenzie Tyler goal line dive evened the score at the beginning of the second quarter, backup quarterback/kicker Luke Hobson put the Wave up three with 4:10 left in the second, nailing a 34 yard field goal. However, the Wave couldn’t find fortune after the sophomore’s (Hobson) go ahead stab. New Hope scored again to start the second half, and after fumbles from Tyler and Tupelo receiver Jeremy Foster late in the fourth quarter, the game’s fate was sealed. “We all make mistakes,” Wallace said. “It happens. As we progress, we’ll get better about it though, and I think we can be a pretty good football team.” Tupelo would score again in the closing stages, but to no avail ran out of time. New Hope came out on top by eleven, 28-17, as the horn sounded. Tupelo, 0-1, will face IAHS next week at home.