Water Valley, and head coach Brad Embry, took part in one of the more unique football games in recent memory at the high school level.

The Blue Devils defeated Northpoint Christian 76-49 last week in what was a shootout in the first half and then turned one-sided thanks to a few key turnovers caused by the Water Valley defense. It was a type of game Embry said he had never been a part of before.

A game such as that one may not provide much when looking back on film for some teams, but Embry and his staff found things to point out that his team excelled in and as well as things that still needed improving.

“I think our offensive line is starting to execute at a higher level,” Embry said. “We still have work to there, and in all phases. We were really challenged by their receivers in the secondary. We hadn’t been challenged like that in that way, throwing the ball vertically. So we went back this week and worked on some things.”

With the schedule turning to week four, Water Valley (2-1) finds itself turning to a more familiar and traditional opponent in Calhoun City. The Blue Devils and Wildcats are common opponents in the non-region portion of their respective schedules on a near annual basis.

Similar to how the Blue Devils had a rocky start to their season a year ago, Calhoun City (0-2) had their first two games canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak in their program. The Wildcats returned to the field, officially, last week against Aberdeen in a 6-0 loss. Two weeks ago, Calhoun City and North Panola played in what was essentially a two-quarter jamboree to allow the Wildcats to get back into game shape.

When the two teams met at Bobby Clark Field a season ago, Calhoun City left with the 40-21 victory over the Blue Devils. Water Valley has lost the last two meetings between the two teams.

Embry decided to get a little creative this week in formulating a game plan against the Wildcats.

“They’re one of the best football programs in the state of Mississippi. Regardless of classification,” Embry said of Calhoun City. “They’ve won many ballgames and I’ll tell you, we’ve struggled scoring points on them the past several years. This week, we went back in the record books to look and see if we could steal some ideas of people who’ve been able to score a lot of points on them.”

Water Valley and Calhoun City are set to kickoff on Friday at 7 p.m. The game can be heard locally on 105.5 FM.