The first week of region play is in the books for Class 5A and 6A teams and it was a tale of two different stories for both Oxford and Lafayette.

In their first Region 2-6A game, the Chargers had a slow start but managed to pull away for a 38-0 win over Murrah on Homecoming night. For Lafayette, the Commodores had a sluggish start against West Point and never recovered in their 17-0 road loss to open 1-5A play.

After rare back-to-back non-region losses, Oxford (3-2, 1-0 2-6A) bounced back against the Mustangs to start their journey in a new region on the right foot. The Charger defense earned their first shutout of the season.

Oxford stays at home this week, hosting a familiar opponent after facing Murrah for the first time. Undefeated Tupelo (5-0, 1-0) travels to Bobby Holcomb Field to renew the Highway 6 rivalry in a key early-season matchup.

“Tupelo’s very talented across the board,” siad Oxford head coach Chris Cutcliffe. “Both lines of scrimmage, offensive line and defensive line, very big and physical. We’re now getting into the thick of our schedule, in our region schedule and we’ve got six games in a row right here that are going to be extremely difficult, physical football games. We’ve got to play at a high level week after week after week.”

In previous seasons, when both teams were in Region 1-6A, the Chargers and Golden Wave would meet towards the end of the regular season with playoff implications always at stake. This year, the two meet in the second game of the region schedule but getting to 2-0 in a region that includes Madison Central, Starkville, Clinton and Germantown is crucial.

Since losing to Tupleo in 2017, the Chargers have won the last three meetings by an average margin of 14 points.  For Oxford, the game is important with road trips to Germantown, Clinton and Starkville the next three weeks.