Coffeeville High School Pirates

COFFEEVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) — Kris Thigpen is getting thrown into the fire early.

The first year head coach at Coffeeville has a deep background in the game of football and he hopes he can build on the success the Pirates had last year regardless of what returns.

“I expect my guys to work hard and really buy into my program,” coach Thigpen said. “Just learn the basics in the first year with schemes and be very competitive. Whether or not we have a lot of talent, I expect them to play with a lot of intensity.”

Thigpen is a former State Champion quarterback at Taylorsville. If there’s anyone that knows how to get the most out of an offense, it’s him. But in his first year at the helm in Coffeeville, he’ll have to lean on the other side of the ball out of the gate.

“I think our strength will be on defense,” Thigpen said. “We have key players returning on defense; high motor guys that love to play on that side of the ball. Especially early on with our three opponents (Calhoun City, Water Valley and Bruce), we want to be very good on defense.”

Coffeeville enjoyed arguably their best season in school history last year, going 12-2 overall and a perfect 8-0 in division play.

What’s even more impressive is the Pirate defense didn’t surrender a single point in region play. That’s eight consecutive shut-outs inside division action.

The downside to the new season is the loss of do everything star Antavius Moody, who ran for over 1,000 yards a season ago and led the team in interceptions.

Coach Thigpen believes they may not be able to replace him immediately, but there’s a stable of talent that’s ready to rise to the occasion.

“Players like Antavius are hard to replace,” Thigpen said. “We have some young guys that are looking forward to the challenge of stepping up and being playmakers. Hopefully this year we’ll have playmakers by committee.”

Coffeeville will start the season in week one at home versus Calhoun City before visiting Water Valley for the Railroad Rivalry the following week.