Video: The Duo Of “Thunder And Lightning” Look To Strike Big During Their Senior Season

WINSTON COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) — Lightning and Thunder strikes in Nanih Waiya.

Warrior fans are expecting another big season for their team, led by a two headed monstrous back field for the three time district champions.

Chris Smith has the speed to get around opposing defenses and score touchdowns.

Taemaus Glass has the power to run people over and get the extra yardage.

That’s what these two do best when they are in the backfield when they touch the ball.

“We ended up doing thunder and lightning because Taemaus, he’s always coming in head first running people over,” said senior running back Chris Smith. “Just knocking people out the way, and me I’m just out running people being fast. He’s special. He don’t care who it is. Size does not matter to Taemaus. He’s going to go get them.”

“He gives good leadership to the younger kids,” said teammate Taemaus Glass. “He’s a good athlete too. He can run. If you aren’t doing right, he tries to get on to you, and he’s determined to win. He likes to win. Nobody likes to lose.”

Head coach Ryan Keeton enters his third season coaching Smith and Glass, and says there’s no competition, even when one has a better game than the other.

“They are great kids,” said Ryan Keeton. “The thing I love about them the most is they don’t care which one has the success. If one of them scores, the other one is the first guy there in the end-zone to celebrate with them.”

The thunder and lightning duo were nightmares for opposing defenses. They racked up more than two thousand rushing yards combined, and now heading into their season year, Smith and Glass are looking to pick up right where they left off.

“We are going to keep trying harder,” Smith said. “We are going to try and get more this year. We are trying to be the best duo to come through Nanih Waiya. That’s what we are trying to be. I think we are going to get it too.”

“We’ve been working hard and we got to keep grinding, and a lot will tell us what we can do,” Glass adds.

“I expect them to duplicate it or at least I hope,” Keeton adds. “We tried to beef up our schedule a little bit. I think our division is a little tougher, but hopefully that will allow them to play a little bit deeper into games and continue their success.”

Though Nanih Waiya has made the post season 12 straight seasons, they’ve never won the gold ball. They were runners up in 1991, but this year’s team doesn’t talk about winning the title. They are just focused on preparing one down at a time.

“It has a little bit, but we don’t talked about it as much,” Smith said. “We got to take one game at a time.”

“We don’t even talk about a state championship,” Glass adds. “We just go game from game. One game at a time.”

“It’s been a long time since they’ve been in the state championship game here, and they’ve never won one,” Keeton adds. “We are hoping that’s got them hungry for a chance to get there and give this community something they’ve been wanting for a long time.”

Nanih Waiya returns to action Friday when they host Union.