West Point High School, West Point Mississippi

by Greg Shepard Head FB Coach, Bubba Davis West Point High School West Point Mississippi Coach Bubba Davis has only had two year's experience as a head football coach and has already established himself as one of the top coaches in America. This past season West Point High School had a perfect 13-0 record and won the Mississippi State Football Championship. Coach Davishad a disappointing5-6 season in his first year as head coach. However, that's when the weights were really hit hard. Super progress was made in those years. West Point High School is now on the full BFS program.

West Point High School has enjoyed fine tradition in football as conference titles were won in 1964,1971 and again in 1976. The enrollment is low compared to many of the other schools. West Point High School is a public school with only 570 students grades 10-12 and competes in Mississippi's largest school classification. Some of the schools in Mississippi have over 2000 students. Coach Davis and his athletes worked hard on the field and especially in the weight room to overcome the enrollment odds. The high-powered West Point Green Wave Veer Offense led by Robert Smith and Shawn Sykes scored a prolific 341 points for an average of 26.2 per game.

A stingy Split 4 Defense gave up only 113 points for an average of 8.6 per game. Obviously, they were the leading offensive team in the state. After going through 10 regular season games with a spotless record and beating Tupelo High School 32-22 for the district championship, three more play-off g,lmes were required to bring home the State Crown (the last of which was against an always tough GUlfport team. The Green Wave held Gulfport to 11 yards rushing and 114 yards passing. Sixty-five of those yards came on the last play. West Point High School won the State Ch,lmpionship in a convincing manner 21-14.

With many juniors returning, including Robert Smith and Shawn Sykes, Coach Bubba Davis has a big problem at this writing. He needs two games to fill out his regualrschedulc for1983. The problem is - he can't find anybody to play Maybe he better stop the lifting program for awhile. Here are some stats on Smith and Sykes. Robert Smith is a punishing 210-pound runner who pounded out 1351 yards on 192 attempts and 17 touchdowns. As a Sophomore, he rushed for 414 yards on 66 attem pts. Sm ith averaged 8.1 yards per carry in the play-off games. Coach Davis proudly states that Robert Smith is a top-quality type kid.

Smith runs track and maintains a B average and also had 64 tackles and 32 assists as a Ii nebacker on defense. continued on page 16 3 THE MAKING OF A CHAMPION by Greg Shepard Head FB Coach, Bubba Davis West Point High School West Point, Mississippi Coach Bubba Davis has only had two year's experience as a head football coach and has already established himself as one of the top coaches in America. This past season West Point High School had a perfect 13-0 record and won the Mississippi State Football Championship. Coach Davis had a disappointing 5-6 season in his first year as head coach. However, that's when the weights were really hit hard. Super progress was made in those years.

West Point High School is now on the full BFS program. West Point High School has enjoyed fine tradition in football as conference titles were won in 1964, 1971 and again in 1976. The enrollment is low compared to many of the other schools. West Point High School is a public school with only 570 students grades 10-12 and competes in Mississippi's largest school classification. Some of the schools in Mississippi have over 2000 students Coach Davis and his athletes worked hard on the field and especially in the weight room to overcome the enrollment odds.

The high-powered West Point Green Wave Veer Offense led by Robert Smith and Shawn Sykes scored a prolific 341 points for an average of 26.2 per game. A stingy Split 4 Defense gave up only 113 points for an average of 8.6 per game. Obviously, they were the leading offensive team in the state. After going through 10 regular season games with a spotless record and beating Tupelo High School 32-22 for the district championship, three more play-off games were required to bring home the State Crown (the lastof which was against an always tough Gulfport team. The Green Wave held Gulfport to 11 yards rushing and 114 yards passing. Sixty-five of those yards came on the Iclst play.

West Point High School won the Stclte Ch,lmpionship in a convincing manner 21-14. With many juniors returning, including Robert Smith and Shawn Sykes, Coach Bubba Davis has a big problem at this writing. He needs two games to fill out his regualr schedule for 1983. The problem is - he can't find anybody to play. Maybe he better stop the lifting program for awhile. Here are some stats on Smith and Sykes. Robert Smith is a punishing 210-pound runner who pounded out 1351 yards on 192 attempts and 17 touchdowns. As a Sophomore, he rushed for 414 ya rds on 66 attempts. Smith averaged 8.1 yards per carry in the play-off games. Coach Davis proudly states that Robert Smith is a top-quality type kid.

Smith runs track and maintains a B average and also had 64 tackles and 32 assists as a linebacker on defense. continued on page 16 3 THE MAKING OF A CHAMPION continued from page 3 Shawn Sykes is a shifty runner with deceptive speed. He averaged 7.2 yards per carry in the playoffs. Shawn is 5'll"and 180 pounds, and in spite of missing 21/2 games due to an elbow injury, rushed for 967 yards in 129 attempts and 11 touchdowns. This versatile athlete catches passes, returns punts, returns kick-offs and punts. He also intercepted 5 passes, one for a 105 yard touchdown, and had 26 tackles and 42 assists on defense.

Congratulations to Coach Bubba Davis, Robert Smith, Shawn Sykes and the Green Wave from West Point, Mississippi for your hard work, dedication and total commitment to excellence in the making of a champion.

MISSISSIPPI BFS CLINICS May 19th New Hebron High School Coach John Flynt May 21st Newton High School Coach Butch Newman West Point's "Mr. 1"

Progress Chart for Mississippi's Dynamic Duo ROBERT SMITH 158 Jbs. 178 Ibs. 190 lbs. 210 lbs.

150 Ibs. 157 Ibs. 170 lbs. 181 Ibs.

From BFS Magazine — May/June 1983. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).