Northpoint Christian Falls to USJ in Season Opener, Coach Sees Progress in Young Squad

JACKSON, Tenn. — While DeSoto County public schools were still playing football in preseason jamboree action Friday night, Northpoint Christian School officially opened its 2025 season on the road.

The Trojans traveled to University School of Jackson (USJ), where they fell 35-7 in their opener. Despite the loss, head coach Tyler Gold said he saw growth from his young team, which is coming off a 6-5 season and is replacing 26 seniors from last year’s roster, including 20 starters.

“I mean, I was really proud of our defense early on,” Gold said. “They fought and scrapped, and I think it was mid-second quarter before we gave up our second touchdown. Once we settled in after that first one, I felt like the defense played really well, and then it was just little errors here and there. Those are things that guys who haven’t been on the field are going to do.”

USJ built a 21-0 lead in the first half behind short-yardage scoring runs, then stretched the margin to 28-0 on a 15-yard touchdown by Jackson Pugh with one minute left before halftime. The Bruins pushed the lead to 35-0 in the third quarter, putting the running clock in effect.

Northpoint finally broke through in the fourth quarter when Cooper Smith sprinted 30 yards for a touchdown with 4:23 left to avoid the shutout.

Gold praised his quarterbacks in their first real action under center. “I was proud of both of our quarterbacks tonight. We’ve got two guys who are super competitive and even in practice. Palmer went in and didn’t flinch, and then Tyler came in late, settled down and played well,” he said.

The Trojans also found some success on the ground. “Justin Henderson is one of our returners, and he was a big spark for us in the first half,” Gold said. “We also had some younger guys get carries at the end, and I was really proud of the toughness they ran the ball with.”

Gold emphasized that his team answered a challenge after last week’s lackluster jamboree against Briarcrest Christian. “Last week I was just disappointed, not in that we lost, but in our fight. This week, I told them I didn’t care what the score was — we were going to scrap and fight until the very end. I thought we saw that from a lot of guys,” he said.

Northpoint, which competes in TSSAA Division II-AA, will make its home debut Friday night at Trojan Field against Memphis University School (MUS). The Owls opened their season with a dramatic 23-17 upset of Bartlett on a last-second Hail Mary touchdown.

SCOREBOARD

Friday, Aug. 22

Prep football

• USJ-Jackson, Tenn. 35, Northpoint Christian 7
• Magnolia Heights 49, North Delta 0

Prep volleyball

Lewisburg at Juanita Boddie Classic, Hoover, Ala.  

• Lewisburg 2, Tuscaloosa County, Ala. 1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-12)
• Lewisburg 2, John Carroll 1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-10)

JUCO volleyball – at Itawamba Community College

• Northwest 3, Calhoun 1
• Wallace State 3, Northwest 1

JUCO men’s soccer

• Northwest 2, Northeast Alabama 2 (draw)

SPORTS ETC.: Former DeSoto Central baseball standout Austin Riley will sit the rest of the season for the Atlanta Braves.. The Braves third-baseman underwent core injury surgery Friday, according to an announcement from the team.