It's Homecoming at Northside today.

For the Grizzlies, it couldn't be more appropriate. They will finally get to play on the familiar turf of Mayo-Thompson Stadium for the first time in five weeks.

Along the way, they endured three road trips — the past two coming to 7A-Central venues in the Little Rock metropolitan area — and a cancelled home game. But during that same span, the Grizzlies haven't lost; ironically, their lone loss this season came in their previous home game, Week 1 against Greenwood.

"It's so weird because it's been so long since we've played here; it's been over a month," Northside coach Mike Falleur said. "Even though going to Van Buren (in Week 2) is not far, you've still got to get on a bus, pack your stuff up and ride over there. I love playing here, I know our kids love playing here and hopefully, we'll have a great crowd.

"Our kids are excited, they're ready to play here."

The Grizzlies' opponent in their 7A-Central home opener, Little Rock Catholic, hasn't won a game since beating Jacksonville in Week 2, including losses to Cabot and Bryant to begin conference play. But Falleur cautioned that the Rockets are much better than their record indicates.

"Offensively, they are as good as anybody we've played maybe with the exception of Greenwood, so we've got to be ready to play," Falleur said. "I see a very talented football team.

"They've got as good a running back as we've played all year (5-foot-11, 171-pound sophomore Samy Johnson), and their quarterback (Taylor Price, a 6-2, 167-pound senior) throws the football well and runs it. They have if not the biggest offensive line we've played against, it's right there at it, so offensively they're very, very scary. ... They've shot themselves in the foot so far with interceptions and fumbles, those kind of things, so if they quit doing that, they're in every football game."

On defense, the Rockets are based in a 4-2-5 scheme, but Falleur said they have a tendency to shuffle formations and personnel.

"Defensively, they're so multiple, they do so many different things, they throw so many different stunts at you," he said. "It really scares me with the young offensive line we have picking all that up, so we've got to do a great job of being disciplined and taking our steps and going where we're supposed to go."

The Grizzlies' offensive line has shown gradual improvement during the team's three-game win streak. In last week's win at Little Rock Central, Northside rushed for 202 yards on 33 carries, including two touchdowns by Robert Wilkerson, both coming in the second half.

"It's coming along a little slower because we're young in the offensive line and those guys right now are really starting to figure it all out," Falleur said. "Our running backs, Hunter Pendleton, Deuce Wise and then we use Robert Wilkerson in short yardage (situations), so those guys have done a great job and our quarterbacks (Max Frazier and Tre Norwood) are doing a good job running the ball, so hopefully, that's going to get better as we go along and more consistent to where we can count on that more than what we've been able to so far."

The Grizzlies' defense, during the three-game win streak, has allowed just one touchdown in the last 11 quarters. Wilkerson and Chuy Parga share the team lead in total tackles with 33, with Tanner Cross and Matthew Jackson each adding 31. Defensive back Biyron McGrew has broken up eight passes, and three Grizzlies (Austin Cato, Mike Collier and Darius Carson) have two sacks apiece.

"I think we're getting better every week and that's what you want. A couple of years ago, we started off and played really well but we kind of leveled off and I think never fully reached our potential. ... This year's team, I think each week you see something a little bit better, something else a little bit better, so hopefully that will continue," Falleur said.
