When it comes to Tupelo's opponents, South Panola's not on Will Hodges' radar. Forget the Tigers, this enthusiastic 5-year-old believes the Golden Wave can compete with anybody ... even the Colts, Steelers and Rebels.

"How much of this he gets, I'm not sure," said Will's father, Frank, a Tupelo orthodontist, then laughed. "I took him to a game last year and he was focused more on the blue team."

The blue team being Tupelo.

This season's Golden Wave - off to a 3-0 start and hosting Madison Central tonight - is equally enthusiastic about Will's support. So much so, the team's players are supporting and praying for the youngster in his on-going battle against non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Believe in orange
To show their support, the Tupelo players are wearing orange wristbands inscribed Play For God's Will to school and in practices.

And while the team cannot wear the wristbands in games - it's against the rules to wear jewelry/loose items - Will remains a part of game day when the Wave plays at home thanks to a sign in his honor affixed to the fence surrounding the field at the stadium.

"My son's a sports fanatic, so this has been kind of cool for us," Frank Hodges said.

The idea for orange-colored wristbands came about when a prayer group at the Hodges' church, First United Methodist, placed orange rubber bands on their wrists in a unified prayer effort.

"I looked it up and orange is supposed to be a healing color," Hodges noted. "It just happened that way. There were no ties to Texas or Tennessee (schools who wear orange)."

Some supporters of Will had wristbands printed up that say, "Pray For God's Will." The idea for the special edition wristbands the team wears came from the Wave's booster club.

"He's a little boy who's touched our hearts," said booster Melinda Bell, whose twin sons, Chris and Marcus, play offensive line. "It's amazing how much the team has been touched by Will's family in some way."