high school football preview 2011

THE DISPATCH • www.cdispatch.com2 SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2011 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW

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places to be

FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALLteams to see

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ABERDEEN HIGH SCHOOL100 Bulldog Blvd., Aberdeen662-369-8933

ALICEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL417 3rd St. SE, Aliceville205-373-6378

AMORY HIGH SCHOOL1006 Sam Haskell Circle, Amory662-256-5753

CALEDONIA HIGH SCHOOL111 Confederate Drive, Caledonia662-356-2001

CENTRAL ACADEMY300 Hale Street, Macon662-726-5846

COLUMBUS HIGH SCHOOL215 Hemlock Street, Columbus662-241-7200

EAST OKTIBBEHA COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL178 Moor High Road, Crawford662-272-5603

EAST WEBSTER COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL195 Old Cumberland Road, Maben662-263-5321

HAMILTON HIGH SCHOOL40201 Hamilton Road, Hamilton662-343-8307

HEBRON CHRISTIAN SCHOOL6230 Henryville Road, Pheba662-494-7513

HERITAGE ACADEMY625 Magnolia Lane, Columbus662-327-5272

IMMANUEL CENTER FOR CHRISTIAN EDUCATION6405 Military Road, Steens662-328-7888

LAMAR COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL43880 Hwy. 17 S, Vernon205-695-7129

LOUISVILLE HIGH SCHOOL200 Ivy Avenue, Louisville662-773-3431

NEW HOPE HIGH SCHOOL3419 New Hope Road, Columbus662-244-4701

NOXUBEE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL16478 Hwy. 45, Macon662-76-4428

OAK HILL ACADEMY800 N. Eshman, West Point662-494-0301

PICKENS ACADEMY225 Ray Bass Road, Carrollton205-367-8144

PICKENS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL205 4th Ave. SE, Reform256-375-2344

SOUTH LAMAR SCHOOL300 Sls Road, Millport205-662-4411

STARKVILLE ACADEMY505 Academy Drive, Starkville662-323-7814

STARKVILLE HIGH SCHOOL603 Yellowjacket Drive, Starville662-324-4130

SULLIGENT HIGH SCHOOL661 Elm Street, Sulligent205-698-9254

VICTORY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY374 Mill Road, Columbus662-327-7744

WEST LOWNDES HIGH SCHOOL644 South Frontage Road, Columbus662-244-5070

WEST OKTIBBEHA COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL2459 Holland Street, Maben662-263-8106

WEST POINT HIGH SCHOOL950 S. Eshman Avenue, West Point662-494-5083

WINSTON ACADEMY111 Richardson Road, Louisville662-773-3569

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Players from WestPoint, New Hope,Columbus, HeritageAcademy, Caledonia,West Lowndes,Starkville, and NoxubeeCounty high schoolscame together atColumbus High to takethe picture. KellyTippett/Dispatch Staff.

FOOTBALL2011

A publication ofTHE DISPATCH

P.O. Box 511Columbus, MS

39703(662) 328-2424

Editor andPublisher

Birney Imes

SportsAdam Minichino

Matt StevensDavid Miller

Gary Estwick

Cover DesignJackie Taylor

PhotographersLuisa PorterKelly Tippett

Graphic ArtistsJackie Taylor

Jay Armstrong

ProductionTina Perry

Matt Garner

ABOUT THE COVER

WHAT’S INSIDE

Aberdeen Bulldogs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Caledonia Confederates. . . . . . . . . . . 5

Central Academy Vikings . . . . . . . . . 21

Columbus Falcons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

East Oktibbeha Titans . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Hamilton Lions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Hebron Christian Eagles . . . . . . . . . 17

Heritage Academy Patriots . . . . . . . . 8

Immanuel Rams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

New Hope Trojans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Noxubee County Tigers . . . . . . . . . . 20

Oak Hill Academy Raiders . . . . . . . . 19

Starkville Academy Volunteers. . . . . 14

Starkville Yellow Jackets. . . . . . . . . . 13

Victory Christian Eagles. . . . . . . . . . . 7

West Lowndes Panthers . . . . . . . . . 11

West Oktibbeha Timberwolves. . . . . 16

West Point Green Wave . . . . . . . . . . 18

BY ADAM [email protected]

Finish.It sounds so simple.Try to finish in 100-

degree heat, or with a heatindex that eclipses triplefigures.

The Columbus HighSchool football team cando it.

Try to finish a gamewhen you’re alreadyshorthanded due to a hostof injuries.

The Falcons need onlylook back at their victoryagainst Starkville Highlast season to know theycan do that, too.

Turn the page to 2011.Can this be the yearColumbus High silencesthe skeptics, realizes itspotential, and records itsfirst winning season since2007?

“It is going to be theyear,” Columbus Highsenior linebacker BeauEdwards said. “A lot ofpeople say it could be theyear and Columbus hasn’tbeen consistent. I saythey’re wrong. This is theyear we’re going to winthe whole thing. SouthPanola anybody who stepsin the way is going to getbroken down.”

Edwards and classmateByerson Cockrell haveheard the talk from previ-ous classes that they weregoing to be the group tochange the program’s for-tunes. But while the teamhas matured and hasgrown stronger it has wononly eight games in thepast three years.

Last year, Columbusended a season of ups anddowns and what couldhave beens with a 34-32

victory at Starkville. Notonly did the Falcons denythe Yellow Jackets achance to earn a playoffberth, but they also deliv-ered a goal-line stand atthe 1-yard line that pre-vented the tying pointsfrom scoring.

Past Columbus Highteams might not havebeen able to deliver.Edwards and Cockrellknow that all too well. Butthey don’t intend to lettheir senior season beanother one to forget.Their goal is to makesurer the feeling from thatNov. 5, 2010, game sticks

with the Falcons and moti-vates them to finish whengames are on the line thisseason.

“We can make a changefor Columbus,” saidCockrell, who played inonly one game in 2010before suffering a season-ending injury. “This canbe a turning point forColumbus. We really havea chance to build. We needto get serious and do it.”

Columbus High coachTony Stanford and hisstaff have matched thatattitude and have giventhe players more chancesto experience winning in

practice. They have madetwo-minute drills a fixturein practices to help pre-vent late-game collapsesthat have plagued the pro-gram in recent years. Thefeeling is the players haveresponded well to thepushing and the proddingand all of the lessons.

Stanford feels the teamhas answered the call inpart because of Edwardsand Cockrell.

“We feel (Beau’s) lead-ership comes from hiswork ethic,” Stanford said.“He has worked hard toget to a leadership role.

“Byke is a quiet leader.

He is not going to be out-spoken, but he is going tomake plays on the field.The kids respect him andlook to him to do thingsout on the field.”

Stanford took over lastyear late in the summerafter head coach BubbaDavis retired. He felt thetransition from defensivecoordinator to head coachaffected the players, butthat everyone is on thesame page and realizesthis group, which includesseniors like running backDamian Baker, quarter-

THE DISPATCH • www.cdispatch.com SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2011 3HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREVIEW

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Have a Great

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FALCONS!

Class 6ARegion 1, District 2

ColumbusDeSoto Central

GrenadaHorn Lake

Olive BranchSouthaven

South PanolaTupelo

NOTE: Top four qualify forplayoffs. South Panola istwo-time defending 6A statechampion.

COLUMBUS HIGH FALCONS

1-Jimmy Cockrell, 2-Damian Baker, 3-Rashad Meeks, 4-Cedric Jackson, 5-Justin Tate, 6-Keith Brooks, 7-Kevin Jackson, 8-Iziah Jones, 9-Jabari Edwards, 10-Jamarcus Jones, 11-Martavious McKinney, 12-DeMarcus Vance, 13-Devonta Petty, 15-Deonta Jones, 16-Trace Lee, 17-Quavis Sherrod, 18-Gemriah Williams, 19-Jarcquarius Clark, 20-George Lowery, 21-Tyler Sanders, 22-Jamie Taylor, 23-DariusDeloach, 24-Quan Latham, 25-Byerson Cockrell, 26-Damian Moore, 27-James Hayes, 28-Jordan Dean, 29-Eric Roberts, 30-Marques O'Neal, 31-Kendric Conner, 32-Josh Thomas, 33-Tupac O'Neal, 34-Ramadus Beasley, 35-Brian Osby, 36-Larry Williams, 37-Tim Hudgins, 38-Deon Taylor, 39-Bennie Harris, 40-Horatio Buchannan, 41-Bylonn Johnson, 42-Jarvis Ellis, 43-Devontess Harris, 44-Corey Brown,45-Tobia McCoy, 46-Terrance Turner, 47-Chris Conner, 48-Tyler Calvert, 49-Tyler Davis, 50-Kaderreon Hood, 52-Justin Verner, 53-T.J. Robinson, 54-Orlando Taylor, 55-Jamel Grant, 56-Kenny Averhart, 57-David Porter, 58-Jarvis Glenn, 59-Jeremy Morgan, 60-Kenneth Miller, 62-Broderick Trimuel, 64-Jerome Monroe, 65-Cedric Jones, 67-Channon Harris, 68-John Wiley, 69-Chris McCullough, 70-AustinAndrews, 71-Aaron Stanton, 72-Tyris Brooks, 73-Greg Sykes, 74-Tremarcus Monroe, 75-Martavious Mitchell, 78-Jake Thomas, 79-Josh Tate, 80-Charlie King, 81-Keshawn Adams, 82-Dalon Moore, 83-ChrisCockrell, 85-Anthony Liddell, 85-Meunta Verner, 86-Greg Giles, 87-Michael Sturdivant, 88-Kris Reliford, 89-Javaris Johnson.

2011SCHEDULE

Aug. 19 At AberdeenAug. 26 OpenSEPT. 2 WEST POINTSEPT. 9 NEW HOPESept. 16 At LouisvilleSEPT. 23 TUPELOSept. 30 At SouthavenOCT. 7 SOUTH PANOLAOct. 14 At Desoto CentralOCT. 21 HORN LAKEOct. 28 At Olive BranchNOV. 4 GRENADA

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

IS THIS YEAR CHS LEARNS HOW TO FINISH?

Columbus High School will look to the return of a healthy Byerson Cockrell, left, and the emergence of senior linebacker BeauEdwards to help the Falcons have a breakthrough season. Kelly Tippett/Dispatch Staff

See COLUMBUS, 9


Programs are built onlegacies.

Initial classes might notrealize it, but their hard workand sacrifice often are the ele-ments that establish a foun-dation on which futuregroups can build.

Once that cast is set, ittakes focus and diligence toensure the identity that hasbeen forged lives and growsin each subsequent class.

No school in the Greater

Golden Triangle area epito-mizes that mind-set morethan the New Hope HighSchool football team.

With only one majorDivision I signee in the pastfive years (Jonathan Guerry,Southern Miss), New Hopehas thrived thanks to a teamapproach and an attitude thatit is going to outwork oppo-nents and it is never going togive up.

That mentality haspushed the Trojans to theMississippi High SchoolActivities Association Class

5A North State title game in2009 and the second round ofthe playoffs last season.

This year, 15 New Hopeseniors will try to pick upwhere last year’s group leftoff.

“We just have to keep upthe work ethic, the continu-ous work ethic like the guyswho set the standard for us,”senior lineman Lee Pegramsaid. “Our goal is to over-come that standard. We try tomake that the classes belowours job. We want every yearevery senior class to work

harder than the last seniorclass.”

Pegram and classmateDavid Richardson epitomizethe energy that drives NewHope. Neither player hasbeen blessed with the mostathletic gifts, but both playersprefer to work as hard as theycan to maximize what theycan do.

In a sense, their heart andguts fuels them and sets anexample for the youngerclasses.

“If we show leadershipand show we can go hard andgive everything we have, Ithink everyone will see it,”Richardson said.

This group of seniors hasmatured watching playerslike defensive lineman SethStillman play with one armafter separating his shoulder.They have followed theexample of Franklin

Richardson Jr., who hasremained humble and contin-ue to push himself to be thebest.

Those are things coachMichael Bradley tried tointroduce when he took overthe program. It took him ayear to get the message outthat New Hope wasn’t goingto be outworked and that hedidn’t need or want primadonnas to win football games.

“We coach every daydoing the little things, andour kids respond to it,”Bradley said. “We coachworking hard, we coachstarting something and fin-ishing it, and our guysrespond to that. Our guysbelieve in what we’re doingand what we’re teaching.They believe what we’redoing is going to give us thebest chance to be successful.If you have leaders whobelieve you’re going to besuccessful, they can pass iton the younger kids and itcreates a culture.”

Earlier this week, Bradleyreinforced that point when hesingled out the efforts of 140-pounder Preston Davis forfighting his way onto a kick-off coverage group and near-ly making a play against 11players. Bradley encouragedhis players to follow theexample of Davis because hewould like to see more play-ers take charge of a situationrather than watch players notgive their best effort.

Senior tight endLawrence Brown said thatthinking has become secondnature to the Trojans.

“We take a lot of pride init,” Brown said. “That is whatwe have been doing and prac-ticing since we were in mid-dle school.”

Now, though, there isn’tanother class to serve as thebuffer from the front line.

Brown said he and the otherseniors have to lead from thefront not from behind thisseason if they want to raisethe bar again for the 2012class.

Richardson said NewHope has another reason todisplay that style of leader-ship.

“We want to prove thatbecause we lost all of thoseseniors that we’re still goodand we can still compete witheverybody else,” Richardsonsaid. “If you give all you gotsomething good is going tohappen.”

Brown knows New Hopewon’t enter this season withthe preseason expectationslast year’s team did. Still, thatdoesn’t decrease the respon-sibility these seniors will feelfor maintaining what the firstclasses established.

“We don’t have thebiggest kids or the strongestkids or the fastest kids. Wejust have the heart,” Brownsaid. “Being the underdog iswhat we like. We like fornobody to give us a chance.We have shown that in theplayoffs. At playoff time wealways have been the under-dog and we always found away to win. That is just how itis at New Hope.”

And if one class doesn’tfollow through, they will get areminder of just what it issupposed to do.

“Last year, Jeremy Wellscame back after a game wedid real horrible in and didn’tplay with much heart andsaid we were messing upeverything they started,”senior JoJo Reeves said. “Hesaid we have to continue thattradition. Since then, we havestepped it up a little bit.”

That’s a legacy any NewHope class would be proud toleave for future classes toeclipse.


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TROJANS!

2011SCHEDULE

Aug. 19 at LouisvilleAug. 26 OpenSEPT. 2 NOXUBEESept. 9 at ColumbusSEPT. 16 CALEDONIASept. 23 at SaltilloSEPT. 30 OXFORDOct. 7 at HernandoOCT. 14 LAKE CORMORANTOct. 21 at ClarksdaleOCT. 28 CENTER HILLNOV. 4 AT WEST POINT

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

NEW HOPE TROJANS

2-Trae Collins, 3-James Hill, 4-Daniel Gregory, 5-Horace Carr, 6-Victor Deloach, 7-Jemarqus Brooks, 8-Q Newby, 9-Jaquin Weatherspoon, 10-Darius Petty, 11-Howard Petty, 12-Preston Davis, 14-JavontayLewis, 15-Nathan Sprouse, 16-Ryan Lee, 17-DeAngelo Hamilton, 18-Lonnie Stephenson, 19-E.J. Jenkins, 20-Dalton King, 21-Jameel Johnson, 22-Devin Walton, 23-M.J. Shirley, 24-Todd Harris, 25-BrandonSpann, 26-Tre Townsel, 27-Ryan Lowe, 28-Shontae Miller, 30-Austin Oswalt, 31-Fred Harrison, 32-Quinton White, 34-David Richardson, 35-Dylan Tribolet, 36-Jeremy Washington, 37-Ben Veazey, 38-TylerFaris, 40-Hunter Harris, 42-Ryan Forrester, 44-Terrence Payne, 45-Jacob Bowen, 49-Dustin Owens, 50-Joseph Hreish, 52-Joseph Reeves, 53-J.C. Redden 54-Kearick Patterson, 55-Jace Caldwell, 56-DerekPierce, 57- Justin Sherrod, 58-Lee Pegram, 59-Morgan Franks. 60-Matt Barnes, 61-Eric Romans, 62-Nate Saint, 64-Dalton Gray, 65-Juan Cedano, 70-Allen Harvey, 72-Drew Hoyt, 74-Andrew Vasser, 75-Thomas Fisher, 76-Brodi Owens, 77-Leebo Davis, 78-Marcus Johnson, 79-Rashaud Terry, 80-Ryan Dye, 82-Tavoris Crowell, 86-Lawrence Brown, 88-Wesley Roland.

SENIORS WILL TRY TO CREATE THEIR LEGACY

Front row, from left: New Hope High School seniors David Richardson, Darius Petty, Lee Pegram, and“Roc” Carr and back row, from left: Lawrence Brown and JoJo Reeves will try to take what theyhave learned from past classes and play with heart and guts. Adam Minichino/Dispatch Staff

BY GARY [email protected]

CALEDONIA — Itstarts with BenMarchbanks, who takesthe snap from under cen-ter.

He backpedals beforeturning to his right for ahandoff to TylerArmistad. Or does he givethe football to OntarioLowery, who cuts by LukeEads?

Or does Marchbankskeep it himself?

This is the challengeCaledonia’s Wing-Toffense plays to offer its2011 opponents.

One season afterinstalling the deception-filled system, second-yearcoach Ricky Kendrickexpects his young team tobe better prepared to uti-lize it. That in itself, hebelieves, is a win.

“People like to throw itaround,” Kendrick said,“but it gives us a chance tobe more competitive. Wetry to control the tempo ofgames, try to slow itdown, get first downs,move the sticks, play goodon special teams and ondefense.”

For now, Caledonia willcontinue to mount thesetypes of small victoriesuntil their play on the field,their strength in the weightroom, and their mentalendurance with their play-book can equal or surpasstheir opponents.

“We just came in andwe told them, ‘Hey, ourgoal this year is to be com-petitive. We don’t knowhow many ballgameswe’re going to win,’Kendrick said. “I’m notworried about Ws and Lsright now. I’m worriedabout learning the game,getting better at playingthe game, and the Ws will

begin to take care of them-selves.

That doesn’t meanCaledonia, which went 1-10 last season, won’t com-pete Friday nights. In fact,the Confederates will goout to win every Friday,just like any other team.They won’t play to lose.

But players and coach-es recognize the babysteps involved with build-ing a foundation for a pro-gram that ended a 25-game losing streak lastseason with an overtimewin against Amory.

“We want to build onwhat we did last year,which was a good thing,”senior tight end ColeCarter said. “Comingtogether as a team during

the summer workouts,and in the spring. Buildingon that and hopefully, agood playoff run.

“Obviously get morethan one win, which wouldbe nice.”

Actually, it would begreat.

“Not having a steadycoach — since I was a

freshman we’ve had therevolving coaches,” seniorguard Hunter Griffin said.“Stability this season hashelped, so we’re excited.We get to keep the sameoffense, not learn a newone again.”

On defense, linebackerWill Breen said his unitmust do a better job of

establishing its place onthe line of scrimmage solinemen aren’t able tofocus on getting to him ashe attempts to fill in holes.

“We would like to getmore parallel to the line ofscrimmage,” said Breen, asenior. “We want to runmore downhill and attackthe football, which we did-n’t do much of last year.”

That area will be vital tothe Caledonia’s successbecause the secondary isthe team’s biggest ques-tion mark entering its sea-son opener againstNettleton. The athletesare there, but they need todo a better job of cover-age, Kendrick said.

Improvement is whatKendrick is targeting.

Sure, no team shows upFridays not to win. But heknows his squad has tolearn a few more lessonsbefore its players areready to challenge everyweek without mental let-downs.

“That doesn’t meanwe’re not going to com-pete,” he said.


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CONFEDERATES!

2011SCHEDULE

AUG. 19 NETTLETONAUG. 27 WEST LOWNDESSept. 2 at Heritage Academy SEPT. 8 EAST WEBSTERSept. 16 at New HopeSEPT. 23 ACKERMANSept. 30 at CarthageOCT. 7 HOUSTONOct. 14 at LouisvilleOCT. 21 KOSCIUSKOOct. 28 at Noxubee County

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

CALEDONIA CONFEDERATES

1-Randy Randle, 2-Jon Jon Phinizee, 3-Jarrett Winston, 4-Ben Marchbanks, 5-Jason Bryant, 6-Gary Walden, 7-Trey Lancaster, 8-Brandon Henry, 10-Jonathan Pagaduan, 11-Peter Pagaduan, 12-JamesLongmire, 13-Joshua Kugel, 14-Ryan Unruh, 15-Sage Kangas, 16-Joshua Betts, 18-Lucas Eads, 20-Onterrio Lowery, 21-Chris Griffin, 22-Quavis Betts, 23-Nathan Brauer, 24-Jordan Anderson, 30-WilliamBreen, 31-Tyler Armistad, 32-Christian Champion, 33-Cole Reed-Wood, 34-Dale Castle, 35-Orlandis Smith, 46-Anthony Brewer, 48-Cole Carter, 50-William Rushing, 53-Randy Weeks, 54-Jeremy Reedwood,55-Hunter Griffin, 57-Cody Cliett, 58-Casey Staples, 59-Jacob Smith, 60-Tyler Blaine, 61-Stephen Sykes, 62-Andrew Phillips, 63-Darryl Williams, 64-Jarrett Hopper, 66-Will Mainka, 67-Zachery Harrell,68-Stephen Black, 69-Colton Gilbreath, 70-Garrett Wester, 72-Tristan Nessell, 74-Reed Schoon, 77-Shane Chadwick, 78-Nicholas Moore, 79-Daniel Cunningham, 80-Jacob Rhodes, 83-Nathan Kendrick, 84-Hunter McBride, 86-Xavier Hill, 88-Telvin Shinn.

KENDRICK FEELS CONFEDERATES WILL BE BETTER PREPARED

CLASS 4A REGION 4, DISTRICT 4

CaledoniaHouston

KosciuskoLeake Central

LouisvilleNoxubee County

From left: Caledonia High School’s Cole Carter, Randy Weeks, Will Breen, and Hunter Griffin will be the core group second-year headcoach Ricky Kendrick looks to to help the program makes strides. Gary Estwick

“We want to build on what we did last year,which was a good thing. Coming together as ateam during the summer workouts, and in thespring. Building on that and hopefully, a goodplayoff run.”

Caledonia High School lineman Cole Carter

INSIDEn MORE CALEDONIA: Aposition by position look atthe Confederates. Page 9


STEENS — Confidenceis only one part of the equa-tion.

Every team needs lead-ers to implement the lessonsthe coaches are teachingand to reinforce the beliefthat their squad can accom-plish anything it sets itsmind to.

Greg Watkins didn’tknow if he was going to haveany players like that whenhe left Hebron Christian tobecome the new head foot-ball coach at Immanuel

Christian.It didn’t take him long to

discover — much to his

delight — that he had a solidcore of leaders who wereready to help their coachtransition into a new role.

The leadership of return-ing players JeremyDavidson, Norris Harris,Michael Tate, and JamesWriley and newcomer JasonDavis have helped Watkinsintroduce a new offense anda new way of doing things atImmanuel Christian.

“You can strategize andyou can talk to the players,but a coach isn’t going to wina championship. You have tohave leaders, and I have gotsome pretty good leaders,”Watkins said. “That is onething I was hoping for whenI came here is that I wouldhave some guys step up asleaders. I know Norris andJeremy Davidson are twosenior leaders as good asyou’ll find.”

Watkins has relied on that

leadership because the Ramshave faced a series ofchanges since last season’shistory-making season.Shawn Gates, who led theteam to a 6-6 record and itsfirst trip to the MississippiAssociation of IndependentSchools 11-man playoffs,resigned, as did assistantcoaches Bubba Davis, who isnow at Starkville Academy,and Daniel Merchant, who isnow at Nettleton.

Those coaches not onlyhelped Immanuel Christianget back to the playoffs, butthey also guided the team toa 14-13 victory againstHoulka on Oct. 1 that wasthe program’s first againstan 11-man team.

The MAIS “rewarded”Immanuel Christian for itssuccess by moving it fromClass A to Class AA, where itwill be paired with CantonAcademy, Leake Academy,

Manchester Academy, OakHill Academy, and WinstonAcademy in District 2AA.

“We have moved the ballon them,” Tate said. “It is notlike we haven’t played theseteams. We moved the ball onthem in jamborees. It isn’tgoing to be an issue of mov-ing the ball and gettingyards. It is going to be a mat-ter of stopping other teams’offenses.”

Tate’s attitude reflectsthe confidence Watkins hasworked to instill. Earlier inthe preseason, he posted amessage on the door to thefield house that stressed thateveryone in the locker roomneeded to believe that Ramscould accomplish theirgoals. It said players andteams were defeated if theydidn’t believe in what theywere going to do when theyleft the locker room.

Harris, who transferred

from Caledonia High beforethe start of the 2010 season,has tried to be proactive ingetting his teammates tobelieve.

“If you walk out therethinking you will get beatyou will get beat,” Harrissaid. “If you walk out therethinking you are the tough-est one on the field, you willplay like that.”

Watkins said Harris hastried on occasion to pumphis teammates up when theyhave lost their energy due inpart to fatigue or the hotweather. He is excited aboutworking with Tate, Harris,and Davis in a misdirectionoffense that will forcedefenses to pick their poi-son.

“They are two real goodrunning backs,” Watkinssaid of Tate and Harris.“They are like what we’regoing to face. If you don’t

wrap them up, they’re notgoing to go down. They areboth strong and they bothhave big tree-trunk legs andthey have the speed. Thenyou throw in a Jason Davis,and he is faster than both ofthose guys, and it reallygives us a triple threat.”

Davis is a transfer fromColumbus High. His pres-ence will help he Eaglesovercome the loss of RossMoore, who was the team’squarterback last season. Aninjury will keep Moore out ofaction this season.Sophomore Darius Joneswill take his place.

Watkins coached atWinona Christian and atEast Holmes Christianbefore moving to HebronChristian. He spent the pasttwo seasons as footballcoach at Hebron Christian,which is in Pheba, and guid-ed the team to a 5-15 record.

Rob Barron, the school’snew baseball coach, will joinWatkins on the football staffas an assistant coach.

Watkins hopes he hasaddressed tackling, whichwas one of his biggest con-cerns early in the preseason.

“My big philosophy incoaching is practice makeshabits,” Watkins said. “In theleague we’re in and againstthe backs we’re going toface, if we don’t tackle it isgoing to be a long year.”

Harris and Tate arefocused on making animpact in their final highschool season. Theyacknowledge the step up inclassification will be a chal-lenge, but they are investedand eager to see how theystack up.

“We have a good enoughteam to make the playoffsagain,” Tate said. “We havemore talent this year than wedid last year.”

Said Harris, “We have thetalent and the speed and a lotof leaders on the team. Wehave a great coach, too. Ithink we can get somethingdone.”


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2011SCHEDULE

AUG. 19 WINONA CHRISTIANAug. 26 at Leake AcademySEPT. 2 MARSHALL ACADEMYSept. 9 at New SiteSEPT. 16 CANTON ACADEMYSept. 23 OpenSept. 30 at Carroll AcademyOCT. 7 POTTS CAMPOct. 14 at Manchester AcademyOCT. 21 WINSTON ACADEMYOct. 28 at Oak Hill Academy

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

IMMANUEL RAMS

2-Norris Harris, 5-JD Dantzler, 7-Michael Tate, 8-Brendan Bailey, 9-Bruce Baudoin, 10-KC Cunningham, 11-Darius Jones, 15-Douglas Keys, 17-Brennen Bowen, 24-Jason Davis, 25-Zach Ferguson, 41-BJShirley, 51-Zac Johnwick, 52-Zach Kimbrell, 53-James Wriley, 54-Josh Davidson, 56-Logan Shackelford, 58-Cody Dunn, 63-Josh Hughes, 65-Luke Hudson, 66-Will Harmond, 74-Jeremy Davidson, 79-ChrisRandazzo.

MAISClass AA

District 2AACanton Academy

Immanuel ChristianLeake Academy

Manchester AcademyOak Hill AcademyWinston Academy

RAMS WILL RELY ON LEADERS IN MOVE UP

Back, from left: Immanuel Christian players Jason Davis, James Wriley, Norris Harris, and Jeremy Davidson and Michael Tate, front, willbe the leaders coach Greg Watkins will look to in his first season as a head coach at the school. Adam Minichino/Dispatch Staff


Kaleb Holliness andJay Pace don’t have aproblem with doing more.

Whether it means help-ing a classmate with theirstudies or spending extratime after football practiceto sharpen timing, theplayers know the rewardsare worth the extra time.

If the rest of theVictory Christian footballteam takes that sameapproach the Eaglescould have a successfulseason.

But Victory Christianwill have to do all of thatwith a new look.Standouts Landon Ellisand Tyler Jones havemoved up, while seniorquarterback Marcus Simswill miss the season torecover from a near-fatalcar accident.

The openings have cre-ated positions Holliness,Pace, and the rest of theEagles are ready toembrace.

“We just have to pulltogether and pick up pret-ty much where we left offeven though we don’thave Marcus,” Hollinesssaid. “We have to encour-age people who have tostep up to be in new spots.There is no other way.You just have to keepgoing forward.”

Said Pace, “We justhave to step up the game,work harder, practiceharder, and just give it 100percent. People have tostep into new roles andnew responsibilities.”

Pace, who also playslinebacker, is taking thelead, moving into full-back. He will be the leadblocker for Holliness,who will step into a biggerrole on offense.

A year ago, LandonEllis and Tyler Jones tookthe lion’s share of thesnaps. The time and ener-gy they invested in theprogram played a key rolein Victory Christian win-ning the ChristianFootball Association titlesin 2008 and 2009 and 30games in a row. Thatstreak ended Nov. 5, 2010,when TuscaloosaChristian defeatedVictory Christian 24-20.

“It’s going to be hard tostep in for Landonbecause usually when hetouched the ball it was anautomatic touchdown,”Holliness said. “We’re justgoing to pick up where heleft off and trying to cre-ate new stuff.”

Holliness will step intoa bigger role on offense.He also will continue toplay a key role in the sec-

ondary. The 5-foot-8 1/2,135-pounder will teamwith Pace and junior quar-terback Bryer Bolton, atransfer from Vernon, Ala.

It remains to be seenhow many weaponsVictory Christian will beable to develop to com-pensate for the loss ofEllis, but everyone agreesabout the way the teamshould arrive there.

“It is a team effort thisyear,” Pace said. “I thinkwe will do just fine. Aslong as everybody doestheir job, we should havea good team.”

Hamm shares the opti-mism. He admits the factthat the team is in a“rebuilding type of year isoffset by the fact thatthere are young players inthe program who are hun-gry to play football.

Hamm said the dayswhen the Eagles wouldfeature a wide-open attackhave given way to a morephysical brand of football.

The loss of Sims dictat-ed the Eagles were goingto change direction onoffense. Hamm said theteam already had a goodamount of size up front, soit was easy to changeschemes and go with apower running game.

“We’re probably work-ing even harder on thepassing game this yeareven though we want tobe more of a physicalteam because we know ifwe can establish the run,get the defense sitting ona run and then hit thepass, that play will be suc-cessful when we need it,”Hamm said. “I think we’regoing to have to be moreof a ball-control, eight- to10-play drive team. We’regoing to have to controlthe ball, not make mis-takes, not fumble the ball,not commit penalties, allof the things that killdrives.”

Hamm said the bestparticipation in the team’soffseason program creat-ed added depth that hehopes will be able to con-tribute in future classes.

For now, though,Hamm will look toHolliness, Pace, and the



328-5776

Have a Great

Season!GO

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2011SCHEDULE

Aug. 12 at Russell ChristianAUG. 19 VICTORY BAPTISTAug. 26 OpenSEPT. 2 NEW LIFESEPT. 9 TABERNACLESept. 16 OpenSept. 23 at Heritage ChristianSept. 29 at Flint HillOct. 7 OpenOct. 14 at North RiverOCT. 21 TUSCALOOSA CHRISTIAN

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

VICTORY CHRISTIAN EAGLES

1-Austin Richardson, 2-Will Jones, 3-Bryer Bolton, 5-Reed Fulgham, 11-Shane Bradford, 12-Hunter Austin, 13-Will Porter, 14-Tayler Frye, 19-Roy Boden, 21-Anthony Sharp, 22-Cody Bolton, 23-Will Pitts,32-Jay Pace, 33-Charlie Price, 34-Kaleb Holliness, 48-Paul Blair, 52-Joshua Foxworthy, 54-Chase Austin, 55-Bo McCrary, 56-Brandon Shaw, 64-Aaron Ott, 75-Clinton Spencer, 80-Nick Hairston, 88-SamFisher, 99-Michael Elliott.

MORE IS ONLY WAY TO GONew leaders excited for chance to move into bigger roles for Eagles

“It is a team effortthis year. I think wewill do just fine. Aslong as everybodydoes their job, weshould have a goodteam.”

Victory Christian seniorJay Pace

rest of the upperclassmento set the tempo.

“It is not necessarilyrebuilding the program asmuch as it is rebuildingcertain positions on theteam,” Hamm said. “Theyhave done a good job. Wehave been lifting weightsince school ended lastyear. Jay has worked hard,and Kaleb, as long as hehas been playing, he hasworked on his own to tryto get bigger. They bothworked hard in the offsea-son and look good interms of conditioning,strength, and leadership.”

Both players say theyfeel a lot stronger thanthey did last year and areready and willing to domore to help the teamaccomplish its goals.

“These guys seem towant to do well becausethe bar has been setwhere it has,” Hamm said.“We have talked aboutwhy were doing whatwe’re doing, as far as two-a-days in 100-degreeweather because we haveto get through the suffer-ing before we experiencethe glory.

“If we expect to suc-ceed, we have to prepareourselves so we canexpect it, not just hope ithappens.”

ABOVE, RIGHT: VictoryChristian running back/linebacker Jay Pace, left, andsenior runningback/safety/corner back KalebHolliness stand in in the middleof shoulder pads hanging fromthe rafters of the third-basedugout on the baseball field atthe school. Both players areexpected to play importantroles for a team that lost several of its key performersfrom last season.Adam Minichino/Dispatch Staff


Brad Butler believes inpositive thinking and pos-itive energy.

He isn’t sure if thosethings have any actualmedicinal value, but theHeritage Academy foot-ball coach is convincedgood things will happenas a result of an approachthat sees the glass as halffull.

But as much as Butlerbelieves in positive think-ing, he understands it isineffective if it isn’t putinto action.

This season, Butlerplans to do his best tomake a positive impres-sion on his players. Hehopes they will respond,stay focused throughadversity, and push theteam to realize its poten-tial.

“I think we have high-er goals,” Butler said. “Ithink those guys realizethat if you keep pushingthings can get better, butthey’re just not going toget better. Somebody hasto do something differentto make it better. Goodthings don’t all of a sud-den come to you. If youkeep working, keepworking good things willhappen. If you just sitback and wait for goodthings to happen it proba-bly isn’t going to hap-pen.”

Heritage Academy iscoming off a four-win sea-son in which injuriesplayed a key role. ThePatriots lost startingquarterback BrandonBell, a transfer fromCaledonia High School inthe fifth game of the sea-

son, and senior runningback John LawsFerguson in the thirdgame of the year. Bothplayers were fixtures inthe lineup, and theirabsence forced the teamto go through a rebirththat took several games.When the Patriotsemerged, they defeatedWashington School andshowed the fight andtenacity Butler hadhoped to see earlier inthe year.

“Well, as bad as westruggled at one pointlast year we were still afew points away frommaking the playof fs,”Butler said. “We kind ofwent through a lull there

and lost (senior runningback) John (LawsFerguson) about thethird game and Brandonin the first game. It tookus a while to get backgoing. We took a stepback. I tell these guys allof the time you’re alwaysgoing to face adversity.Things pop up that youdon’t count on and some-body has to step back up

and get the boat headedback in the right direc-tion.

“It just took a fewgames for us to get thatdone. We went into theWashington game and itfelt right again. From thatpoint, we used that tobuild on. I hated that wewaited until two gamesbefore the end to get thatdone. If we start havingsome adversity we haveto right the ship prettyquick and get the ballrolling back in the rightdirection.”

This season, Butlerhopes a healthy Bell willstay healthy for the entireseason and be part of agroup of seven seniors heis counting on the set thetone. While the Patriotshave greater depth intheir junior and sopho-more classes, Butler feelsall seven players — Bell,Blake Sharp, TylerKnight, Clint Markham,Mark Adams, HaydenHigginbotham, and TylerMarchak — are quality

young men who can con-tribute a lot of things thisseason.

Even thoughHigginbotham, who hastransferred fromStarkville High, and Bellare from other schools,Butler likes the fact thatthat group has beenthrough lean times asrecently as 2009, whenthe Patriots won theirfirst three games andthen closed the seasonwith eight consecutivelosses.

“We have come a longway since I have beenhere,” Sharp said. “Ithought we were going tobe good when I first start-ed playing because of oursize. I think we have a lotof speed and playmakersin our junior group. Lastyear, they were young. Ithink they have grown upa little bit and that theywill help us out.”

Said Adams,“Everybody has a goodattitude, and we have alot of returning players(16). I think everybodyknows what we want toaccomplish. If we put ourheads together and focuson it I think we can do it.It is our job as leaders tohelp us do that and tokeep everybody in line.”

Sharp is a three-yearstarter on the defensiveline. Knight will see timeat fullback and at Mikelinebacker and Markhamwill play defensive end.Marchak also is a two-year starter, while Butlerfeels confidentHigginbotham will find aplace to make a contribu-tion.

“He is eager to learnand doing everything weask him to do,” Butler

said. “We feel he is goodfor the team as a leader. Isaw some leadership abil-ity out of him the first dayhe was here. Normallyyou don’t see that out of aguy on his first day. Hedoes know some guys,but he showed someleadership abilities on hisfirst day on campus.”

Higginbotham said ithas been a huge changeand that his teammatesshow a lot of promise.

“We’re coming hardand fast and we’re goingto be mean,”Higginbotham said.

Higginbotham alsohas heard a lot about thepotential of the juniorclass. He said he hasseen Miller Puckett’sspeed and Cade Lott’sability to make plays. Buthe also knows that it willtake more than a fewplayers to help thePatriots realize their play-off dreams.

“It’s in our hands,”Higginbotham said. “It isas far as we want to gowith it and how hard wewant to work is how farwe can go.”

Butler will get achance to see just howhis team responds toadversity starting Friday,when it travels to Lamar.He hopes he will see ateam that makes a state-ment in its opener andone that will fight backwhen it is faced withadversity.

Until then, Butler iscounting on his seniorsbeing proactive to helpthe team bounce backafter it is knocked down.

“We’re counting onthat so we don’t startheading in the wrongdirection,” Butler said.


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328-5776

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2011SCHEDULE

Aug. 19 at LamarAUG. 26 STARKVILLE ACADEMYSEPT. 2 CALEDONIASept. 9 at MRASept. 16 at LeeSEPT. 23 JASEPT. 30 MAGNOLIA HEIGHTSOct. 7 at Oak HillOct. 14 OpenOct. 21 at WashingtonOCT. 28 PILLOW

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

HERITAGE ACADEMY PATRIOTS

PATRIOTS LIKE CHANCES TO HAVE BIG YEAR

The Heritage Academy football team will rely on its seniors this season to help it get back to the playoffs. Front row, from left: ClintMarkham, Tyler Knight, and Mark Adams. Back row, from left: Brandon Bell, Blake Sharp, Hayden Higginbotham, and Tyler Marchak.Kelly Tippett/Dispatch Staff

MAISCLASS AAA,

DISTRICT 1AAA, DIVISION II

Heritage AcademyLee Academy

Magnolia HeightsWashington SchoolJackson Academy

Madison-Ridgeland AcademyPillow Academy

NOTE: Jackson Academy, MRA, andPillow Academy are Division I. All regular-season games count towarddetermining the teams that willadvance to the playoffs.

“If we put our heads together and focus on itI think we can do it. It is our job as leaders tohelp us do that and to keep everybody inline.”

Heritage Academy senior Mark Adams


back Cedrick Jackson,and wide receiverDeontae Jones, just toname three — can be spe-cial.

“We have been lookingfor that bunch to step upand take over for twoyears,” Stanford said. “It istime for them to finish thisyear. Every year we havefinished the season wehave felt like we shouldhave won two or threemore ballgames if we hadfinished, and we didn’t fin-ish.”

Edwards would likenothing better to helpColumbus finish. As asophomore, he bouncedfrom quarterback to full-back and didn’t really havea position. It wasn’t untilthe coaches moved him tolinebacker that he found ahome, and he has spentthe past year making it hishome.

Stanford said Edwardsworked through typicalgrowing pains and under-stands how to play theposition well enough todictate to others.

“It’s a lot different

(from last season)because we didn’t haveany leadership,” Edwardssaid. “My being a junior, Iwas still getting the posi-tion down. I still couldhave been a leader, but notbeing confident in myselfto play the position, I start-ed getting confident lateron in the year, which iswhen I started to step upas a leader and directingguys in what to do and notto do. We didn’t have thatpowerful leadership thatwe have this year.”

Cockrell, a safety, saidit was painful to stand onthe sidelines with aninjured shoulder and notbe able to help his team-mates. He said the injurymotivated him to comeback and affect a changein the program. He feelshe is back to where hewas last year and is readyto do whatever needed toget the Falcons on theplayoff track.

Edwards feelsColumbus is already closeto that goal. He said theinability to finish gameslast season has been a

nagging reminder that haspushed him throughsprints at the end of prac-tice. He sees the sameeffort from his teammatesand feels the team is onlygoing to improve if every-one is giving their all sothey’re capable of doingtheir best.

Only then, he said, willthe Falcons be able to fin-ish.

“I can’t really talk thatmuch, but I want every-body to come out to thegames and see,” Edwardssaid. “We’re going to showthem. We feel great.Everybody is in shape,and most of the peoplewho were key players lastyear are back. You putthose little pieces in thepuzzle and we’re going tocomplete that puzzle. Thatis why we feel this is goingto be the year. There areno letbacks or setbacks.We’re just going to go for-ward. We’re going to fin-ish the puzzle and glue ittogether and make sure itis stuck.”

ColumbusContinued from Page 3

OFFENSEQUARTERBACKBen Marchbanks, SoJarrett Winston, SoMarchbanks excelled at the position in thespring game, despite never playing it before.He's a converted tailback. Winston was thebackup in 2010."We're going to run the football,” Caledoniacoach Ricky Kendrick said. “I have to havesomebody that can operate the offense. Thewing-t has to be smooth. Both of these kidsgive us a chance to do that."

FULLBACKTyler Armistad, JrCole Reed-Wood Jr.Both players complement the other, althoughReed-Wood is a better receiver out of the back-field. He will also see time at wingback."The fullback is the main back in the wing-t. Wehave to establish the running game, so it's abig load to carry. The ball will be equally sharedbetween all four of the backs. We want to keepthose kids as fresh as we can. I'd considerthem both starters."

TAILBACKOntario Lowery, SoQuavis Betts, SoThe Confederates place two of their fastestplayers at this position.“Lowery saw his first action last season againstHamilton and ended up leading the team inrushing. (Lowery) had a great spring. He had256 yards rushing in the spring game. So we'rereal pleased with that. He's a real down hillrunner. Betts hasn't seen much time, but hasgood speed."

WINGBACKLuke Eads, JrCole Reed-Wood Jr.Randy Randall, JrEads will earn extended playing time after play-ing in reserve role in 2010."(Randall), he's a little fellow, but he'll get afteryou. He's areally tenacious guy. He's not the best blocker,but he can go. He gives us a little speed in thepassing game."

WRSTrey Lancaster, JrPeter Pagaduan, JrJonathan Pagaduan, JrJustin Beats, SoCount on Caledonia receivers to concentrate oncreating running lanes in the secondary for theirbacks. But don't be surprised by the occasionalpass."The main thing we're looking for out of oursplit ends is that we want them to block."

OLCENTERGarrett Wester, jrCody Cliett, Fr"(Wester) did a good job in spring, graded reallyhigh. He had the best grade this spring game onthe offensive line.

GUARDHunter Griffin, SrJarrett Hopper, JrColton Gilbreath, JrThe guard position is vital to the wing-t. Theguards must have fast feet in order to get out infront of blocks. They can't let their backs beatthem to the hole or the offense is in trouble."(Griffin offers) great leadership. Has reallyrisen to what you'dexpect out of a senior, to pull those young kidswith him."

OTTyler Blaine, JrWill Mainka, SoReed Schoon, SoZach Harrell, JrCaledonia is inexperienced at the position and

need to learn the system quickly."Reed played really good in the spring with thelimited amount of snaps we had. He graded thesecond-best on the offense line."

TECole Carter, SrRyan Unruh, JrJosh Kugel, JrCarter is being heavily recruited at offensivetackle, a position hewill likely play on the next level. He and Unruhsplit time at the position last season."When we go two tight end set, both of thoseguys will be on the field at the same time."

DEFENSEENDSRandy Weeks, SrRyan Unruh, JrTyler Blaine, JrJosh Kugel, JrNot a very experienced group. The group will besmall across across the front and will rely ontheir mobility to get off the ball."Ryan is a returning starter. Weeks hasn'tplayed football, but he has looked good throughthe spring and we think he'll be a big help tous."

TACKLESCole Carter, SrHunter Griffin, SrJeremy Reed-Wood, SoCasey Staples, Fr

ILBWill Breen, SrTyler Armistad, JrColton Gilbreath, JrChristian Champion, FrOther than Breen and Armistad, the other play-ers are inexperienced."We want to see some better run play out ofthis group. We think we got some pretty skilledpeople."

OLBJohn Phinezee, SrTrey Lancaster, JrJarrett Winston, SoCole Reed-Wood Jr.The Confederates are pleased with the their toptwo linebackers."We like John's leadership. He's very knowl-edgeable. Helps us get lines up, makes sure wehave correct defensive alignment. Lancasterplayed a good bit last year as well.

SECONDARYLuke Eads, JrRandy Randall, JrPeter Pagaduan, JrJonathan Pagaduan, JrJustin Beats, SoBen Marchbanks, SoOntario Lowery, SoThe position group is perhaps the biggest ques-tion mark on the team. The secondary playersdid not cover well during the spring. Because ofthis, offensive players like Lowery andMarchanks will be available if other playersstruggle."It's almost like we're staring over there. Wefeel like we have good athletes, but we've gotto get the right fit."

SPECIAL TEAMSKICKERJosh Kugel, Jr

PUNTERWill Breen, Sr

LSZach Harrell, Jr

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Starting this fall,Antonio Wilson will makesome new friends.

So long Hamilton HighSchool. Nice to meet youWest Oktibbeha.

It’s been niceAckerman. Noxapater,we’ve heard a lot aboutyou.

Hope things work out,Eupora, but we’ve got anOctober date against Weir.

Wilson, a senior runningback at West Lowndes HighSchool, plans to offer mem-orable first impressions tohis new Friday night oppo-nents now that the Panthershave switched from Class2A to 1A in the MississippiHigh School ActivitiesAssociation and longtimecoach Bobby Berry hasretired. One of his formerlettermen, Anthony King(Class of 1988), will takeover.

Accomplishing this taskwill place the Pantherscloser to the playoffs, clos-er to advancing past thefirst round for the first timein more than a decade.

Wilson is capable ofleading the effort. He iscoming off a junior season

in which he rushed formore than 2,000 yards.

The problem for oppo-nents in 2011?

“I want to do more,”Wilson said. “I want to getmy team to the state cham-pionship.”

A year later, the 5-foot-8,160-pound playmaker isstronger. A year later, thesame 260-pound benchpress he considered hismax now feels light. Sodefenders, if you get a handon him, you better makesure it’s two hands, and youbetter hang on for a ride.

He’s faster — evenfaster than last seasonwhen he could reach theend zone faster than youcould say The Dispatch2010 Small Schools All-Area co-offensive Player ofthe Year.

“We’re pretty muchgoing to lean on AntonioWilson,” offensive coordi-nator Todd Stanley said.“There’s no doubt about it.He’s got some things youjust can’t coach. He’s quickand he’s shifty. He seesthings on the field otherkids just don’t see. Heknows how to step offblocks, when to accelerate,and when to go slow.”

All Wilson needs is his

inexperienced offensivelinemen to mature in timefor the season opener Aug.19 against MontgomeryCounty. Senior DeMarcusHill, who will move fromright guard to left tackle, isthe lone returning starter.Because of this, he ispreparing for a season ofplaying as well as teach-ing.

“It’s a challengebecause I’m a senior, so I’mgoing to have to push peo-ple to do better,” Hill said.“Hopefully they can pushme, too.”

Hill knows if they cancreate even the smallestrunning lane for Wilson, ifthey can hold their blocksjust a little better, a littlelonger than last season,Wilson can sprint out thetrenches, into defensivesecondaries and often-times, reach the end zone.

“I like to see him bustout and make touch-downs,” Hill said. “It feelsgood blocking for him.”

West Lowndes (6-5 lastseason) will again run aspread offense, its way ofkeeping defenses guessingwith formations rangingfrom two tight ends to theWing-T, a new look for thePanthers.

While the Pantherswant to improve on thefield, perhaps the top itemon their 2011 wish list willbe improved player leader-ship. Last year, depth andmental breakdowns causedanother late season let-down.

Too many times thePanthers had the depthand focus to keep gamesclose in the first, second,and third quarters — evenearly in the fourth quarter— but not in the final min-utes. Too many players losttheir focus late in the sea-son, including their 58-24loss to Baldwyn in the firstround of the playoffs.

“It wasn’t as far as I want-ed to go, but we had somesuccess last year,” saidGerald Sanders, who isentering his senior seasonas starting quarterback. Healso plays defensive back.“We just didn’t have theleadership. This year, wehave it. We’re going to haveour heads in the game thisyear. We have friends thatlisten to the players. Theytalk to the players, motivatethem to do better. We don’thave anyone trying to be

selfish.”King was hired in July to

take over for Berry, his for-mer football coach.

“I think he’s done aheck of a job at WestLowndes,” King said ofBerry, who coached foot-ball at the school since1998 and spent more thanfour decades involved inhigh school sports. “I couldtell from the first condition-ing workout with that kidsthat they were real likableand he had done a good jobwith discipline. They’re all-around good kids.”

Wilson is a member ofthat group. He is going todo his best to focus on thescoreboards. Sure, he’lltake as many yards as hecan get, but he’s more con-cerned about making amemorable first impres-sion in Class 1A.

“Some of my teammatesare looking up to me,” hesaid, “so I have to step upthis season.”


Proud to support the

West Lowndes Panthers!

Priscilla King940 Tuscaloosa Road

Columbus, MS662-328-9988

2011SCHEDULE

Aug. 19 at Montgomery Co.Aug. 25 at CaledoniaSEPT. 2 SHANNONSEPT. 9 ETHELSept. 16 OpenSept. 23 at East OktibbehaSEPT. 30 NOXAPATEROct. 7 at PelahatchieOCT. 14 WEST OKTIBBEHAOct. 21 at Nanih WaiyaOCT. 28 WEIRNov. 4 at Sebastopol

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

WEST LOWNDES PANTHERS

1-Jermaine Thomas, 2-Eric Harris, 3-Bryant Smith, 4-Quantavis Snell, 5-Deion Ames, 6-Gerald Sanders, 7-Darius Farmer, 8-Justin Stephenson, 10-Antonio Wilson, 11-Dominique Kelly, 12-Cody Crawford,13-Brandon Malone, 14-Phytrel Williams, 15-Henry Mayfield, 20-Trevor Stowers, 21-Jamal Lasker, 22-Javarious Ellis, 23-Jonathon Mixon, 24-Kendrick Sanders, 25-Roy Miller, 30-Tyler Brown, 32-MarquiseMiller, 34-Jevontrae Williams, 38-Dexter Farmer, 50-Krayveon Harris, 52-Demarcus Hill, 54-Ladarius Jackson, 55-Breshon Brooks, 58-Ronnie Porter, 59-Katzman Rogers, 60-Korey Wilson, 65-Sean Smith,66-Raheem Brewer, 68-Dontavious Riley, 70-Dalen Sanders, 70-Jaboris Davis, 74-Levonte Campbell, 75-Martin Lyons, 80-Daniel Davis, 81-Tyshon Rogers, 82-Kovi Rice, 83-Jacobie Burnett, 88-EddiePippins.

CLASS 1AREGION 3, DISTRICT 4

East OktibbehaEthel

Nanih WaiyaNoxpater

PelahatchieSebastopol

WeirWest LowndesWest Oktibbeha

WILSON WILL LEAD PANTHERS INTO NEW BATTLES

West Lowndes High School senior running back Antonio Wilsonrushed for more than 2,000 yards last season. He likely will getjust as many chances to rush for the same total this season.Gary Estwick

Inside West LowndesQUARTERBACK

Gerald Sanders, JustinStephenson.

n The Panthers needSanders, now in his sec-ond season as startingquarterback, to take onmore running duties. Whilehe played well last year,Sanders wasn’t the rush-ing threat he needed tobe.“He’s going to have totake a bigger load,” WestLowndes coach AnthonyKing said. “Our offense isdesigned for our quarter-backs to step up and runthe ball. He’s going tohave to take some of thepressure off of Antonio.”

RUNNING BACKSAntonio Wilson,

Jevontrae Williams, andTrevor Stowers.

n Stowers earned playingtime last year after Wilsonand the offense had sever-al games in hand. Williamswas brought up late lastseason after the juniorhigh season. He’s bringingbrought up slowly behindthe older backs.“Antonio is our starter. Hewas a big part of ouroffense last year and a lotof teams know it. Behindhim, Trevor has the mostexperience. He’s just ahard nosed player. He’s alittle guy, but hismotor is wide open. If weput him at center, he’dplay center.”

RECEIVERSDeion Ames,

Darius Farmer, Jermaine Thomas, Henry Mayfield,

Quantavis Snell, andMarquise Miller.

n Farmer is the lonereceiver/tight end with

experience, a cause forconcern early this fall.“We’ve had a lot ofdropped balls in practice. Iknow it’s early, but,we definitely have to getbetter in that area. They’regoing to haveto step up.”

OFFENSIVE LINEDeMarcus Hill,

Ladarius Jackson, Breshon Brooks,

Levonte Campbell, Korey Wilson, Jaboris

Davis, and Martin Lyons.n Hill and Jackson arethree-year starters. ThePanthers are hoping toadd more depth early thisseason.“Hill and Jackson, theyknow what to do, andhopefully, they willbring the other two guysalong. Wilson started onthe line as asophomore and last year,came off the bench ondefense. This year,he’s back on the offensiveline.”

DEFENSIVE LINEKorey Wilson,

Ladarius Jackson, Breshon Brooks,

Jaboris Davis, DeMarcus Hill,

Darius Farmer, andRaheem Brewer.

n West Lowndes will uti-lize a five-man front, simi-lar to the defensive linecoach King utilized atNoxubee County.“At nose guard — theleast-experienced positionon the defensive line —we will rotate Brooks andDavis and Brewer. We’regoing to do a lot of shuf-fling because those guysare going to get tired.

LinebackerRonnie Porter,

Trevor Stowers, Phytrel Williams, and

Marquise Miller.n This fall will markWilliams’ first season as astarter, while Porterand Stowers are returningstarters.“Trevor, he pretty muchcalls the defense, getseverybody lined up.He’s going to run to thefootball. Ronnie Porter isthe same way. Hedoesn’t say a lot, but hedoesn’t mind sticking hisnose in there.”

SECONDARYJamal Lasker, Eric Harris,

Justin Stephenson,Jermaine Thomas, Deion Ames, and Gerald Sanders.

n Two new players willstart at cornerback. Theywill get the first shotat the job. Behind them,four or five players couldbe called on tostep in.“Lasker and Harris, both ofthem are fast. They’re notthat tall (5-foot-7), butthey’re fast with goodcover skills, lose hips andcan turn and run with any-body.”

KICKER / PUNTERTrevor Stowers

“I think we just need todevelop a little bit moredepth and get them play-ing in a big cohesive unit.After all, we lost abouthalf the starters from lastyear. There’s a lot of newfaces out there, so it’sgoing to take some timeto jell. But the talent isout there.”

— Coach Anthony King


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after playing right guardlast season.

“It all comes with get-ting older and knowingyou have to have the rightmind-set,” Rogers said.“Sometimes your mind isstronger than what youfeel like when you’re tired.I’m still working on that.There was a time I pulledthe wrong way justbecause I used to playright guard. You got to bementally strong, play welland play right.”

Cannon has seized themoment of his senior year,too, after missing springpractice due to academicineligibility. He took sum-mer school and correspon-dence classes to completehis work in time to joinStarkville High for camp.

Cannon said talkingwith coach Jamie Mitchellabout his academic situa-tion was “intense.”

“It wasn’t nice at all,” hesaid, smiling. “But I knewwhat I had to do after that.I knew how important Iwas to the team.”

The offensive line, aworry spot before Mitchelltook over, has benefitedfrom a simple approach.While the skill playersmust learn a dearth of


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2011SCHEDULE

Aug. 19 at Noxubee CountyAUG. 26 MADISON CENTRALSEPT. 2 TUPELOSept. 9 at West PointSept. 16 OpenSEPT. 23 LANIERSEPT. 30 PROVINEOct. 7 at RidgelandOCT. 14 CANTONOct. 21 at Yazoo CityOCT. 28 CALLAWAYNov. 4 at Neshoba Central

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

STARKVILLE YELLOW JACKETS

BY DAVID [email protected]

STARKVILLE — Onelook at Starkville High’sroster shows tremendouslosses from its breakoutsquad of 2010.

Quarterback and 30-touchdown scorer JaquezJohnson is gone, as are pri-mary receiving targetsShaquille Hill andMartavious Foster.Running backs JakartaAgnew and Garrett Smithare gone, too.

So how will the YellowJackets score this year?

The answer isn’t in thebackfield or out wide; it’sup front where threestarters return.

Cory Cannon and EricRogers plan to carry theoffense on their backs.Their mind-set is simple: Ifthey create lanes and keepquarterback Gabe Mylesclean, everything else willtake care of itself.

“You’re never gonnaknow how young playersare going to react, andwe’ve got a lot of themaround us,” Cannon said.“But, at the same time,they’re all good players.We’ll continue doing whatwe’re doing just like we didlast year.”

Cannon and Rogers will

Cory Cannon, left, and Eric Rogers are expected to play key roles for a Starkville High School football team that needs to replace several key losses. David Miller/Dispatch Staff


CallawayCantonLanier

Neshoba CentralProvine

RidgelandStarkvilleYazoo City

JACKETS STRONG UP FRONTCannon, Rogers expected to be fixtures on offensive line, to carry team

start at right guard and leftguard, respectively, thisseason. Both started lastseason, and Rogers entershis third year as a two-waystarter for the YellowJackets.

Entering his senioryear, Rogers said he’s bet-ter prepared to deal withthe fatigue that comes withplaying both ways. He alsohas had to learn left guard See STARKVILLE, 24

n The Volunteers welcometwo transfers and are excited about their startingfive.“Angus is our anchor andis the best all-around player on our line.”

just be competitive, butwin — Ryan has to excel.He’s going to have toshow a little more maturi-ty and composure in theheat of battle, too.”

McKell said learningand playing multiple posi-tions can be tiring, butafter a summer of workingwith coach Bubba Davis inthe weight room he feelshis body is prepared. Helauded Davis’ work inincreasing the teamstrength and speedthrough summer camps

and campus workouts.“I played wing back and

receiver last year, so reallyI’m just having to learnone more position (quar-terback),” said McKell,who was clocked at 4.6seconds in the 40-yardsprint this summer atMississippi State. “Butwherever I’m at, I’m goingto feel even more confi-dent because of how muchcoach Davis pushed us inthe weight room. It’s nightand day around here as faras how much stronger we

are.”Catchot has experi-

enced the same strengthgains as McKell, whichwill be even more vitalplaying guard and defen-sive tackle. Catchot isStarkville Academy’s bestlineman and most physi-cally imposing.

What sets him apart,though, is his feet.

“His feet are muchquicker than last year,”Terrill said. “He also uses


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2011SCHEDULE

AUG. 19 ST. ANDREWSAug. 26 at HeritageSEPT. 2 MAGNOLIA HEIGHTSSept. 9 at LeakeSept. 16 at HillcrestSept. 23 at J. PrepSEPT. 30 COPIAHOCT. 7 PARK LANEOct. 14 at WinstonOCT. 21 ERAOct. 28 at Pres. Chr.

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

STARKVILLE ACADEMY VOLUNTEERS

CATCHOT, McKELL WANT TO HELP PUSH VOLS HIGHERBY DAVID [email protected]

STARKVILLE — Askanyone who the two mostvital players to StarkvilleAcademy’s offense are andthey’ll quickly point toAngus Catchot and RyanMcKell.

The seniors — Catchotis a starter at right guardand McKell is a do-it-allathlete — don’t carry theburden of ending a two-season losing skid. Theyare, however, responsiblefor making sure theVolunteers don’t fall offafter winning three of fourto end 2010 season.

One glance at the duoand it’s clear: They’re big-ger, stronger, and ready toget Starkville Academy tothe MississippiAssociation ofIndependent Schools play-offs.

Starkville Academycoach Jeff Terrill doesn’thide the fact he must havehis offense’s two best play-ers perform at a high leveleach week to alleviate anygrowing pains first-yearstarting quarterback DrewPellum might have.

“Both of those guys pro-vide so much to us,” Terrillsaid. “They’re going tohave to play well and thensome.”

McKell will be theVolunteers’ go-to threat inthe running game,whether he’s at A-back orat quarterback. Terrill saidMcKell runs hard and isquick to the edge, whichmakes him an ideal fit at A-back. But like any talentedathlete — McKell is 6-foot-1, 200 pounds and hasgood quickness — coach-es want to get the most outof him, so expect to seeMcKell all over the fieldthis season.

“He’s got the ability toplay at the next level,”Terrill said. “When we gotthe ball to Ryan last year,we scored points. For us totake the next step — not

MAISCLASS AAA, DISTRICT 2

Copiah AcademyEast Rankin Academy

Hillcrest ChristianStarkville Academy

Jackson PrepParkland Academy

Presbyterian Christian

NOTE: Jackson Prep, ParklaneAcademy, and Presbyterian Christianare Division I. All regular-seasongames count toward determining theteams that will advance to theDivision I and Division II playoffs.

Starkville Academy will look to starting right guard Angus Catchot, left, and to do-it-all performerRyan McKell to help the team build on a strong ending to the 2010 season.David Miller/Dispatch Staff

See VOLUNTEERS, 24

See SA CHART, 24

“We’re going to seesome great lines, butwe’re bigger andstronger than we werelast year. We’ve justgot to stay healthy.”

Starkville Academycoach Jeff Terrill

37n Number of players onthe Starkville Academyroster compared to 28 lastyear.

QUARTERBACKDrew Pellum, Ryan McKell.

n Pellum, a junior hasbeen named the starterand takes over for KyleHenson.“You’ll see Ryan in there,too, for a change of pace,”Starkville Academy coachJeff Terrill said. “ButPellum will be critical inour offense.”

RUNNING BACKSRyan Mann, John MichaelRobinson, Colby Runnells,James Mapp, Ryan McKell,

and Brandon Sharp.n Starkville Academy’striple-option attackemployees multiple running backs.“We like our speed to theperimeter this year. We’vealso got more depth.Those two together makea coach smile.”

RECEIVERSHunter Bolin, Jordan Bright.

n The passing offense wassorely lacking last season,but Terrill thinks theVolunteers will be able tokeep defenses honest thisyear.“We’re real excited aboutthese two, especiallyJordan, who has the heightand strength and catchesthe ball well. We thinkwe’ll be able to stretch adefense.”

OFFENSIVE LINECody Smith, Colin Stokes,

Angus Catchot, Tripp Janessen, and

Cole Phelps.

Inside Starkvil le Academy

PositionBreakdown


2011SCHEDULE

AUG. 19 LEAKE COUNTYAUG. 26 MCADAMSSEPT. 2 NORTH PONTOTOCSEPT. 9 SEBASTOPOLSept. 16 at EthelSEPT. 23 WEST LOWNDESOct. 7 at NoxapaterOCT. 14 PELAHATCHIEOct. 21 at West OktibbehaOCT. 28 NANIH WAIYANov. 4 at Weir

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

EAST OKTIBBEHA TITANS


East OktibbehaEthel

Nanih WaiyaNoxpater



TITANS COMMITTED TO CHANGEBY DAVID [email protected]

CRAWFORD —There’s renewed spiritand dedication in the EastOktibbeha County Highfootball camp.

Naturally, much of itcan be attributed to theleadership of the team’sseniors. For the Titans,defensive back ArthurGillespie and do-it-all play-er Kortland Petty arespearheading the move-ment to transform EastOktibbeha.

Both players havestarted each of the pastthree years and have wonClass 1A state trackmedals.

But success in footballhas been limited to a pairof four-win seasons in thepast three years. Gillespieand Petty haven’t beatenrival West Oktibbeha intheir high school careers.

Things had to changeon the field, but moreimportant the Titansneeded to commit to thecause in the offseason andin the summer.

“No one wants whathappened last year,” Pettysaid. “These guys knowwe’re better than 4-7, andwe’re finally starting toact like it.”

Gillespie said playerattendance to summer lift-ing sessions improvedthis year, and teammatesstarted to lift with theintent of becoming betterplayers.

“It’s been all of us get-ting bigger and stronger,”he said. “We’ve got goodguys with good skill, butwhat we were able to dothis summer is reallygoing to show.”

The weight room hasalso been a way for sen-iors to regulate detrimen-tal behavior or pooreffort.

“There’s no morehorseplay,” Gillespie said.“This team is dif ferentfrom the ones we’ve hadin the past.”

Gillespie is about 95percent recovered fromanterior cruciate ligamentsurgery last fall. He saidthe summer workoutswere essential to prepar-ing him for the season.

Though Gillespie isnear full fitness, Titanscoach Randy Brooksbelieves he’ll be twice asgood because of hisknowledge of the defense.

The three-time statetrack champion is also themost athletic member ofEast Oktibbeha’s veteran-led secondary.

“He’s going to bedirecting traf fic morethere than he has inrecent years,” Brookssaid of Gillespie. “Hereads sets well and getsus lined up. He’s going to

“We’re not carryingdead weight aroundhere.”

East Oktibbeha County High School coach

Randy Brooks

Inside East Oktibbeha

2006n The last time EastOktibbeha beat rival WestOktibbeha. The players aremotivated to break theskid.

PositionBreakdown

QUARTERBACKDavalyn Bell, Kodi Petty

n Bell enters his first yearas a starter, replacing two-year starter ChrisHunter.“Davalyn has speed andwork ethic in the weightroom,” East OktibbehaCounty High coach RandyBrooks said. “He hasn’tbeen challenged quite yetin terms of a scrimmage,though.”

RUNNING BACKTerrence Rice, Justin

Williams, and Juwan Roberts.

n In the Titans’ single-wingoffense, Rice, a fourth-yearstarter, will be the featureback.“They’ve all worked hard inthe weight room this summer. We’ll be bigger,faster and stronger therethan last year.”

RECEIVERSKodi Petty, Jamal Halbert.

n Petty and Halbert willplay tight end in the system and will be used toblock primarily.“They’re flex enough thatwhen we run spread theycan go out to receiver.”

OFFENSIVE LINEJalen Peterson,

Justin Williams, andJamarquiz Page.

n Peterson, a guard, is thestrongest person on theteam and was an All-District selection last year.“Jalen’s going to have todo (Demonte) Horsley (former two-way starter)type work this year.”

DEFENSIVE LINEJalen Peterson,

Justin Williams, andJamarquiz Page.

n Like Peterson, theTitans’ other top linemenplay both ways.“I expect Jalen to be double-teamed. If not,they’ll just eat peoplealive.”

LINEBACKERLanathan Brown, Jamarquiz Page.

n Brown and Page will bethe tackling machines in a5-2 system.“I also feel like we haveseveral others to play linebacker for us in othercombinations.”

SECONDARYArthur Gillespie, Juwan Roberts,

Jamal Halbert, and Terence Rice.

n Gillespie is the leader ofthe unit at free safety.“Our best athletes areback there, so we’re goingto be strong.”

East Oktibbeha County High School’s Arthur Gillespie, left, and Kodi Petty will try to help the Titans beat West Oktibbeha for the firsttime since 2006 and help the team get back to the playoffs. David Miller/Dispatch Staff

be very valuable.”Petty is likely to see

time at receiver, defen-sive back, and quarter-back. East Oktibbeha’sutility player will be vital.He led the Titans with434 receiving yards andfive touchdowns last sea-son. Still, he had just 15total touches last season.

“We’re trying to getthe ball into his hands asmuch as possible,”Brooks said. “He’s just

one of those athletes whois so flexible for us. He’salso improved his abilityto let the game come tohim. He doesn’t panicwhen something goeswrong, which allows himto step up and be a betterplaymaker for us.”

This summer, EastOktibbeha skill playersdid something they rarelydo: Go to a passing camp.The Titans camped atEast Mississippi

Community College andgot valuable on-fieldexperience, Brooks said.The time was also impor-tant in building relation-ships and camaraderie.

“I’m feeling better andbetter about our depthand this team because ofhow hard the kidsworked this summer,”Brooks said.

To ensure the team-first message covers allbases, Brooks is adamantevery player on the rosterwill play. He even hintedat the idea of making cutsto make sure the teamwon’t have “bench-warm-ers.”

“It’s like I told the boysin track, we won’t carrydead weight,” Brookssaid. “The ones I’m keep-ing will have a definedrole.”

“It’s been all of us getting bigger andstronger. We’ve got good guys with good skill,but what we were able to do this summer isreally going to show.”

East Oktibbeha County High School senior Arthur Gillespie

1-Bryton Conley, 2-Davalyn Bell, 2-Curtis Randle, 4-Terence Rice, 6-Jamal Halbert, 7-Kortland Petty, 8-Juwan Roberts, 10-John Outlaw, 14-Arthur Gillispie, 20-Nate Brown, 22-Jawon Brown, 24-LanathanBrown, 32-Dion Clanton, 50-Jalen Peterson, 55-Jeremi Staples, 60-Jamarquiz Page, 62-Langston Spencer, 65-Justin Williams, 78-Jacorey Brown.

don’t practice it, but someteams don’t have the toolswe have,” Smith said. “Wehave great receivers, and Igo through my readsquick. This year, we wantto have our offensemajored-out. We want torun it almost to perfection.”

Now entering his junior

year, Smith returns withthe standout receiversDwight Quinn and DrakePowell. But there’s a twistto how potent the offensewill be: The running game.

Confident teams will stillstruggle to prepare for WestOktibbeha’s passing attack,Lowrey believes the teamcan take a greater step —making a playoff run — ifteams have to respect therun and the pass.

“When we went to five-wide, coaches thought itwas crazy,” Lowrey said.“We commit to throwingto all five, too. It put somuch strain on thedefense that mid-seasonlast year, people didn’tblitz us. Now imagine howdefenses will have to playus if we can run the ball.”

Though Smith mayhave less opportunity tosling the ball around thefield, he’s excited about theidea of running morebecause of how lethal theteam will be. As the quar-terback, he’s involved withread and zone option plays.

“Coach says we’regonna be 50-50,” Smithsaid. “I’m still gonna get mytouches; I’m involved inabout 20 percent of theruns, so you know, howcould you not be excited

about it? Plus, it gets thatmany more guys involved.”

The Timberwolves went6-5 and narrowly missed aplayoff spot last year. ForLowrey, it’s the first time hehas started preseason with-out having to make whole-sale changes.

He expects Smith andthe offense to take thenext step and to operate ata quicker tempo and toeliminate penalties.

“To walk into a seasonknowing we’re polishing isa great feeling,” he said.“We’ve actually trimmedback the plays, runningless to be more efficient.Last year, our emphasiswas speed and how quickwe can run the next play.As soon as the ball isdown, we’re running theplay this year. That’s whatwe’re aiming for.”


2011SCHEDULE

Aug. 19 at Univ. ChristianAUG. 26 MONTGOMERY CO.SEPT. 8 EUPORASept. 16 at Nanih WaiyaSEPT. 23 WEIRSept. 30 at SebastopolOCT. 7 ETHELOct. 14 at West LowndesOCT. 21 EAST OKTIBBEHAOct. 28 at NoxapaterNov. 4 at Pelahatchie

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

WEST OKTIBBEHA TIMBERWOLVES

PositionBreakdownQUARTERBACK

Von Smithn The junior passed for2,900 yards and 29 touchdowns last season.“He’s a leader and studentof the game,” WestOktibbeha County Highcoach Adam Lowrey said.“He knows when to do it.”

RUNNING BACKTiberias Lampkin,

Shun Fair.n The Timberwolves arededicated to balancing theoffense this season, whichmeans more action forLampkin and Fair.“Both of these guys havegreat hands, are strong,and dedicated.”

RECEIVERSDwight Quinn, DrakePowell, and Aaron

Brownlee.n Quinn is the most experience and explosiveof the group.“People will have to doubleDwight every play, butDrake is a great complement.”

OFFENSIVE LINEJohnny Chambers, Sharrod

Stafford, DonovanHenderson, and Alex

Chambers.n Two juniors and two seniors make up the group.“I look for a lot out ofDonovan, who is quick offthe ball and dependable.”

DEFENSIVE LINEJohnny Chambers, Sharrod

Stafford, DonovanHenderson, and Alex

Chambers.n Like most of the roster,West Oktibbeha’s linemenwill play both ways.“Sharrod is a big, strongplayer who’ll really helpthis group.”

LINEBACKERTiberias Lampkin, Shun

Fair, and Bishop Robinson.n Fair and Robinson areexperienced seniors.“This group is strong andeveryone loves contact.”

SECONDARYVon Smith, Dwight Quinn,

Drake Powell, andJonathon Love.

n The defensive backs areexperienced at runningCover 2.“Some of our best athletesare back there. They’ll bejust as productive as theyare on offense.”


East OktibbehaEthel

Nanih WaiyaNoxapater



BALANCED T’WOLVES TARGET PLAYOFFSBY DAVID [email protected]

MABEN — Two yearsago, Von Smith was thescrawny freshman with thebig arm.

Thrust into a startingrole midway through theseason, the WestOktibbeha County HighSchool quarterback was atthe center of a newlyinstalled passing offense.

The diminutive Smithstruggled that year, toss-ing twice as many intercep-tions than touchdowns.The ups and downs Smithhad, though, were exten-sions of the team’s rebuild-ing process under coachAdam Lowrey.

Lowrey knew he had aspecial talent in Smith andthat it wouldn’t take longfor his quarterback to lightup Class 1A.

Smith wasted no timeliving up to his coach’spresage his sophomoreyear, finishing with 2,910passing yards and 29touchdowns to just 10interceptions. He complet-ed 57 percent of his passesand averaged 264 passingyards per game.

“You have no idea howmuch better he’ll be thisyear,” Lowrey said.

Smith, though, is ananomaly, as most 1A pro-grams have traditional oroption rushing attacks astheir base offense.

Passing offenses oftentake more time to perfectbecause of the timingneeded between a quarter-back and receivers. Then,a team has to have a quar-terback who not only canthrow, but who also can doit accurately.

For Class 1A teams thatoften have less than 30players on the roster, stick-ing with a run-based sys-tem typically yields highergains.

That’s to Smith and theTimberwolves’ advantagebecause most teams can’tsimulate what they do inpractice.

“Not only the fact they

Bishop Robinson, Dwight Quinn, Shun Fair, Drake Powell, Aaron Brownlee, Richard Richmond, Sharrod Stafford, Alex Chambers, Darrius Clark, Von Smith, Tiberias Lampkin, Donovan Henderson, JonathanLove, Kelsey Jefferson, Johnny Chambers, Michael Graise, Lavontae Tate, DeShun Brown, Lamorris Cunningham, Ty Smith, Deontae Smith.


PHEBA — Seniors BenPearson and HarleyThompson, both new tothe Hebron Christian foot-ball team, took distinctivepaths to their new lockerroom.

Three years ago,Pearson was a 5-foot-4,120-pound freshman atOak Hill Academy. Heplayed quarterback on thejunior varsity team andwas a member of the spe-cial teams unit on the var-sity squad.

“I was gettingsmashed,” he said. “I waslike, ‘This is not for me.’That just really made mehate the game so much.”

So he quit.At Hebron Christian,

Thompson wanted to playvarsity football, but wasn’tallowed. His parents didn’twant him to get hurt. Afterhis eighth-grade year, hewas forced to hang up hiscleats.

“It was hard becauseeverybody else wantedme to play,” Thompsonsaid. “It was rough. I want-ed to be out there.”

Entering their seniorseasons, the roadblockshave disappeared just intime to help the Eaglesrebound from a 1-9 recordin 2010.

Pearson is now 5-10,181 pounds and enjoyinghis new-found girth on theoffensive line. It shouldallow him to protect quar-terback Will Corbin and toopen holes for runningbacks Marquez Robinson,Taylor Coggins, and CodyTatum.

“Never imagined beingone of the bigger peopleon the team,” he said.

And Thompson finallygot permission to playfrom his parents.

How’d he do it?“I really don’t know,”

Thompson said. “Theysaid, ‘Yes’, so I didn’t askthem any questions.”

Both players — two ofeight seniors on the team— are a part of the foun-dation first-year coachGerald “Tri” Nason istrying to build. Yes,they’re new to the team,but leadership is abouteffort and motivation

more than years of experi-ence.

“We don’t have a lot ofguys, but the guys that arehere are here to workhard, give me whatthey’ve got, and try not tomake any excuses. I likethat,” said Nason, a gradu-ate of Starkville Academyand a former football play-er at Mississippi Stateunder Sylvester Croom.“If we build off of thatmentality, once we canlearn how to win, we’ll bedoing a whole lot better.”

So far, it has worked.Attendance was high forvoluntary workouts thissummer, with Thompson,Coggins, Robinson, andTatum leading the way.

Nason hopes successthis season will lead toincreased participation.The roster size this seasonforced Hebron Christianto move from 11- to eight-

man football this season. On offense, Hebron

Christian will run a spreadformation and try to con-fuse defenses. Nasondescribed Corbin, hisquarterback, as an athlete.He can run, he can throwand, more importantly,he’s smart with the foot-ball. Last season, he wasthe varsity backup andstarted at receiver.

Nason believes Corbinwill have a greater impactat quarterback because hecan makes plays and touchthe ball on every play. Itprobably helps Corbin isgood friends with Pearson,his new center.

The Eagles were shutout three times last seasonand scored 20 or morepoints just four times.Their lone win was a 20-15victory Sept. 3 at WestMemphis Christian.

On defense, HebronChristian will utilize adefense that plays to itsstrength. The unit,coached by David Foster,has more linebackers thanlinemen.

Sophomore TroyArnold, new to the varsitysquad, is an example.“He’s just real aggressive,he likes to punish hisopponents, whether it’s atpractice or at games,”Nason said. “He likes todeliver the big hit.”

Then there’s the twosenior newcomers.Pearson said he doesn’tmiss being under center.

“It’s pretty cool,” saidPearson, said of playingcenter. He sat out ofsports after transferringmidway through his soph-omore season.

“There’s a lot more youhave to do, being a centerthan just being on theteam. It’s a lot of responsi-bly. You and the quarter-back have to have thatconnection, and me andCorbin do.”

Thompson, who is 6-1,235 pounds, will play rightguard and on the defen-sive line. Unlike Pearson,he hasn’t played any otherhigh school sports.Returning to football hasproved to be physicallychallenging, but mentally,he said he never left thefield, dating back to hiseighth-grade team.

“It would be great if Icould set that example andthat’s what starts it off,”Thompson said of startinga winning tradition. “Itwould be great to get thataccomplished.”

QUARTERBACKCorbin Rogers, Taylor Coggins.

n The Eagles are hopingsmart play at quarterbackhelps them ease backinto eight-man football.Corbin Rogers is enteringhis first season as astarter at the position.“(Corbin) is an athlete.Throw, run, catch. He fitsin just right,” HebronChristian coach Tri Nasonsaid. “A lot of what we’regoing to do — shotgun,running options — that fitsinto what he can do. Andof course, he can makethe passes.”

RUNNING BACKTaylor Coggins, Cody

Tatum, Marquez Robinson,and Cody Tatum.

n The rushing game is oneof the team’s strengths,led by some of HebronChristian’s most dedicatedplayers.“Marquez is your quick,slashing running back.Taylor, he’s just a hard runner, whether he’s getting around the corneror he’s going to run oversomebody. Cody, he’s thebig boy. He’s the pounder.”

RECEIVERSDavid Kinard, MarquesRobinson, Ryan Moore,

and Taylor Coggins.n The Eagles need thisgroup to produce. Themore of a threat they are,the better off the runninggame will be.“David, he’s a tall lankykid (6 feet). He can runreal good. Ryan,he can catch anythingthrown to him. If he cantouch it, he’s going tocatch it. We need thisgroup to produce in orderto keep the offensebalanced.”

OFFENSIVE LINETroy Arnold, Jacob Ware,

Ben Pearson, Jacob Ware, Harley Thompson, and

Jacob Ware.n Even though the grouphas two seniors, it’s one ofthe most inexperiencedpositions on the team. Butif they figure things out, itcould transform into anoffensive strength.“With the size they have,they’re going to be plentybig to handle thedefenses they’ll be playingagainst.”

DEFENSIVE LINECody Tatum, Troy Arnold,Ben Pearson, and Jacob

Ware.n Defensive coordinatorDavid Foster would love toadd another one ortwo capable players to therotation, helping theEagles keep freshlegs in the game, especial-ly on passing downs.

“They’ve got some potential,” Hebron Christiandefensive coordinator DavidFoster said. “They just needto reach it. We’ve got lownumbers, so we’re playingboth ways, so we have tobeat people by being inshape.”

LINEBACKERSHarley Thompson,

Taylor Coggins, and Ryan Moore

n Coggins and Moore willadjust to the eight-mangame, while Thompson,who hasn’t played footballsince the eighth grade, willre-adjust to playing football, which includesstarting on offense anddefense.“Both of those guys(Thompson and Coggins)are capable of being hardhitters,” Foster said.“They’re quick to get tothe ball. Both of thoseguys want to hit somebody. They’re goingto seek somebody to hiton every play.”

DEFENSIVE BACKSMarquez Robinson,

Ryan Moore, Corbin Rogers, and

David Kinardn Foster will stress theimportance of makingtackles, as well as defending the pass. Younever want to miss tacklesin 11-man football, but ineight-man, the consequences can beworse.“I’m expecting them toplay physical,” Foster said.“Most of these guys thatwe have back there arecapable of putting big hitson people.”

SPECIAL TEAMSKICKER

Cody TatumPUNTER

Corbin Rogers

ASSISTANT COACHESDavid Foster

(Defensive coordinator),Hearne Foster

(Offensive/defensive line)


2011SCHEDULE

Aug. 19 at Strider AcademyAug. 26 OpenSept. 2 at Calvary ChristianSEPT. 9 CLINTON CHRISTIANSept. 16 OpenSept. 23 at Park Place ChristianSept. 30 at Kemper AcademyOCT. 7 FLINT HILL CHRISTIANOCT. 14 CALHOUN ACADEMY

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

HEBRON CHRISTIAN EAGLES

1- Collin Moore, 2-Cameron Smith, 3-Marquez Robinson, 7-David Kinard, 11-Will-Corben Rogers, 15-Cody Tatum, 17-Taylor Coggins, 28-Ben Pearson, 50-Taylor Turman, 52-Harley Thompson, 56-Jacob Ware,65-Troy Arnold, 87-Ryan Moore.

“We don’t have a lot ofguys, but the guys thatare here are here towork hard, give mewhat they’ve got, andtry not to make excuses. If we build offof that mentality, oncewe can learn how towin, we’ll be doing awhole lot better.”

Hebron Christian coachTri Nason

Inside Hebron Christian

Position Breakdown

3n Newcomers this seasonfor Hebron Christian:Hartley Thompson, BenPearson, and David Kinard— all seniors.

30n Most points scored lastseason by HebronChristian (in a 38-30 lossto Calhoun Academy onOct. 22).

n Hebron Christian made aquick switch from 11-manto eight-man football,adjusting its schedule ofopponents in late July andtheir offensive and defensive philosophies.

LOW NUMBERS, HIGH WORK RATEEagles will rely on eight seniors in last minute move from 11-man to eight-man schedule

Hebron Christian seniors Ben Pearson, left, and Harley Thompson will get a chance to contribute tocoach Tri Nason’s first season as head coach at the school. Contributed

Fast Fact

BY DAVID [email protected]

WEST POINT —DeQuinten Spraggins has-n’t been a headliner forthe West Point HighSchool football team.

He has spent much ofhis career as a defensiveback on back-to-back statechampionship teams. Healso backed up his cousin,Justin Cox, at quarterbackand rarely took snapsthere in games.

But as the unques-tioned starting quarter-back of the 2011 GreenWave, he finally will gethis chance to ball out withthe keys to the car.

Spraggins will go towork with nearly all of theGreen Wave’s offensivelinemen from last season’sClass 5A title squad,including senior class-mates Alex Hall, JonathonJones, and Romia Wilson.

He’s anxious and excit-ed to anchor the state’stop 5A team.

West Point coaches,though, hope he finds hisbalance between playingloose and playing out ofcontrol.

“The inexperiencewon’t be the key,” WestPoint coach ChrisChambless said, “but atthe quarterback spot, thegame management, he’sgonna have to do a goodjob of that. We alreadyknow what kind of an ath-lete and person he is.”

Spraggins played quar-terback in junior high, buthe hasn’t taken theknocks from running therock through a Class 5Aseason. He hasn’t had tomove an offense in crunchtime of a playoff game. Hehasn’t had to deliver an

on-target pass on whatcould always be WestPoint’s only pass of thegame.

To boot, his predeces-sor was a standout wholed West Point to statetitles in 2009 and ’10 asquarterback and earned ascholarship to play foot-ball at Mississippi Stateand is now at EastMississippi Community

College.With the level-headed

demeanor his coacheswant from him, Spragginssmiles when reminded ofthe enormity of his transi-tion.

“It’s just my time,”Spraggins said. “I knew Iwas gonna have to playsooner or later. I’ve beensecond string since mysophomore year.”

Having a quarterback“locked in” for an entiregame can be challengingbecause of the GreenWave’s style of play.Whether it’s second-and-1or third-and-17, WestPoint uses its runninggame to impose its will onopponents. Last year, thatbruising strategy pro-duced a pair of 1,000-yardrushers last season.

To Chambless,Spraggins must have anunquestioned commandof the huddle to run theoffense the way the coach-es want.

“He’s got a lot of poten-tial to be able to do that,”Chambless said. “He han-dled the spring real welland he’s very humble.

The big thing is he knowshe won’t have to tote itevery play because of thetalent he has around him.But there’s always achance he might have to.He’s got the confidence todo it.”

Through the springand summer, Spraggins,who had six interceptionslast year, has acceleratedthrough offensive coordi-nator Lee Grisham’s pres-sure-packed scenarios.Spraggins works throughno-huddle situations andunfavorable down-and-dis-tances with little time onthe clock. Nearly everyminute of his practice timeis spent with Grisham in


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2011SCHEDULE

AUG. 20 SOUTH PANOLAAug. 26 OpenSept. 2 at ColumbusSEPT. 9 STARKVILLESept. 16 at NoxubeeSept. 23 at Lake CormorantSEPT. 30 HERNANDOOct. 7 at ClarksdaleOCT. 14 SALTILLOOct. 21 at Center HillOct. 28 at OxfordNOV. 4 NEW HOPE

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

WEST POINT GREEN WAVE

1-Chaddrick Chandler, 2-Stephen Burnett, 3-Ladarius Patterson, 4-Dvanta Randle, 5-Josh Anderson, 6-Tarrence Orr, 7-Jayson Burnett, 8-Nelson Mcintosh, 9-William Harrell, 10-Anthony Johnson, 12-LagarisWordlaw, 13-Diquan Wheeler, 14-Eric Lemus, 15-Dequinten Spraggins, 16-Reshard Deanes, 17-Rashad Jones, 18-Bruce Barclay, 19-Davion Bradshaw, 20-Mario Virges, 21-Jonathan Patterson, 22-AerisWilliams, 23-Leroy Calvert, 24-Roger Thomas, 25-Makarios Sears, 26-Antreon Bennett, 27-TJ Minor, 28-Tez Lane, 29-Stephon Ivy, 30-Charles Heard, 31-Steve Vance, 32-Brandon Edwards, 3-Roger Price,34-Eric Johnson, 35-Jerry Randle, 36-Tyler Witherspoon, 38-Anias Walker, 39-R.J. Tallie, 40-Eddious Webb, 42-Kris Pernell, 43-Bradley Ewing, 44-Freddie Reed, 46-Nathaniel Johnson, 50-Romia Wilson, 51-Chris Williams, 53-Demondtae Donald, 55-Deion Shelton, 56-Ed Brown, 57-Antonio Dent, 59-Travonte Chandler, 61-Ronald Matthews, 62-Carson Miller, 63-Leandrew Hampton, 65-Chris "Swag" Fuller,66-Tyler Jefferson, 68-Willie Owens, 70-Lyndon Johnson, 71-Thomas Tiffin, 72-Riley Morton, 73-Fredricus Mickens, 74-Alex Hall, 75-Nadarrius Eckers, 76-Jonathan Jones, 77-Martavius Jefferson, 78-JordanJohnson, 80-Woodrow Price, 81-Roderick Box, 90-Lederrius Gallion.


Center HillClarksdaleHernando

Lake CormorantNew Hope

OxfordSaltillo

West Point

“It is what it is. Wealways want to play atough non-districtschedule. We’re nevergonna take a backseat because no one’sexpecting us to belike we have been.”

West Point High Schoolcoach Chris Chambless

Inside West Point

4n The number of returningstarters on the offensiveline. The team has onlyseven returning starters.

Position BreakdownQUARTERBACK

DeQuinten Spraggins, Jayson Burnett, and JA Wyatt.

n Spraggins backed up Justin Cox eachof the last two years and enters 2011 asthe unquestioned starter.“He’s just got to improve his game management, and that all comes with experience,” West Point coach ChrisChambless said.

RUNNING BACKTez Lane, Aries Williams, and

Mario Virges.n The Green Wave lose their top tworushers from last season, but Chamblessdoesn’t think there will be a dropoff.“We’ve got good depth and some guyswho’ll run hard. They got to be tough toplay running back here.”

RECEIVERSWill Harrell, Jerry Randle.

n The Green Wave don’t pass much, butwhen they do it’s usually a big gain.“Harrell is our returning starter andshould have a great senior year.”

OFFENSIVE LINEJonathan Jones, Romia Wilson, Alex Hall,

and TJ Minor.n More players return to the offensiveline than at any position.“Six of the eight guys who played areback, too. This is, without a doubt, thestrength of our team.”

DEFENSIVE LINELadarius Gallion, Ed Brown, Freddie Reed,

and Josh Anderson.n Reed, a junior, is the only startingdefensive lineman back from 2010.“There’s some inexperience there, butthey’ve got the potential to do good workfor us.”

LINEBACKERBrandon Edwards,

Trey Bennett.n Edwards is one of just two returningstarters on defense.“Now is the time for Brandon to be in aleadership role.”

SECONDARYAnthony Johnson,

Rashad Jones, Nelson McIntosh, and Jonathan Patterson.

n With Spraggins’ move to quarterback,the secondary is completely rebuilt.“They’re athletic but inexperienced. Nowthey get the chance to step up and makea name for themselves.

DIFFERENT LOOK ALL AROUND FOR GREEN WAVE

The West Point High School football team will go with a running back by committee approach after losing its top two rushers from lastseason. From left: Mario Virges, Tez Lane, Aeris Williams, quarterback DeQuinten Spraggins, Roger Thomas, Makarios Sears, KrisPernell, and Fredricus Mickens. Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff

“It’s just my time. I knew I was gonna have toplay sooner or later. I’ve been second stringsince my sophomore year.”

West Point High School quarterback DeQuinten Spraggins

See WEST POINT, 24


WEST POINT — If leftup to Reid Posey, the OakHill Academy senior willretain the positives fromlast season’s 3-8 campaignand disregard the regret-table moments.

Posey is proud of theway the 2010 Raidersplayed as hard as theycould. Sometimes theirroster size was dwarfed bythe opponents’ depthchart. Other times theywere physically smaller.

“But I felt like the effortwe put out every gamewas our best,” he said. “Ithink that’s going to carryover to this year.”

Then there’s the set-backs — the mental mis-takes and turnovers. Ondefense, the Raiders’inability to force aturnovers coupled withmissed assignments andtackles and too many bigplays allowed proved to bea crippling mix.

Oak Hill Academy’slack of physicality alsoprevented it from reach-ing the postseason for asecond year in a row. It’s aproblem that can’t be fullysolved in the weight room.

“At the end of the day,are you going to make thebig hit or not, or are yougoing to be scared of it?”said Posey, a runningback/linebacker/kick-er/punter who also playson special teams.

Manchester 32, OakHill 20.

The Oct. 8, 2010, lossserved as the biggestexample of what mistakescan lead to. DespiteManchester enduringthree first-half turnovers,

Oak Hill Academy trained17-14 at halftime. TheRaiders fumbled insidethe Manchester Academy10 and in the end zone,giving up a safety.

“Had we won, it wouldhave put us in the playoffs,but it ended up being theother way around,” saidPosey, who is looking for-ward to the rematch onSept. 9. “That was onegame where mental mis-takes killed us. We turnedthe ball over numeroustimes. I don’t even remem-ber how many. That wasthe game walking away weknew we should havewon.”

While the Raidersstruggled, J.R. Wilbournewas on the sideline. Hetore the medial collateralligament in his left kneeand missed five games. Hedidn’t return until the sea-son finale against

Winston.“It made me realize

how much I like playingfootball,” said Wilbourne,who plays right tackle anddefensive end. “It wasweird being over thereand not being able to play.Practice every day for somany days, all through thesummer, you kind of startto get tired of it untilsomething like that hap-pens then you realize howmuch you like playing it. Itmade this year a lot morefun.”

Because the Raidersstill have a lot to learn,first-year coach BenjieMerchant will try to findthe right balance betweenkeeping his small rosterhealthy while teaching thefundamentals of the gameat practice in preparationfor Friday nights.

“There won’t be muchholding back at practice,”said Merchant, a second-generation coach. Hespent part of the offseasonstudying film from lastseason’s games. Thedefense will move from a3-5 to a 5-3 or 5-2.

“We’ve got to hit,” hesaid. “We’ve got to domore of that this year. Ithink they’re lacking moreon that than anything.”

So far, so good for theRaiders. The players haveresponded to Merchant’sworkout challenges, amix of fundamentals andfun. If players appear tobe dragging throughdrills, he will quicklychange things. TheRaiders might completean offense-versus-defensebench press challenge, orthe coaching might couldchallenge a letterman tocomplete a task andwatch his teammates sup-port him. They also mighttry a player-versus-coachliftoff.

It’s moments like thisthat will help Merchantjudge the success of thisfall.

“I think I’m going togauge it by how we look asa team, how we handleourselves when we lose —or win,” Merchant said.

The offense will trans-form from a pro-style of Iformation. QuarterbackConner Baird, a junior,will lead it. His top receiv-ing options include CurtHuffman, Bradley Allen,and Steve Dragoo — allsophomores.

Chad Moore is a line-man turned running back.He spent this offseasonreshaping his body into its6-foot, 175-pound frame.

“It’s been different,”Moore said. “I think we’regoing to do better. It’s adifferent atmosphere.Been fun, more ener-getic.”

It all starts Fridayagainst Newton Academy.

QUARTERBACKConner Baird, Jeb Stevens,

and Clay Henley.n Despite three players atthe position entering theseason, it’s a questionmark for the season.“The group lacks experience, so a strongstart to the season isvital.”

RUNNING BACKSReid Posey, Chad Moore,Rusty Tait, Jeb Stevens,and Chance Livingston.

n One of the deepest unitson the team, it is also ledby great senior leadership“Chad is a (former) lineman last year whochanged his body. He’smade big strides with that.He’s now going to be oneof our fullbacks and linebackers.”

RECEIVERSCurt Huffman,

Bradley Allen, SteveDragoo, Paxton Trull,

Jacob Dickens, Clay Henley, Jeb Stevens,

Bradley Allen, Jacob Dickens, and

Paxton Trull.One of the younger unitson the team.“The receivers, though, arefull of ability and will workto create balance with theoffense.” Merchant alsoexpects a lot of growthfrom tight ends Allen andDickens.

OFFENSIVE LINEMANJohn Robert Wilbourne,

Max Abner, Cooper Orman,Josh Guest, Preston Hall,

Joseph Caskey, Cole Knowles,

Bryan McClellan, andPalmer White.

n Another position whereOak Hill wants to transform a long list ofpotential playmakers intoplayers expected to perform on weekly basis.“Starters make this a solidgroup, but depth is anissue if injuries become afactor.”

DEFENSIVE LINEBradley Allen,

Jacob Dickens, Rusty Tait,Cooper Orman, Josh Guest,

Preston Hall, Joseph Caskey,

John Robert Wilbourne,Cole Knowles,

Bryan McCellan, Palmer White, and

Max Abner.n Depth, again, is anissue.“The more guys that canfind a role in the rotation,the easier it is for thedefense.”

LINEBACKERSChad Moore, Reid Posey,Rusty Tait, Dale Milican,Chance Livingston, and

Paxton Trull.n The same as at runningback, leadership will bekey at this position“(Reid) he’s the perfectcoach’s the kid you like tocoach, he doesn’t every-thing you ask of him.”

SECONDARYCurt Huffman, Jeb Stevens,

Steve Dragoo, Paxton Trull,

Jacob Dickens, Conner Baird, and

Clay Henley.n Part of the responsibilityof better tackling will fallupon this group of youngplayers, the defense’s lastline of defense.“This is a young groupwith a lot of ability.”

KICKERSReid Posey, Chance

Livingston.

Assistants: BradleySimmons (defensive coor-dinator/wide receivers),Carl Middleton (Offensiveline/defensive line), ChrisCraven (Runningbacks/defensive backs)


2011SCHEDULE

AUG. 19 NEWTONAug. 26 at WinstonSept. 2 at IndianolaSEPT. 9 MANCHESTERSept. 16 at WinonaSept. 23 at CantonSEPT. 30 LEAKEOCT. 7 HERITAGEOct. 14 OpenOct. 21 at KirkOCT. 28 IMMANUEL

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

OAK HILL ACADEMY RAIDERS

Position Breakdown

MAISCLASS AA, DISTRICT 2AA

Canton AcademyImmanuel Christian

Leake AcademyManchester Academy

Oak Hill AcademyWinston Academy

About Our Prep CoverageFrom Special Reports

All fall sports coachesare reminded to reporttheir game results to TheDispatch.

Coaches, scorekeepers,parents and/or players cancall 662-327-1297, 662-241-5000 (toll free inMississippi), or e-mail infor-mation to [email protected] [email protected].

Please give us the finalscore, where the game wasplayed, the team records,leading performers, theteam’s next game and anyother notable information.

Since The Dispatch is anafternoon paper, we will trythe next morning to trackresults of all games notcalled in to the newspaper.We will try to call at a rea-sonable hour and don’tmean to disrupt any coach,teacher or professional atwork, but our goal is to rec-ognize the performances ofas many student-athletes aspossible.

If you are a coach,scorekeeper or parent whoreports information to us,please give us the best timeand the best number toreach you.

If the result of a gameisn’t in The Dispatch, pleasework with us to encouragethat coach to contact us sowe can provide the best pos-sible coverage to this area.

If you have any ques-tions, call 662-327-1297.

Prep Football ResultsHigh school football

coaches who don’t speak toa reporter from TheDispatch are asked to callthe sports departmentFriday night with informa-tion from their games.

This is the first seasonwe will work with aSaturday edition. Our dead-line for reporting scores ismidnight. We will try to getin touch with as many foot-ball coaches as possible, sotry to call us with a reportfrom your game beforethen.

Prep Player of WeekEvery Tuesday, The

Dispatch will recognize astandout prep performer.

If you would like to nom-inate a prep player of theweek, call us at 662-327-1297, 662-241-5000 or 1-888-477-1555 or e-mail us atspor [email protected] 5 p.m. Saturday.

RAIDERS WANT TO GET PHYSICALNew coach Merchant wants aggressive approach to take hold to help team change fortunes

“There won’t be muchholding back at practice. We’ve got tohit. We’ve got to domore of that thisyear. I think they’relacking more on thatthan anything.”

Oak Hill Academy coachBenjie Merchant


East OktibbehaEthel

Nanih WaiyaNoxpater




AckermanEast Webster

EuporaHamilton

J.Z. GeorgeWilliams-Sullivan


AberdeenMantachieMoorevilleNettleton

South PontotocWater Valley


CaledoniaHouston




Center HillClarksdaleHernando

Lake CormorantNew Hope

OxfordSaltillo

West Point

Region 2, District 6CallawayCantonLanier

Neshoba CentralProvine

RidgelandStarkville

Yazoo City


ColumbusDeSoto Central

GrenadaHorn Lake

Olive BranchSouthaven

South PanolaTupelo

MAISEight-Man / North - District 1

Calhoun AcademyCalvary Christian School

Central AcademyDelta Academy

Kemper AcademyNorth Sunflower Academy

Russell ChristianVeritas School

Class AADistrict 2AA

Canton AcademyImmanuel Christian

Leake AcademyManchester Academy

Oak Hill AcademyWinston Academy

Class AAADistrict 1AAA, Division II

Heritage AcademyLee Academy

Magnolia HeightsWashington SchoolJackson Academy

Madison-Ridgeland AcademyPillow Academy

NOTE: Jackson Academy, MRA, andPillow Academy are Division I. All regular-season games count towarddetermining the teams that will advanceto the Division I and Division II playoffs.

District 2AAACopiah Academy

East Rankin AcademyHillcrest Christian

Starkville AcademyJackson Prep

Parkland AcademyPresbyterian Christian

NOTE: Jackson Prep, ParklaneAcademy, and Presbyterian Chr. areDivision I. All regular-season gamescount toward determining the teams thatwill advance to the Division I andDivision II playoffs.

Listing of Local Teams’ Classifications


MACON — A trip tothe North State title gameisn’t enough for DeangeloBallard.

One season after help-ing lead the NoxubeeCounty High School foot-ball team one step short ofJackson, the site of thestate’s six championships,Ballard knows nothingless will do in 2011.

As the Tigers’ quarter-back, he is accustomed tothat kind of responsibility.After all, he watched play-ers like Omarr Connerand Termarcus Connerconduct symphonies ofspeed, quickness, and pre-cision on the football field.He soaked it in whenTermarcus Conner leanedon Patrick Patterson andhelped Noxubee Countybeat D’Iberville for the2008 Mississippi HighSchool ActivitiesAssociation Class 4A statetitle, the school’s first.

If Ballard, a junior, hasanything to say about it,Noxubee County will haveanother championship tro-phy to keep that one com-pany in four months.

“I know everybody islooking to me to take theteam to Jackson,” Ballardsaid. “I am ready for that.”

Ballard’s ability to navi-gate a bumpy road thatlikely will include a gameagainst defending Class4A state championLafayette will be madeeasier by an assortment ofweapons that rivals someof the most talented teamsin the history of NoxubeeCounty High.

“This team reminds meof the team that we hadwith all of the talent withOmarr Conner at quarter-back and Joey Sanders atwide receiver andBrandon Tate and ReggieSmith,” Noxubee Countycoach Tyrone Shortersaid. “We had all that tal-ent and all of that speed onoffense. This groupreminds me of that team.We have the receivers, wehave the backs, we canrotate four or five backs ifwe want to. We have five

receivers I can trust.There isn’t a receiver youjust want to focus on. I amcomfortable with whoeverthe quarterback throwsthe ball to. These kidsworked hard all summerat 7-on-7s and got better,so they gained my trust.”

Led by Ballard,Noxubee County will beable to rely on runningbacks Ladarrell Hunt andDarrell Robinson andwide receivers TerrenceBarron, KamalChamberlain, FernandoPhillips, and StarkvilleHigh transfer CharlesHughes.

That group evokesmemories of thePatterson-led cast ofreceivers that won a statetitle. But while Patterson,who went on to sign withthe University ofMississippi and to play atEast MississippiCommunity College, out-shined members of bothgroups, the depth of theweapons on the 2011squad just might get thenod.

“We have betterreceivers this year and abetter running game,”said Robinson, a junior,who rushed for 1,200

yards last season. “Wehave more running backsand a lot of speed. Weadded Charles to thegroup to make it a betterreceiving group.”

Robinson said a keycould be the improvementof Ballard, who he saidmore accurate.

Barron, a senior, is theteam’s go-to receiver. Hesaw plenty of double-teams last season, andbelieves he will see evenmore this season. He, too,feels Ballard hasimproved, which gives theTigers another card toplay if defenses get into arhythm.

“(Ballard) is throwing alittle better because hehas got a lot stronger,”Barron said. “He wants torun the ball, but we can’tlet him because we needhim bad. We need himbad.”

Ballard, whose nick-

name is “Tuttie”, attrib-utes his maturation to thework he did in the offsea-son. The Tigers attended7-on-7 camps atMississippi State and atOle Miss. Ballard alsowent to combines inJackson and in Memphis,Tenn., to work on hisskills. He feels more com-fortable under center andis ready to show he canmanage a game and keepso many weapons happy.

“Sometimes it is diffi-cult,” Ballard said. “I justtry to spread the ball outso I am not just throwingto one person.”

You get the senseShorter wishes NoxubeeCounty could play withmultiple balls to keep itsskill players fresh. TheTigers get the addedbonus of having to prac-tice daily against one ofthe fiercest and quickestdefenses in the state.

This year, though, thedefense might want to callin the reinforcements.

“It is unbelievable thetalent we have,” Shortersaid. “We’re excited aboutour offense. We think ouroffense is going to bemuch more explosive thisyear. The speed of ourteam is unbelievable.They are a bunch of kidsyou enjoy coming to workand coaching every day.

“This group wants it.We had a great turnout allsummer. The kids cameand worked out hard.They were so close lastyear and we have so manykids coming back, andthey really want it. Theyhave been working sincethat North State champi-onship game.”

A 20-0 loss was a smackin the face for a NoxubeeCounty program that hasbuilt a reputation for hitshigh-scoring ways.Ballard, who shared thequarterback role withJared Johnson last season,feels he did “all right” lastseason but is quick topoint out he “didn’t do thebest he could have done”because he still was in thelearning stages.

This year, with Johnson

not playing football,Ballard won’t give himselfthe benefit of the doubt.

“I am expecting myselfand I am expected to dobetter,” Ballard said.

Shorter also has talkedwith Ballard and made itclear to him his perform-ance could be the differ-ence in helping the Tigersto get back to Jackson.

“Ballard has got to go.I put a lot of pressure onhim, which I probablyshouldn’t have, but I toldhim, ‘If we go to Jackson(the site of the six statetitle games) it is going tobe because of you.’ Iwatched all six of thestate championshipgames and the quarter-back was the best playeron the field,” Shortersaid. “I am trying to gethim to be that leader, toput the offense on hisshoulders or on his back.He has the talent. He hasgreat speed, he is verysmart. He is an Honorstudent. He is what youwant in a quarterback.We have watched himmature as a player and asa quarterback. I think heis taking a little bit moreof a leadership role. Hejust needs to show his tal-ent. If it is not there, hehas the ability to take offwith it.”


CLASS 4A REGION 4, DISTRICT 4

CaledoniaHouston



NOXUBEE COUNTY TIGERS

1-Kamal Chamberlain, 2-Fernando Phillips, 3-Nathaniel Peterson 4-Jared Johnson, 5-Eric Hunt, 6-Antravion Jamison, 7-Ladarrell Hunt, 8-Jarvis Taylor, 9-Charles Hughes, 11-Jessie Bryant, 12-Robert Neal,13-Anthony Skinner, 14-Lemadric Macon, 15-Alan Clay, 16-Shaquille Taylor, 17-Terrence Barron, 18-Deangelo Ballard, 19-Jacoby Jones, 20-Rodrick Joiner, 23-Davion Pruitt, 24-Javoris Glenn, 26-DennisBrooks, 27-Devonte Sanders, 28-Darrell Robinson, 29-Javancy Jones, 30-Malik Sanders, 31-Dequalo Martin, 32-Vernon Scott, 33-Jeremy Hunt, 34-Trevond Miles, 37-Douglass Triplett, 40-Antonio Ryland,52-Traon Young, 54-Martize Mitchell, 55-Byron Hill, 56-Taiwan Williams, 57-Melvin Lewis, 60-Tamarcus Williams, 61-Ivan Goodwin, 67-Justin Clemmon, 69-Jercovie Stewart, 71-Jonathan Orr, 74-JaredFarmer, 75-Demarcus Wilborn, 77-Deshawn Hopkins, 78-Ryald Mitchell, 79-Bryce Turner, 81-Miles Ellis, 84-Braxton William, 90-Ralph Franklin, 91-Jose Moran, 92-Antonio Boyd, 94-Dylan Bradley, 95-Michael Brown, 97-Edrion Rice, 99-Raheem Stewart

TIGERS WILL HAVE CHOICE OF WEAPONS2011

SCHEDULEAUG. 19 STARKVILLEAug. 27 at Spain Park (B’ham, AL)Sept. 2 at New HopeSEPT. 9 ABERDEENSEPT. 16 WEST POINTSept. 23 at Kemper Co.Sept. 30 at KosciuskoOCT. 7 CARTHAGEOct. 14 at HoustonOCT. 20 LOUISVILLEOCT. 28 CALEDONIA

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

Improved Ballardwants to lead teamback to Jackson

The Noxubee County High School football team has a deep and talented cast of skill players from which quarterback Deangelo Ballard,back row, far right, can go to at any time. Included in the mix are: front row, from left: Charles Hughes, Lemadric Macon, TerrenceBarron, and Darrell Robinson. Kelly Tippett/Dispatch Staff

“We have better receivers this year and a better running game. We have more runningbacks and a lot of speed.”

Noxubee County High School junior running back Darrell Robinson


MACON — Where’sthe beef?

It may be easy to dis-miss the Central Academyeight-man football teamnow that the graduationlosses of Will Sciple andMatt Taylor have left theVikings with a smallerwaistline.

Sciple and Taylortipped the scales at morethan 300 pounds and wereanchors on an offensiveline that dared opponentsto get in front of it for fearof getting run down.

But don’t confuse aslimmed down roster forone without talent.

If you do, you run therisk of getting bowledover by some of theVikings’ size that returnsfor this season or left inthe wake of some of theirteam speed.

“We have a big role tofill,” senior fullback/line-backer Drew Pearsonsaid. “We lost a lot of beef,we lost a lot of speed. Wehave a lot to make up for.The leaders have to makea step and take everybodyto the next level.”

In all, Central Academylost six seniors, includingleaders like FerrisMcGuire and RowdyRigdon, who is back thisseason with Sciple toassist head coach RonnieSciple. With a roster ofonly 14 or 15 players,Central Academy won’t beable to use depth to over-come its size losses. Butthe five senior mainstayswho have been with theprogram for the past sev-eral years feel the teamstill has enough in place tohelp it contend for a divi-sion title and to makeanother playoff push.

Last season, theVikings bulled all of theway to the MississippiAssociation ofIndependent SchoolsEight-Man title game. A56-18 loss to KemperAcademy doesn’t indicatehow close the game was,

and it shows the kind offight this season’s teamwill have to match what itdid in 2010.

“People are pushingthemselves a lot harderbecause we know what wehave to fill in for,” Newmansaid. “Every practice,everybody is running theirsprints as hard as theycould. It made me feelgood as a senior becausethey’re pushing them-selves for us.

“It’s a good feelingwhenever you see a junioror a sophomore or a fresh-man pushing themselves toeven beat a senior in some-thing. That is great. Youwant to see that. You wantto see someone who isgoing to push themselvesto be a little bit better everyday. We need that.”

Newman may have topush himself the hardest.He is going to have totransition to quarterbackto run an offense that willdo things a little different-ly. Coach Sciple said the

Vikings will still run thefootball because they dohave some size remainingwith offensive linemenCody Brown and RedmonButler back. But he alsoknows a smaller frontmight lend itself better toa team that can throw thefootball, too. As a result,the Vikings have incorpo-rated several new wrin-kles into the offense tocapitalize on what teamsthink they will do.

“We had about 1,000pounds of beef on the linelast year,” Pearson said.“We’re going to try a cou-ple of different things.Cole always runs behindme on kickoffs and stuff,

and I am going to backthere and be his fullback.He knows I am going toblock for him and all hehas to do is grab my beltloop and we’re gone.”

Newman said the sen-iors tried to get a jumpstart on the season byorganizing weight trainingsessions in the offseason.The 2010 group didn’t uti-lize the training time, butNewman and Pearson saidthey knew members of the2011 team had to comeback to school strongerand in better condition.

So far, the work haspaid off as CentralAcademy appears to havefresher legs that will help

it try to improve on lastseason’s 10-2 finish.

“Everybody who start-ed last year as a junior theyplayed just as hard as theseniors did,” Newman said.“We played for them, andwe expect the people underus to play for us, just likewe did them. We push eachother and try to make eachother better — in theweight room, on the field.”

Newman is the idealplayer to direct the attack.He has been playing foot-ball at Central Academysince the eighth grade. Hefeels comfortable inSciple’s offense andbelieves he can handleany twist Sciple mightwork in. If needed, he alsocan help a teammate getinto the right position. Hesaid that kind of teamworkis going to be essential ifthe squad wants to reliveits march to the state titlethis season.

“I like people underes-timating us,” Newmansaid. “We have some guys

who have been in here lift-ing weights non-stop,including myself. I thinkpeople underestimatingus is going to help usbecause we’re probablygoing to give a little sur-prise at the end, or at leastI hope so.”

Pearson, who pacedthe team in tackles lastseason, said the team stillwill line it up and run rightat opponents. He bristlesat the notion that theVikings won’t be able todo that after losing nearly700 pounds of beef upfront to graduation.

“We’re going to be theteam to try to beat,”Pearson said. “Everybodyis going to be hard-headedabout it. Everybody thinkswe’re going to be easynow. I guarandangtee it.With all we lost, theythought our backs and ourline was all we had. Butthey got anther thingcomin’ when they see us.It is going to be a differentballgame for us.”


2011SCHEDULE

Aug. 19 at CalvaryAUG. 26 CALHOUNSept. 2 at DeltaSEPT. 9 MARVELLSept. 16 at KemperSEPT. 23 VERITASSEPT. 30 RUSSELLOct. 7 at N. SunflowerOct. 14 at FranklinOCT. 21 CALVARY

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

CENTRAL ACADEMY VIKINGS

MAIS Eight-man

North District 1Calhoun Academy

Calvary Christian SchoolCentral AcademyDelta Academy

Kemper AcademyNorth Sunflower Academy

Russell ChristianVeritas School

Central Academy senior quarterback Cole Newman catches a pass while doing agility drills Aug. 9 at the school. Newman is expected to lead the Vikings this season. Adam Minichino/Dispatch Staff

VIKINGS WON’T BE AS BIG, BUT THEY STILL HAVE TALENT

Central Academy coach Ronnie Sciple talks with senior Drew Pearson about how to run a pass route at practice Aug. 9 at the school.Adam Minichino/Dispatch Staff

“People are pushing themselves a lot harderbecause we know what we have to fill in for.Every practice, everybody is running theirsprints as hard as they could.”

Central Academy senior quarterback Cole Newman


ABERDEEN — Zero.That’s a big number for

the Aberdeen High Schoolfootball team to set as agoal for the 2011 season.

But with eight seniorson defense and ninereturning starters backfrom a unit that had fourshutouts and allowed anaverage of 7.6 points pergame, it’s easy to see whatthe Bulldogs are settingthe bar high for this sea-son.

“We’re looking forwardto not getting any pointsscored on us,” seniorJalen Bell said. “Zero. It isa tall order, but everybodyis motivated. We havebeen to state two years ina row and we haven’tbrought it back home.That is the goal this year.If you don’t bring the titlehome it isn’t a good feel-ing.”

Aberdeen lost toTylertown in theMississippi High SchoolActivities AssociationClass 3A state title gamein 2009. Last year,Aberdeen may have beenone spot away from achampionship, only to seethe spot go against it enroute to a 10-8 loss toForest.

This year, multi-talent-ed and highly recruitedChanning Ward leads adefense that will rely onthe sting of two title lossesto motivate it through atough six-game stretch toopen the season.

“The defense can bereal good,” Ward said. “Itcan be a shutout seasonthis year if we cut out thelittle mistakes and playhard all of the time.”

Ward has done his bestto erase the memory oflast season. He said heand his teammates whoplay defense have dis-cussed the possibility ofnot allowing any points.He said the senseAberdeen still is fightingfor respect is a motivatorfor a defense he believesis faster and more athletic.

“It was frustrating, but

we’re going to get it thisyear,” Ward said of losingto Forest.

Ward, Bell, DemarioWilson, BraxtonAnderson, MichaelHodges, Justin Lucas,Brandon Walker, JordanGathings, Zavia Forshee,and Sammy Burroughswill lead a defense thatAberdeen High coachChris Duncan said is themost experienced he has

had. “I think this is the best

one we have had,” Duncansaid. “We should have agood year on that side ofthe ball. We should bedominant.”

Duncan said thedefense played well in thespring against Class 5ALake Cormorant. He saidhe knows of no better waythan to rely on the swarm-ing athleticism of his

defense to help make upfor youth an inexperienceon offense.

The Bulldogs will haveto replace 2,000-yard gain-er Victor Hodges and theversatile Brandon Smith.Freshman Josh Williamswill take over at quarter-back.

“We’re going to put ourbest on defense and do itthat way,” Duncan said.“That is how you win it.”

“You can do thingsoffensively that you nor-mally wouldn’t do if you’regood on defense. You justdon’t put yourself in badsituations or maketurnovers or take a lot ofchances.

“I think by midwaythrough the year when we

get to division play I thinkoffensively we’re going tobe clicking just as good orbetter than we have been.”

As the largest school inClass 3A, Duncan under-stands every team will begunning for his squad,which initially looked tobe moving up to Class 4A.But Duncan put together achallenging first sixgames of the season thatfeatures Columbus,Shannon, Amory,Noxubee County, WestBolivar, and Louisville. Heis confident that slate willprepare his team well fordistrict play.

“I try my best not tothem to rank us No. 1because if you’re rankedNo. 1 everybody wants tobeat you,” Duncan said.“But the kids know every-body wants to play us andeverybody wants to beatus.”

Ward knows the feel-ing. The defensive line-man/tight end is beinghotly pursued byMississippi State and theUniversity of Mississippi.He said in July he likesOle Miss because hisbrother goes to schoolthere and that they “makeyou feel like home.” ButWard also said he reallylikes MSU defensive coor-dinator Chris Wilson andhis style of play. He saidhe isn’t sure when hemake his college decision,but that he thinks he willmake his decision beforehe goes to the UnderArmour All-AmericanGame.

Until then, Ward andhis classmates have unfin-ished business. He andBell hope they have whatit takes to get it done.

“It takes a special sen-ior group to win a statechampionship, and thisyear, hopefully, we have abetter group than we didlast year,” Duncan said.“The ball didn’t roll ourway last year. We weregood enough to have achance to win it and it justdidn’t go our way. You justtake what worked, goback to work, and go at itagain.”


2011SCHEDULE

AUG. 19 COLUMBUSAUG. 26 SHANNONSept. 2 at AmorySept. 9 at Noxubee CountySEPT. 16 WEST BOLIVARSept. 23 at LouisvilleSEPT. 30 MANTACHIEOct. 7 at NettletonOCT. 14 MOOREVILLEOct. 21 at Water ValleyOCT. 29 SOUTH PONTOTOC

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

ABERDEEN BULLDOGS

The Aberdeen High School football team will be stacked on defense this season thanks to the return of eight seniors, including defensive end Channing Ward, center, back, one of the most sought afterrecruits in the state of Mississippi. The Bulldogs also will look to seniors Jalen Bell, Corino Blanchard, Demario Wilson, Braxton Anderson, Michael Hodges, Brandon Walker, and Jordan Gathings.Adam Minichino/Dispatch Staff

DEFENSE WON’T REST UNTIL IT HITS ZERO


AberdeenMantachieMoorevilleNettleton

South PontotocWater Valley

2011 ROSTER1-Corino Blanchard, 2-Demario Wilson, 3-TamarkusPayne, 4-Trey Mims, 5-Braxton Anderson, 6-JoshuaEwing, 7-Aaron Mcmillian, 8-Michael Hodges, 9-SammyBurroughs, 10-Justin Lucas,11-Channing Ward, 12-Jeremy Brandon, 13-JalenBell, 16-Josh Williams, 17-Nic Hodges, 18-QuinceyCrump, 19-Calvin Wyatt, 20-Brandon Walker, 21-ElliotJohnson, 22-Jeffery Riddle,23-Chris McMillian, 24-LevailMcFarland, 25-DewayneWord, 26-Rodarius Smith,27-Devontae Fudge, 28-TylerFields, 29-Moses Gathins,30-Lamonte Thompson, 31-Quinton Doss, 32-DamienWalker 33-Jordan Gathings,34-Myles Perkins, 43-Janorris Blanchard, 50-Brandon Hodges, 51-BobbyWard, 52-Tavarus Eckford,53-James Randle, 54-ZaviaForshee, 55-RickieMcAllister, 56-Latherio Cox,57-Jordan Gathings, 58-Travia Garth, 59-JamarkusIrons, 60-Theodore Boyd, 61-Devontae Walker, 63-AaronWilson, 65-Jordan Gladney,66-Jamarcus Tallie, 67-JahrelWilson, 72-Trey Keys, 80-Juan Davis, 84-Tyree Gates.

Aberdeen High School’s Channing Ward has seen playing time at tight end, but he likely will spendmore time this season on defense terrorizing quarterbacks. Stan Beall/Special to the Dispatch

“The defense can be real good. It can be ashutout season this year if we cut out the little mistakes and play hard all of the time.”

Aberdeen High School senior lineman Channing Ward


HAMILTON —Cojuante McMillian,Zarrat Sims, and AustinWelch know their history.

Recent events — liketwo losses in the firstround of the playoffs intheir career and fivestraight losing seasons forthe program — are easierto remember.

But those aren’t thememories that build pro-grams.

McMillian, Sims, andWelch prefer to go back afew more years to the1970s and early 1980swhen coach JimmieMoore’s Hamilton teamsranked with the best inthe state.

Moore’s Lions wentthrough the 1977 seasonwithout allowing a point.Two years later, a winningstreak that grew to 51games solidifiedHamilton’s place in statefootball history.

This season,McMillian, Sims, andWelch want to helpHamilton recapture thatmagic. To help them, theyhave a picture of Moore’sjuggernauts in theHamilton High footballlocker room.

“We’re trying to bringback the tradition becausein the 1970s and 80sHamilton was a footballteam you did not want toplay,” Welch said. “Theynever called the dogs offand they played football.They would come out andhit you every Friday night.That is what we’re tryingto build back up here, soteams want to play us, but

they want to play us tobeat us to say they havedone something.”

Hamilton hasn’t stirredthose feelings in manyopponents in the pastdecade. The Lions last hada winning season in 2005,when they finished 2005.You have to go backbefore 1994 to find the lasttime a Hamilton High foot-ball team won a playoffgame.

Those historical mark-ers will serve only as moti-vation for a team thatappears to have theweapons to make oppo-nents stand up and takenotice.

Whether it is thespeedy Sims or the strong-armed Welch at quarter-back, the Lions have apotent one-two punch.McMillian anchors acadre of running backsthat is three deep at tail-back and fullback. Add ina capable group ofreceivers that includesWelch and Weeks can talkabout realizing expecta-tions and know his playersagree.

“I think they know wehave a chance to have oneof the best teams we havehad here in a long time,”

Weeks said. “We have a lotcoming back, and they areconfident in their abilities.I don’t want them to gettoo overconfident becausewe haven’t done anythingyet. I think they knowwhat is at stake. I thinkthey understand whatthey can accomplish.”

The latest reclassifica-tion by the MississippiHigh School ActivitiesAssociation might helpHamilton, too. Eventhough perennial powerEupora remains, the addi-tion of Williams-Sullivanto Class 2A, Region 2

gives Hamilton, whichbeat Ackerman last year, agood shot to finish as highas second in the region.

But those are theexpectations you shouldhave when you have nineseniors and eight playersback on offense.

The experience workswell with a new attitudethat has the Lions focusedon identity. Thanks toassistant coach Devin Hill,Hamilton has adopted a“Who Am I?” approach tothe season. The answer —


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2011SCHEDULE

AUG. 19 SMITHVILLEAUG. 26 HOULKASept. 2 at KossuthSept. 9 at HatleySept. 16 at HoustonSEPT. 23 WALNUTSEPT. 30 WILLIAM SULLIVANOCT. 7 EUPORAOct. 14 at J.Z. GeorgeOct. 21 at East WebsterOCT. 28 ACKERMAN

HOME GAMES IN CAPS

HAMILTON LIONS

1-Austin Welch, 2-Cedric Bell, 3-Pallas Fair, 5-Quinshay Heard, 7-Cole Robinson, 8-Zarrat Sims, 9-Sequintis Coleman, 11-Cole Richardson, 13-Curry Smith, 15-Jordan Jackson, 18-Caleb Garvin, 20-CojuanteMcMillian, 21-Deion Howard, 24-Tanner Dement, 32-Michael Roberts, 40-Silas Gill, 50-Kyle Dahlem, 51-Evan Phillips, 54-Dominique Dobbs, 55-Jeremy Howard, 56-Dallas Stockman, 60-Jeremy Lindsey, 61-Gage Morris, 62-Ken Spruill, 65-Mark Tipton, 66-Davis Hankins, 67-Tyler Jones, 68-Nick Owens, 69-Ryan Gilbert, 73-Reed Dyess, 95-Rudy Trimble.


AckermanEast Webster

EuporaHamilton

J.Z. GeorgeWilliams-Sullivan

From left: Hamilton High School’s Zarrat Sims, Austin Welch, and Cojuante McMillian should givethe Lions three dangerous weapons that can strike from anywhere on the field this season.Adam Minichino/Dispatch Staff

OFFENSE WILL GIVE LIONS CHANCE TO RECAPTURE MAGIC“I think they know wehave a chance to haveone of the best teamswe have had here in along time. We have alot coming back, andthey are confident intheir abilities.”

Hamilton High Schoolcoach Ray Weeks

See HAMILTON, 24


StarkvilleContinued from Page 13

motions and shifts, there’sno confusion with theblocking schemes, evenwith new offensive linecoach Justin Moss.

“He’s a tough guy,”Rogers said of Moss. “Hegets the most out of us andkeeps us working hard. It’sbeen a smooth transition.”

With Myles at quarter-back, Starkville again willhave a dynamic threatunder center. WhileJohnson was effective atrunning the ball betweenthe tackles, Myles is quick-er to the perimeter. Buthe’s also inexperienced.

For success on theedges, Rogers and Cannonwill provide great pullingoptions for Myles and therunning backs to follow.

Neither Rogers norCannon weigh more than240 pounds, but both play-ers are exceptionallyquick, Mitchell said.

“When you think ofthose two guys, you thinkspeed and athleticism,”Mitchell said. “You’ll seethem on the move, inopen space helping usmake plays. They bring agreat dimension to ouroffense.”

“The staff didn’tknow a lot aboutsome players thisspring. But we cannow rest on the factthat we have them inthe position theyneed to be

Starkville High Schoolcoach Jamie Mitchell

44n Number of players coachJamie Mitchell anticipatesplaying on offense anddefense each Friday night.

QUARTERBACKGabe Myles,

Mike Newman.n Myles, a junior, takesover for three-year starterJaquez Johnson. Mylesmissed most of last season with a broken collarbone.“Gabe has had a goodsummer and first week.We’re finding his strengthsand what he does well,”Starkville High coachJamie Mitchell said.

RUNNING BACKDevontae Davis, PrestonBacker, Stanley Higgins,

and David Fair.n Mitchell believesHiggins and Fair make fullback the most solidposition on the team.“Tailback is still unknown.Preston broke his jaw andmissed six game andDeontae was ineligible lastyear. Both have all thetools.”

RECEIVERSPrinceton Jones, Kentrell

Spencer, Jimmy Saulsberry,Fontavious Smith, and

Eddie Brown.n Saulsberry impressed inthe spring game and is theproven playmaker.“It’s a group that can real-ly run, but there’s a lot offaces who didn’t play awhole lot last year.”

OFFENSIVE LINECory Cannon, Eric Rogers,

Jawon Johnson, KelvinYoung, and Brian Manner.

n The Jackets return threestarters“I think there’s five guyson offense we’re leaningon and three of them areon the line.”

DEFENSIVE LINEJawon Johnson, Latajah

Bush, Cory Cannon,Stanley Higgins,

Eric Rogers, Kelvin Young.n Undersized group thatrelies on quickness.“We’re going to have to beoutstanding here. All sixwill play.”

Starkville High School coach Jamie Mitchell is counting on BryceHenderson and David Fair to be leaders for the 2011 season.Kelly Tippett/Dispatch Staff

Inside Starkvil le

PositionBreakdown

LINEBACKERDavid Fair, Taylor Johnston,

Dennis Ware, Stanley Higgins, and

Marlo Rogers.n Higgins and Fair bring aphysical presence to thegroup.“I feel like that’s probablythe strength of us. All ofthose guys are going tohave to play great for us.”

SECONDARYTaego Catledge,

Raphael McClain, Jacoby Smith, Johnny Smith, Stanley Childs.

n Safeties Childs andJohnny Smith are the mostexperienced returners.“We’ve got really goodspeed back there. Thecompetition level is great.”

KICKERS / PUNTERSDaniel Fumo,

Charlie Henderson, Mike Newman, Kelvin Young.

n Newman will punt, whileFumo and Henderson couldshare kicking duties."Fumo was out guy lastyear, but Charlie is apply-ing the pressure."

his hands well. He’ll laythat hat on you.”

Catchot wasn’t alwayson board with Terrill’srebuilding movement.Like many of his currentand former teammates, hewasn’t committed to thegame following a winlesssophomore season.

“When we first gothere, he had a big ques-tion mark on his jersey,”Terrill said. “Kids heardthe words that it was goingto be different but theywanted to see it.”

When Terrill first got toStarkville Academy,Catchot was playing on theoffensive line and wasadmittedly “going through

the motions.”It wasn’t until Starkville

Academy snapped its two-year losing streak with aHomecoming win againstWinston Academy thatCatchot bought in.

“Up to that point, it washard to say I wanted toplay if we weren’t gonnabe a good team,” Catchotsaid. “When we won thatgame, something just kindof clicked. I think it did fora lot of people. It reallymade me want to takeadvantage of my senioryear.”

Starkville Academy willplay host to St. Andrewson Aug. 19 in its seasonopener.

VolunteersContinued from Page 14

DEFENSIVE LINEAngus Catchot, Lane McLendon,

Colin Stokes, Jordan Bright, and

Zack Thomas.n Under new defensivecoordinator Bubba Davis,the Volunteers will playgap defense Davis hasused for 41 years.“These guys will be important up front at reading what’s going on inthe backfield. We’ll beable adjust to any formation.”

LINEBACKERZach Slaughter, James Mapp,

Stephen Robertson, Ryan Mann, JM Robinson.

Ryan Mannn Robertson and JamesMapp return at linebacker.“Depth will be key, and alot of young kids have togrow up fast.”

SECONDARYRyan McKell, Austin Miles,

Brandon Sharp, and Drew Pellum.

n McKell is the best athlete of the group andwill also play a major roleon offense."They’ve all had somegood days. Nobody is justhead and shoulders abovethe rest, which is a goodthing because they’ve alldone adequate up to thispoint.”

KICKERS / PUNTERSZach Thomas, Matt Jones,

Jonathon Burton, andColby Runnels

n Thomas has lockeddown the long snapperposition, while Jones andBurton will split kickingduties. Runnels will punt."Some good competitiongoing on with this group."

Inside Starkvil le Academy his ear. The one-on-onework has been vital asSpraggins is learning therhythm of running theplays and the discipline oflining everyone up.

“It’s just things you’renot normally in control ofplaying on defense or atany other position,”Spraggins said. “But it’snothing too challengingbecause I’ve been prepar-ing for this day for a longtime.”

Chambless saidSpraggins will be “well-versed” in pre-snapresponsibilities and theplaybook, but executionwill be the only questionmark.

To Spraggins, his abili-ty to be as effective as Coxremains a lingering con-cern to people outside theteam.

“All the fans want toknow: Will we have anoth-er like (Cox)?” Spragginssaid. “I wouldn’t mind put-ting up those kind of num-bers, but I don’t have to fillhis shoes. It’s good to look

at it like that if you wantsomething to competeagainst, but I can’t let thatbe my motivation. I’ve gotteammates who are count-ing on me.”

To Grisham, there isn’tmuch separatingSpraggins and Cox, otherthan proven productivity.

“He may not be as fast,but he isn’t far behind,”Grisham said ofSpraggins. “They’re verysimilar.”

More so than replacingCox, Spraggins has hisattention on West Point’sschedule. The two-timedefending Class 5A statechampions will open theseason with nationally-ranked and two-timedefending Class 6Achamps South Panola.

“Anybody can go outand beat the rooty-pootteams,” Spraggins said.“But, seriously, whowouldn’t want the chanceto play South Panola? Thechance to beat those boys?That’s where my motiva-tion comes from.”

West PointContinued from Page 18

After two years of serving as a backup to quarterback Justin Cox,DeQuinten Spraggins will take over the position this season forthe two-time defending Mississippi High School ActivitiesAssociation Class 5A state champion West Point Green Wave.Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff

HamiltonContinued from Page 23

“I am a Champion” — isdesigned to hold the play-ers accountable to pushthem to work harder torealize championshipdreams.

“Every year I have beenhere we have had Euporaor East Webster in ourdivision,” Welch said.“When we get to thatweekend it is like, ‘Oh no,we have to worry aboutthat.’ This year it is goingto be the opposite. They’regoing to have to worryabout us because we haveenough talent to pushthem on the field.”

Welch said the Lionsmight not have a lot ofsize and weight up front,but he said their speedwill be tough to contain.With Sims, or “Bootie” ashe is known to his team-mates, running a show,defenses will have to bewary to stop a shifty quar-terback and a stable ofequally slithery runningbacks.

“We have weapons allaround on the offense,”Sims said. “We have twogreat running backs, wehave a young fullback —my brother — we haveexperience at wide receiv-er. The whole team is justa whole, big chemistry,and we all know where we

are supposed to be whenthe ball is snapped.”

Sims came to Hamiltonin seventh grade andjoined a group that wenton to have special successin eighth grade. Many ofthe players from that teamare still together in highschool. Welch andMcMillian, who haveplayed together since PeeWees, said they used totalk about what it would belike to play football togeth-er in high school.

Now that the time hasfinally arrived, it’s time toback up the optimism andmake this a season toremember.

“We don’t mean to brag,but we know what wehave,” Sims said. “That iswhy coach pushes us sohard because he knowswhat we got. We have agreat opportunity thisyear, and we’re trying tomake the best out of it.”

Said McMillian, “I amlooking for a champi-onship. First we have tolook to Smithville (firstgame of the season). Wehaven’t won our district ina looong time. I am notsure how long it has been,but it has been a while. Wehave to look to Smithvillefirst and then we have togo one by one.”

Looking for local players in collegeThe Dispatch will feature a former local high

school athlete who has gone on to play a sport in col-lege.

If you would like to nominate a college player ofthe week, call us at 662-327-1297, 662-241-5000 or 1-888-477-1555 or email us at [email protected] 5 p.m. Saturday.

Be sure to give us a reason why you are nominat-ing the player, and be sure to give us as many statis-tics from the past week’s action.

We also are compiling a list of former local highschool athletes. If you know of any former local highschool athletes playing a sport in college, call us at662-327-1297, 662-241-5000 or 1-888-329-8937 or e-mail us at [email protected].

Columbus HighAug. 19 at AberdeenAug. 26 OpenSept. 2 West PointSept. 9 New HopeSept. 16 at LouisvilleSept. 23 TupeloSept. 30 at SouthavenOct. 7 South PanolaOct. 14 at Desoto CentralOct. 21 Horn LakeOct. 28 at Olive BranchNov. 4 Grenada

Heritage AcademyAug. 19 at LamarAug. 26 Starkville AcademySept. 2 CaledoniaSept. 9 at MRASept. 16 at LeeSept. 23 JASept. 30 Magnolia HeightsOct. 7 at Oak HillOct. 14 OpenOct. 21 at WashingtonOct. 28 Pillow

West LowndesAug. 19 at Montgomery Co.Aug. 25 at CaledoniaSept. 2 ShannonSept. 9 EthelSept. 16 OpenSept. 23 at East OktibbehaSept. 30 NoxapaterOct. 7 at PelahatchieOct. 14 West OktibbehaOct. 21 at Nanih WaiyaOct. 28 WeirNov. 4 at Sebastopol

ImmanuelAug. 19 Winona ChristianAug. 26 at Leake AcademySept. 2 Marshall AcademySept. 9 at New SiteSept. 16 Canton AcademySept. 23 OpenSept. 30 at Carroll AcademyOct. 7 Potts CampOct. 14 at Manchester AcademyOct. 21 Winston AcademyOct. 28 at Oak Hill Academy

New HopeAug. 19 at LouisvilleAug. 26 OpenSept. 2 NoxubeeSept. 9 at ColumbusSept. 16 CaledoniaSept. 23 at SaltilloSept. 30 OxfordOct. 7 at HernandoOct. 14 Lake CormorantOct. 21 at ClarksdaleOct. 28 Center HillNov. 4 at West Point

Victory ChristianAug. 12 at Russell ChristianAug. 19 Victory BaptistAug. 26 OpenSept. 2 New LifeSept. 9 TabernacleSept. 16 OpenSept. 23 at Heritage ChristianSept. 29 at Flint HillOct. 7 OpenOct. 14 at North RiverOct. 21 Tuscaloosa Christian

Caledonia HighAug. 19 NettletonAug. 27 West LowndesSept. 2 at Heritage Academy Sept. 8 East WebsterSept. 16 at New HopeSept. 23 AckermanSept. 30 at CarthageOct. 7 HoustonOct. 14 at LouisvilleOct. 21 KosciuskoOct. 28 at Noxubee County

Starkville HighAug. 19 at Noxubee CountyAug. 26 Madison CentralSept. 2 TupeloSept. 9 at West PointSept. 16 OpenSept. 23 LanierSept. 30 ProvineOct. 7 at RidgelandOct. 14 CantonOct. 21 at Yazoo CityOct. 28 CallawayNov. 4 at Neshoba Central

Starkville AcademyAug. 19 St. AndrewsAug. 26 at HeritageSept. 2 Magnolia HeightsSept. 9 at LeakeSept. 16 at HillcrestSept. 23 at J. PrepSept. 30 CopiahOct. 7 Park LaneOct. 14 at WinstonOct. 21 ERAOct. 28 at Pres. Chr.

West OktibbehaAug. 19 at Univ. ChristianAug. 26 Montgomery Co.Sept. 8 EuporaSept. 16 at Nanih WaiyaSept. 23 WeirSept. 30 at SebastopolOct. 7 EthelOct. 14 at West LowndesOct. 21 East OktibbehaOct. 28 at NoxapaterNov. 4 at Pelahatchie

West PointAug. 20 South PanolaAug. 26 OpenSept. 2 at ColumbusSept. 9 StarkvilleSept. 16 at NoxubeeSept. 23 at Lake CormorantSept. 30 HernandoOct. 7 at ClarksdaleOct. 14 SaltilloOct. 21 at Center HillOct. 28 at OxfordNov. 4 New Hope

Oak Hill AcademyAug. 19 NewtonAug. 26 at WinstonSept. 2 at IndianolaSept. 9 ManchesterSept. 16 at WinonaSept. 23 at CantonSept. 30 LeakeOct. 7 HeritageOct. 14 OpenOct. 21 at KirkOct. 28 Immanuel

Central AcademyAug. 19 at CalvaryAug. 26 CalhounSept. 2 at DeltaSept. 9 MarvellSept. 16 at KemperSept. 23 VeritasSept. 30 RussellOct. 7 at N. SunflowerOct. 14 at FranklinOct. 21 Calvary

Aberdeen HighAug. 19 ColumbusAug. 26 ShannonSept. 2 at AmorySept. 9 at Noxubee CountySept. 16 West BolivarSept. 23 at LouisvilleSept. 30 MantachieOct. 7 at NettletonOct. 14 MoorevilleOct. 21 at Water ValleyOct. 29 South Pontotoc

Hamilton HighAug. 19 SmithvilleAug. 26 HoulkaSept. 2 at KossuthSept. 9 at HatleySept. 16 at HoustonSept. 23 WalnutSept. 30 Williams-SullivanOct. 7 EuporaOct. 14 at J.Z. GeorgeOct. 21 at East WebsterOct. 28 Ackerman

2011 LOCAL SCHEDULES

high school football preview 2011

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