The start of the high school football is less than one week away.
While some teams around the state open up Thursday, all of the Greenwood-area teams kick off on Friday. That action will be highlighted by a cross-county rivalry — Leflore County at Greenwood. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium.
The Bulldogs scrimmaged against Noxubee County Friday night in Starkville. GHS lost 17-0.
Pillow Academy also has a huge opener. The Mustangs are home against rival Indianola Academy, which has beaten the Mustangs three straight times.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Bill Davis Field.
Trivia Time
There are 82 counties in Mississippi and two in Arkansas and 18 parrishes in Louisiana that play in the state’s two high school football associations — the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools and the Mississippi High School Athletic Association. There is one county in Mississippi that does not have a high school of any kind. Can you name that county? (Hint: It’s in the Mississippi Delta).
New Coaches Around Miss.
After being an offensive coordinator at Provine last year, Marcus Rogers is back as a head coach at Holmes County Central.
Rogers takes over for Kenneth Nelson who resigned after being the head coach of the Jaguars for two years. Nelson went 7-16 overall and made the Class 5A playoffs in 2016.
Veteran coach M.C. Miller is retiring after the 2018 season, and Louisville has already named former Hazlehurst and Columbus coach Randal Montgomery as his replacement. Montgomery will be the offensive coordinator for the Wildcats this year.
Miller has won four state championships as a coach, including two as an assistant at Louisville as defensive coordinator in 1991 and 1993. His other two came as a head coach at Noxubee County in 2008 and Louisville in 2013.
Wade Tackett headed to New Hope from Hollandale Simmons after guiding the Blue Devils to their third straight Class 1A state championship in his first year as a head coach.
Simmons has their third head coach in three years as Timothy Johnson left Yazoo City for Hollandale after leading the Indians to the second round of the Class 4A playoffs.
Hall of famer Bobby Hall resigned after three years at Biloxi and is now the head coach at Philadelphia.
Former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond is the new head coach at Madison St. Joe.
Streaks
Three-time Class 1A state champion Simmons will enter the 2018 season with the state’s longest active winning streak at 40 games. The last time the Blue Devils lost was Nov. 21, 2014 against East Webster.
Next team in line with the state’s second longest active winning streak is back to back 5A state champion West Point at 28 games.
The next two teams with the longest active winning streaks are Jackson Prep (18 games) and Pearl (16 games).
Choctaw Central will enter the season with the state’s longest active losing streak at 24 games. The last win for the Warriors came on Oct. 2, 2015 against SE Lauderdale.
Trivia Answer
Issaquena County.
nContact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
