High school football players in Mississippi are starting preseason practices in preparation of the 2009 season. August 3 was the first day workouts were allowed by the Mississippi High School Activities Association.
The first games of the season are scheduled for Friday, August 21. That means only three weeks of prep work before the year begins; one fewer week than in previous years.
Some coaches are concerned about the shortened practice schedule. Louisville coach Brad Peterson told the Jackson Clarion-Ledger,
“You can't afford to have a bad day of practice," Louisville's Brad Peterson told the Clarion-Ledger. "It's going to be an adjustment, but everybody is in the same boat."
The MHSAA will continue to take heat precautions with timeouts during every quarter of games for water breaks.
Games played in August and September will also start at 7:30 p.m. to avoid the heat, and then move to 7 p.m. in October.
“Y’all vs. Us” comes to television
Some of the top high school football rivalries in the state are being showcased this fall in a series of telecasts to be shown around Mississippi.
“Y’all vs. Us” will feature five of the top rivalry football games in the state, a reality-type series that features preparations around one of the five rivalry games, and a five-episode documentary series telling the story behind each rivalry.
The concept for the series comes from the 2008 book of the same name that looked at 15 of the biggest high school football rivalries. Raycom Media is handling the production of the series to a regional audience and wireless provider Cellular South is the major sponsor for the series.
The rivalries being showcased include Clinton vs. Madison Central on Sept. 25, South Panola vs. Olive Branch on Oct. 2, Meridian at Oak Grove on Oct. 9, West Jones and Wayne County on Oct. 23, and Gulfport and Biloxi on Nov. 6.
The reality series of 10 episodes will focus on preparations of the coaches and others involved in the West Jones-Wayne County contest. Television stations in Hattiesburg, Jackson, Tupelo, Biloxi, Greenville, Meridian and Memphis, Tenn., are planning to broadcast the series.
Coaching staff named for Alabama-Mississippi Classic
The Mississippi coaching staff has been named for this year’s Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic, played in Mobile, Ala., on Dec. 12.
The head coach for the Magnolia State stars will be Anthony Hart of Lafayette County. Kosciusko’s Stan McCain, Kenny Burton of Ridgeland, Shannon White of North Forrest, Malcolm Jones of McComb, Mike Davis of Lawrence County and Al Jones of George County will be the assistant coaches, and M.C. Miller of Noxubee County is the scout coach.
Each year, the best of Mississippi play the top players of Alabama, with this year’s game being played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
School fined for pads violation
Mississippi high schools have strict rules about when shoulder pads can be put on during preseason practice, as one school’s football program recently was reminded of by the state activities association.
The MHSAA has fined St. Stanislaus for putting on pads too soon in its preseason workouts. The amount of the monetary fine was not disclosed by the association.
MHSAA executive director Ennis Proctor confirmed the fine to the Biloxi-Gulfport Sun-Herald newspaper. Principal Paul Verlander later commented to the newspaper that a mixup from an association memorandum about early pad usage for teams playing “classic” games led to the violation.
The early shoulder pad usage memo didn’t apply to Class 4A schools, of which St. Stanislaus is a member.
Verlander says the school is not appealing the decision and will take measures to prevent the violations from happening again.
Last season’s team finished the season 8-3 and is expected to be a challenger for the region championship this year.
Private schools association changes name
Mississippi’s private schools are now competing under a new name.
The Mississippi Private Schools Association has officially changed its name to the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS).
The name change was made during the organization’s annual board of directors’ meeting. As part of the association’s bylaws, the name change becomes effective immediately, although the MPSA brand may linger for awhile as it moves to the new MAIS name.
