Chasin' Foul Balls
by Robbie Hamilton
As I sit in front of this computer screen, two things pop into my mind.
Number one---Just how good is Larry Brackins, Pearl River Community College's
Mr. Everything. He's the best I've seen lately.
Number two- I just could not believe that Barry Harper would call his partner, you know---
Carey “Sure Foot” Meitzler, Humpty Dumpty after that great Ray Stadium fall.
You shouldn't stoop to calling names.
THE GOOD---
What a night for Pearl River Central's Seth Hayden. The senior tailback had five touchdowns,
a two-point conversion and 438 yards rushing on 32 carries in the Blue Devil's 43-27 win
over Petal.
I got the chance first hand to see the talented Pearl River Community College Wildcats.
What a talented group. They made easy work of Southwest Community College 38-0.
Jimmy Oliver is a great street ball quarterback and to quote Southwest Head Coach Dom
Green “Brackins is the second coming of Randy Moss.” Don't forget that River defense.
It did not allow Southwest to cross mid-field and the Bears managed only six first downs.
For good measure, Chris St. John booted a 38 yard field goal. It was great to see Clay
and Jason, the broadcast crew for Pearl River . Also, I got a chance to visit with Barry
Harper and Mr. Dub Herring (Paw Paw) plus some other buddies from the River's way.
Go Lady Tide Softball!!! Coach Kristi Mitchell's girls swamped Warren Central in the South
State Semi-Finals 11-0 and 11-1 pounding out 37 hits in the sweep. The Lady Tide
plays for the South State Championship at home Tuesday night against Moss Point .
Make sure you get out and support the Lady Tide.
Congratulations to Booneville Head Coach Jim Drewry. With the Blue Devil's 55-12
win over Mooreville, Drewry became the first football coach in the Mississippi High School
Activities Association to win 300 games. Now that's something good to talk about!!!!
No doubt the “Snooze You Lose” game this week is the 4A match-up with West Jones and
Wayne County . Because of the better than 6,000 expected, the game will be played at
Jones Junior College instead of West Jones. I know the Wayne County War Eagle Jugheads
will be out in full force. If you're going, you better get there extra early for this showdown
between two undefeated teams. Do you think both were thinking about this week in last
week's games? Wayne County slipped past Mendenhall 12 to 0 while West Jones got by
Quitman 21 to 7.
Basketball is ready to get underway and on their web site Magnolia Preps have posted
their Class of 2005 basketball watch list. Included is Picayune's Donaries Hair, a 6'8”
forward/center. Others include Biloxi 's point guard Decarlos Riley, Moss Point 's 6'7”
power forward Willie Prichett and George County 's guard Co-Eric Riley. Other seniors
to watch include Picayune's 6'8” Tony Foster, Hattiesburg's Calvin Wilson, St. Stanislaus
Ramsey Shawa, Urie Ramsey of Stone County, and Biloxi's Germaine Parker. You can
take a look at the list at Magnoliapreps.com
THE NOT SO BAD
Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond knocked off Mercyhurst 58-14 for the Lions
first three game winning streak since starting back football last season. Southeastern's
quarterback Martin Hanks, out of Hattiesburg, threw for 431 yards and five touchdowns.
The Lions are now 5 wins and 2 losses with this week off. If you're interested in making
the short trip to Hammond , Saturday, October 30th the Lions host the Alcorn Braves at
6:00pm. It will be worth the trip.
In the Delta State 55-52 loss to Central Arkansas , there was 1,259 yards of total offense,
15 yards shy of the Division II Gulf South Conference record. Statesmen quarterback Scott
Eyster threw for 457 yards and 6 touchdowns. Nothing like hard nose defense at a college
football game.
Not so bad for Alcorn and Mississippi Valley , both were winners this week-end. The bad
news is that they were the only Mississippi college or university to find a victory. Don't blame
this one on Mississippi State, they didn't play.
Wayne County High School had the ribbon cutting Monday on the school's new $3 million
dollar gymnasium. The new gym will seat 1,880. That's not so bad.
Break up the Cadets of Army. After a long losing streak, Army wins back-to-back games
with a 42-35 win over South Florida .
Just in case you were wondering, The University of South Panola and Seminary College
both keep their high school winning streaks alive last Friday night.
And speaking of winning streaks, Division III Mount Vernon won its 100 th consecutive
regular season game with a 57-0 whitewashing of Marietta . The Purple Raiders have
captured 7 NCAA Division III National Championships.
UGLY
There are only three uglies this week, but after reading these, there is nothing else I could add.
Did you see where Prentiss High School was found not to have Institutional Control of the
athletic department and was fined $5,000.00 . Read what was found to be true in the investigation---
• Inducements were offered and given to encourage a student athlete to attend Prentiss High School and play
football.
• Offer or acceptance of money or other valuable considerations
• Free or reduced rent for parents
• Discrepancies were found in eligibility of players
• Required physical forms and physicals not given to all athletes
• Some permission slips not signed by parents
• Residence requirements not checked by the school
• Questions concerning Prentiss High School being an ACT test center. The assistant football coach was in
charge of the testing center
• Questions to a final grade being changed
The Mississippi High School Activities Association reprimanded the principal, who is also the Athletic
Director, Head Football Coach and Assistant Coaches plus the $5,000 fine. No games were forfeited
because the athlete never played in a game. Plus, the MHSAA instructed the participants be dealt
with by the Superintendent and Jefferson Davis County School Board.
It's hard to get any uglier than that!!!!!!!
The Pass Christian football team, cheerleaders, band, and fans were present. So was the same
group from East Central. The press box folks were ready. The only trouble---there were no officials---
none---zero!!! Finally at 8 o'clock Friday night, they sent everyone home and postponed the game.
They played Saturday with East Central winning 41-0. I wonder who had to pay for the extra trip
East Central had to make. You just can't make this kind of stuff up!
And finally, in my years of attending football games I have seen fights between players, coaches,
band members, and even fans. They shouldn't happen, but they do. Now try this one on for size.
At a junior varsity football game in our area, two officials got in a fight before the start of the game.
YES-THE OFFICIALS. The men sent to the game to administer the rules got in a fight. It happened
on the field in front of the players, coaches, and fans. The contest went on and the two officials
refereed the game. It's just no way to make this stuff up.
In closing, we were having a discussion on topics for our sport's talk show and we talked about
he Wendy's High School Heisman Award. It has only been around for a few years and it's great
to see high school students recognized for positive achievements. We started talking about folks
back in our day that would have won the Wendy's High School Heisman. In our case, folks like
Billy Holmes, Bubba Walker, John Brady and others. It got me to thinking how it would be fun
to hear the folks you would have awarded the Wendy's High School Heisman in your area if it
had been available back then. Please e-mail your nominations and we'll see if we can put
something together later. My e-mail address is rwhamilton@hotmail.com . I would love
to hear from you.
I didn't forget. Last week we gave you Notre Dame as only the second NCAA Division 1-A
team now with 800 victories. The trivia question was to name the other team. Did you have it?
The answer is the Michigan Wolverines with 839 victories.
Time to go chase a few fouls balls---
Robbie Hamilton