Members of the Mississippi High School Activities Association were allowed to begin football practice in helmets and shorts on Monday and can begin to workout with helmets and pads on Thursday. Both French Camp and Choctaw County took advantage of that opportunity.
The Chargers of CCHS open the regular season on Aug. 23 against visiting Independence. A week earlier (Aug. 16) they travel to Pontotoc for a scrimmage set for 6 p.m.
French Camp Academy hasn’t scheduled a scrimmage before its season opener at home against Winona Christian School on Aug. 23.
11 TO WATCH WINDING DOWN
The first attempt by the Choctaw Plaindealer/Webster Progress Times at putting together an Eleven To Watch for the upcoming high school football season is winding down. You will find the 10th of the 11 athletes chosen announced elsewhere in this week’s paper. Next week the 11th member will be revealed.
The premise behind the series was to keep high school football fans engaged during the offseason. Sure, everyone you thought that needed to be chosen wasn’t, but we carefully considered the nominations of the football coaches from Choctaw County High School, French Camp Academy, Eupora High School and East Webster and used our best possible judgment.
If it’s something you would like to see continue, please contact me at starsportsboss@yahoo.com.
All feedback is appreciated.
LEGENDARY BASEBALL COACH AS WELL
There have been many outstanding coaches at Weir over the years, but many may be surprised at who may actually hold the all-time career winning percentage as head baseball coach of the Lions.
In his one year as head coach Junior Graham posted an 18-6 record, for a career winning percentage of .750.
He just happened to be the head coach during the senior season of Roy Oswalt, a former Major League Baseball All-Star and newly inducted member into the Mississippi Hall of Fame.
It’s what he did after Oswalt concluded his high school career that showed Graham’s coaching genius.
“I retired from baseball when he graduated,” Graham said.
Graham who made his mark as a high school football coach at Weir, Eupora, Winston Academy, and currently Winona Christian School, said his strategy while coach Oswalt and the Lions was pretty simple. “The best thing I ever did for Roy as a coach was to put the No. 1 position (pitcher) in front of his name and let him call his own pitches,” Graham said. “He was literally a diamond that fell into my lap!”
NEW SLOW-PITCH SOFTBALL
The Mississippi High School Activities Association will introduce a new slow-pitch softball for the upcoming season.
The new ball will go from 11 inches to 12 inches in circumference for safety purposes.
The new softballs are the Razzo+ performance softball.
MAIS CHANGES
There are several changes going on in the state’s private school association.
The Mississippi Association of Independent Schools recently changed its name to the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools. The association was previously known as the Mississippi Private School Association. The MAIS has schools in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.
In other MAIS news, the association will double the size of its baseball playoffs allowing four teams from each division to qualify.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
If you have some ideas for tidbits that would fit well into this Prep Notebook format, just e-mail your information or ideas to starsportsboss@yahoo.com and you just may see them in print. You can also text them to Austin Bishop at 601-938-2471.
