2010 Golden Triangle High School Football Preview

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2010 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

placesto be

FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

teams to see

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BERDEEN

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IGH

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CHOOL

100 Bulldog Blvd., Aberdeen662-369-8933

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LICEVILLE

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IGH

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CHOOL

417 3rd St. SE, Aliceville205-373-6378

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MORY

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IGH

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CHOOL

1006 Sam Haskell Circle, Amory662-256-5753

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ALEDONIA

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IGH

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CHOOL

111 Confederate Drive, Caledonia662-356-2001

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ENTRAL

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CADEMY

300 Hale Street, Macon662-726-5846

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OLUMBUS

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IGH

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CHOOL

215 Hemlock Street, Columbus662-241-7200

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AST

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KTIBBEHA

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OUNTY

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IGH

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CHOOL

178 Moor High Road, Crawford662-272-5603

E

AST

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EBSTER

C

OUNTY

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IGH

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CHOOL

195 Old Cumberland Road, Maben662-263-5321

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AMILTON

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IGH

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CHOOL

40201 Hamilton Road, Hamilton662-343-8307

H

EBRON

C

HRISTIAN

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CHOOL

6230 Henryville Road, Pheba662-494-7513

H

ERITAGE

A

CADEMY

625 Magnolia Lane, Columbus662-327-5272

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MMANUEL

C

ENTER FOR

C

HRISTIAN

E

DUCATION

6405 Military Road, Steens662-328-7888

L

AMAR

C

OUNTY

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IGH

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CHOOL

43880 Hwy. 17 S, Vernon205-695-7129

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OUISVILLE

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IGH

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CHOOL

200 Ivy Avenue, Louisville662-773-3431

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EW

H

OPE

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IGH

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CHOOL

3419 New Hope Road, Columbus662-244-4701

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OXUBEE

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OUNTY

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IGH

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CHOOL

16478 Hwy. 45, Macon662-76-4428

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AK

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ILL

A

CADEMY

800 N. Eshman, West Point662-494-0301

P

ICKENS

A

CADEMY

225 Ray Bass Road, Carrollton205-367-8144

P

ICKENS

C

OUNTY

H

IGH

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CHOOL

205 4th Ave. SE, Reform256-375-2344

S

OUTH

L

AMAR

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CHOOL

300 Sls Road, Millport205-662-4411

S

TARKVILLE

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CADEMY

505 Academy Drive, Starkville662-323-7814

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TARKVILLE

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IGH

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CHOOL

603 Yellowjacket Drive, Starville662-324-4130

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ULLIGENT

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IGH

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CHOOL

661 Elm Street, Sulligent205-698-9254

V

ICTORY

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HRISTIAN

A

CADEMY

374 Mill Road, Columbus662-327-7744

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EST

L

OWNDES

H

IGH

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CHOOL

644 South Frontage Road, Columbus662-244-5070

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EST

O

KTIBBEHA

C

OUNTY

H

IGH

S

CHOOL

2459 Holland Street, Maben662-263-8106

W

EST

P

OINT

H

IGH

S

CHOOL

950 S. Eshman Avenue, West Point662-494-5083

W

INSTON

A

CADEMY

111 Richardson Road, Louisville662-773-3569

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WHAT’S INSIDE

Aberdeen Bulldogs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Aliceville Yellow Jackets. . . . . . . . . . 27 Amory Panthers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Caledonia Confederates. . . . . . . . . . . 5 Central Academy Vikings. . . . . . . . . 18 Columbus Falcons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 EastOktibbeha Titans. . . . . . . . . . . 12 East Webster Wolverines. . . . . . . . . 22 Hamilton Lions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Hebron Christian Eagles. . . . . . . . . 14 Heritage Academy Patriots. . . . . . . . 8 Immanuel Rams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Lamar County Bulldogs. . . . . . . . . . 29 Louisville Wildcats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 New HopeTrojans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Noxubee County Tigers. . . . . . . . . . 17 OakHill Academy Raiders. . . . . . . . 16 Pickens Academy Pirates. . . . . . . . . 25 Pickens County Tornadoes. . . . . . . . 26 SouthLamar Stallions. . . . . . . . . . . 28 Starkville Academy Volunteers. . . . . 11Starkville YellowJackets. . . . . . . . . . 10 Sulligent Blue Devils. . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Victory ChristianEagles. . . . . . . . . . . 7 West Lowndes Panthers. . . . . . . . . . 9 West Oktibbeha Timberwolves. . . . . 13 West Point GreenWave. . . . . . . . . . 15 Winston Academy Patriots. . . . . . . . 24

About the cover:

Front:Heritage Academy’s JohnLaws Ferguson, NewHope’s Zak Thrasher, andWest Point’s Tommy Keys.Back:Starkville’s JaquezJohnson, New Hope’sEarnest Lang, Columbus’Chris Richardson,Noxubee County’s CoreyWilliams, West Point’sJustin Cox, and Columbus’Drew Jordan. (KellyTippett photo)

How to reach us

Sports Department: 327-1297To report game scores(24-hour line):In Mississippi: 241-5000In Alabama: 1-888-477-1555E-mail:

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sports@cdispatch.com,

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aminichino@cdispatch.com,

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hgmsports@cdispatch.com,

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dmiller@cdispatch.comFax: 662-329-8937

FOOTBALL 2010

Apublication o

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P.O. Box 511 • Columbus, MS 39703 (662) 328-2424

Editor andPublisher

Birney Imes

Sports

Adam MinichinoHenry MatuszakDavid Miller

Cover Design

JackieTaylor

Photographers

Luisa PorterKelly Tippett

Graphic Artists

Jackie TaylorHolona Yarber

BY ADAM MINICHINO

aminichino@cdispatch.com

To establish a tradition, a teamneeds leaders. TheColumbus HighSchool football team hasad its shareof athletes theastfew years attempt to set he example required toelp the Falcons recaptureheir winning ways.Ithasbeensince 2004ince a Columbus High foot-allteam has had a winningeason.Chris Richardson andrew Jordan plan to makehisthe season that hanges.On a team with 13 sen-ors and a talented group of uniors, first-year coachony Stanford said the play nd leadership of ichardson and Jordan willelp determine if thealcons change their ourse.“I think the biggest thinghey want to do, and weave talked a lot about it, isheywant to get a traditiontarted,” Stanfordsaid. They want to be the classhat makes the playoffs andosomething in the playoffsnsteadof every year we get lose and don’t make it. ...heydon’t have anything touild offof. The only thingehave to build offis weavelost, we have lost. Youave to start somewhere.e hope this class will be it ndyoucansay, ‘So and soastheleader of that team.’hekidsall knew it. Weneed that type of traditionere, and we hope the sen-ior class will be the oneswhostart it, and these twoyoung men arepartof that class.”Intheir third year on thevarsity team, both playersworked hard in the offsea-son to position themselvesasleaders. They weren’t standouts in their first twoseasons, but they focused inthe spring and in the sum-mer on molding themselvesinto better football players. They feel they are ready and willing to accept the daunt-ing challenge of transform-ing a program that has wonfour games in the past two years into a contender.“I didn’tstep it up like I was supposed to,” saidRichardson, who saw themajority of his action on spe-cial teams and at linebacker last season. “This year, I amstepping up to the highest level as much as I can.”Richardson said he madealot of excuses last seasonfor his performance. Hethought he had a lot of timeto make his mark but real-ized many players only haveone chance to play thegame. It hit him that if hedidn’t take his opportunity he might miss it. As a result,Richardson has positionedhimself to earn playing timeat running back and seeingmore action at outside line-backer.“I have to give glorytoGod because without Him I wouldn’t be in the spot I amnow and I wouldn’thavemade it,” said Richardson, a 5-foot-9, 180-pounder.“When I first got on theteam, I saw the seniors lead-ing and I am trying to belike them. They arethe rea-son I got better every day and why I am trying to be a senior role model.”Richardson said the sen-iors he has played with havetrained like they were“going to battle,” and he istrying to carry that mind-set forward this season.“I believe this seasonshould be verysuccessfulbecause we have workedsuper hard,” Richardsonsaid. Jordan replaced Billy Autrey at center last season.He sensed a year ago that his footwork and his hand- work needed to improve, sohe focused in the offseasonon ladder drills, cone drills,and work in the weighroom to transform hisgame. The result isstronger, more confidenplayer who is anxious tolead by example.“I have learned seniors

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2010 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

Martin Truck and Tractor Co., Inc.

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G O F A L C O N S !

Kelly Tippett/Dispatch staf

Columbus 2010 team:

1-Jimmy Cockrell, 2-Damian Baker, 3-Rashad Meeks, 4-Cedric Jackson, 5-Jalen Buchanan, 6-Keith Brooks, 7-Randy Brown, 8-Sharkee Robinson, 9-abari Edwards, 10-Jamarcus Jones, 11-Martavious McKinney, 12-Demarcus Vancy, 13-TJ Robinson, 14-Jarius Chatman, 15-Deontae Jones, 16-Trace Lee, 17-James Gunter,8-GemriahWilliams, 20-George Lowery, 21-Tyler Sanders, 22-Jamie Taylor, 24-Quan Latham, 25-Byerson Cockrell, 26-Willie Porter, 27-Jason Davis, 28-Roydrick Bailey, 29-Eric Roberts, 31-Chris Richardson, 32-Josh Thomas, 33-Steve White, 34-Ramadus Beasley, 36-Larry Williams, 37-Wesley Petty, 38-Ian Williams, 39-Ronald Gore, 40-Emmanuel Edens, 41-Brent Petty, 42-Jarvis Ellis, 43-Devontress Harris, 44-Corey Brown, 45-Tevin Oglen, 46-Martell Railey, 47-Chris Conner, 48-Tyler Calvert, 49-TylerDavis, 50-Wymon Mixon, 51-Brendon Harris, 53-Drew Jordan, 54-Orlando Taylor, 55-Jamel Grant, 56-Kenny Averhart, 57-Jaymarcus Sherrod, 58-Tim Hudgins, 59-JeremyMorgan, 60-Chris Wolfe, 62-Brodrick Trimel, 64-Jerome Monroe, 65-Cedric Jones, 66-Lyndon Johnson, 67-Jamal Robertson, 68-Ryan McDonald, 70-Austin Andrews, 71-Kyleard, 72-Bryant Hudgins, 74-Justin Verner, 75-Martavious Mitchell, 77-Tyshawn Carter, 78-Jake Thomas, 80-Tyler Brock, 81-Anturio Brooks, 82-Dalon Moore, 83-Deonaylor, 84-Iziah Jones, 85-Jarcquarius Clark, 86-Greg Giles, 87-Michael Sturdivant, 88-Vidal Harris, 89-Martin Sherrod.

STAFF

COLUMBUS FALCONS

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HEAD COACH:

Tony Stanford(first year as head coach,third at school)

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ASSISTANTS:

Jim Hamilton, JeremyOrsagh, Brandon Brown,Matt Snow, JamesRichardson, Chris Childress,Paul Killen

Richardson, Jordan plan to change course

Kelly Tippett/Dispatch Staf

Columbus center Drew Jordan (53, left) and running back and outside linebacker Chris Richardson, (31, left) arewilling to fight to lead theFalcons to a winning season.

MHSAAClass 6A, Region 1; 2009 Record 3-8

COLUMBUSSCHEDULE

Aug. 20At AberdeenAug. 27NOXUBEE CO.Sept. 3WEST POINTSept. 10OpenSept. 17At LouisvilleSept. 24At TupeloOct. 1SOUTHAVENOct. 8At South PanolaOct. 15DESOTO CENTRALOct. 22At HornLakeOct. 29OLIVE BRANCHNov. 5At StarkvilleHOME GAMES IN CAPS

SeeCOLUMBUS, 19