CALEDONIA — It just makes sense.
Ricky Kendrick and Brad Butler don”t see any reason why their teams should travel several hours or drive hundreds of miles when there is a capable opponent right in their backyard.
It doesn”t matter to Kendrick or to Butler that Caledonia High is a member of the public school Mississippi High School Activities Association and Heritage Academy is a member of the private school Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.
The schools” affiliations won”t matter at 7 tonight when a record crowd is expected at C.L. Mitchell Field to see which team can earn bragging rights in the Lowndes County showdown.
“Anytime you can get the atmosphere I feel is going to be here with the crowd and people working together and people talking trash and getting upset with each other and building up a game, I think that is great,” Butler said. “That”s what it is all about. I think it will bring a little more intensity to the players.”
Butler said the added spice in the matchup is many of the players and their families go to the same churches or grew up playing sports in the same youth leagues. Those topics won”t be discussed for a few hours tonight, especially for the Confederates, who will try to go 3-0 for the first time since 2004.
“We have developed a little confidence,” Kendrick said. “Our kids have a little — I hate to call it this — swagger. The big schools tat do things well talk about swagger, and I see that in our kids. We can”t think we”re good by any means, and I don”t think any of our kids do that.”
Caledonia is coming off a 29-15 victory against West Lowndes, another Lowndes County rival. Given Caledonia is a Class 4A school and Heritage Academy is a Class AAA, Division II school (West Lowndes is a Class 1A program in MHSAA), the rivalry might be a better fit for both programs that are trying to build back to playoff status.
A bruising ground game is helping the Confederates make that goal more realistic. Kendrick said his team must minimize mistakes and control the tempo of the game all opponents to be competitive.
“We can”t worry about rivalries,” said Kendrick, who is in his second season as head coach at the school. “We”re playing ourselves every week. Until we can focus on Caledonia and get Caledonia where Caledonia has to be, we can”t be concerned with who is on the other sideline.”
Butler hopes the game becomes an annual matchup. He said it just makes sense to play a game against a local rival to build that kind of excitement, to draw a big crowd to bring in money for the schools, and to save money on travel. He also wouldn”t mind adding to the hype of the game by presenting a trophy to the winner to increase exposure.
“I don”t know if it is public schools are scared the private schools are going to beat them or vice versa,” Butler said. “I feel like it is going to be good for both sides.”
Heritage Academy senior lineman Blake Sharp said the Patriots have to regroup following a 33-7 loss to Starkville Academy in which the Volunteers controlled the line of scrimmage with their running game.
“We have to go out with an attitude to win,” Sharp said. “I didn”t really feel that against Starkville Academy. I felt it in the second half of the Lamar game (a come-from-behind 37-36 victory), but I never really felt it during the Starkville Academy game.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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