STARKVILLE — New Hope’s High School preseason football jamboree has become one of the best in the state of Mississippi.
The Trojans played host to the event for the sixth year in a row Friday and Saturday, and for the fifth time it was at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium.
New Hope second-year coach Kris Pickle heard good things about the jamboree when he took over the program prior to last season, and this year’s 14-team event might have been the best.
“It has nothing to do with me. I’s just way our booster club handles this thing,” Pickle said. “It’s always, the games are on time. That’s the thing when a lot of people go to jamborees. They always fuss and stuff about the games running over. It’s set in two-hour blocks. Everything stays on a time schedule.”
Each game featured two 12-minute varsity quarters and a junior varsity quarter, if the coaches wanted to play one. Hamilton and East Webster didn’t play a junior varsity quarter. Aberdeen and Forest played a 20-minute running quarter, while Columbus and Louisville played a 12-minute running quarter. The early Saturday games started ahead of schedule, but lightning delayed the third game between Columbus and Louisville for about 30 minutes. The delay pushed back the start times of the final three games.
New Hope defeated Amory 14-10 Friday night to get things started. Pickle said there were about 600 people in attendance for the game.
The event is a good litmus test for teams and coaches, but Pickle likes that his players get to play at a Southeastern Conference stadium.
“It’s just a great experience to come out here for kids and to be able to play in an environment like this,” Pickle said. “You don’t get a lot of people who get to play in something like this. It’s just something for the kids to be able to do.”
MSU works closely with New Hope to make sure everything goes smoothly and to make sure the games are run like the real thing. The scoreboard and both Jumbotrons were working, which made the atmosphere feel like a real college game.
“It felt really good being able to come out here and play and compete against Louisville,” said Columbus senior defensive end and tight end Chris Deloach, whose team lost to the Wildcats 17-14.
This year’s event is the first time the jamboree has spanned two days. Six of the seven games were scheduled to be played Saturday. The teams were from seven counties in the Greater Golden Triangle area, including three from Monroe County (Aberdeen, Amory, and Hamilton) and two from Lowndes County (Columbus and New Hope). Many of the coaches who attended the event think this is the place to be before the regular season begins
“If you’re a quality team, you need to be in this,” Aberdeen first-year head coach Eric Spann said. “We always face somebody who’s a quality opponent. It’s just a good preseason test — a test of kind of where you’re at and what you need to get better at.”
Aberdeen tied Forest 6-6. The Bulldogs have been a part of the jamboree since the beginning. Saturday’s game was Spann’s third with the Bulldogs. He was the defensive coordinator the past two seasons for coach Mark Bray before being promoted in the summer.
“New Hope does a good job putting it on,” Spann said. “It’s a class act. We’re thankful for them and Mississippi State letting us to come down here.”
Even though the event expanded this year, that might not be the case for future jamborees. This year’s event was held a week before the regular season is set to begin, so Pickle wanted an extra day and that opened the door for another game and two more teams.
“We could probably get some more if we wanted to, but you don’t want to wear your welcome out,” Pickle said. “It takes a lot to run this thing. Usually you just want to keep it to one day.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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