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High school football kicks off with jamboree weekend

By Griffin Pritchard and Peggy Blackburn
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Most of Elmore County’s football teams are primed for dress rehearsals this week, and the two local 8-man squads will jump into the regular season.

Pre-season contests will begin Thursday with Edgewood hosting Macon-East and Southern in a jamboree, while Holtville travels to Goshen for a similar outing.

Friday night will offer a variety of jamboree games.

Wetumpka will host Carver at Hohenburg Field, Eclectic will visit Dadeville and Tallassee will travel to Valley.

New Life will be at home to Lighthouse, and Victory Baptist will welcome Marion as Friday signals the official start of the Alabama Christian Education Athletic Association season.

Weumpka High coach and athletics director Chad Anderson said his Indians are ready for action against a “real” opponent.

“We’ve seen how far we progressed from spring training to summer practice,” said Anderson.

“Our guys are eager to go up against someone besides their teammates.”

Anderson said the warm-up match will give coaches an opportunity to gauge exactly where the team stands and make adjustments and improvements.

He added that the contest against the Wolverines will give the staff a better idea of who will step up to fill holes left by graduation.

Two sophomores �” Jamal Golden and Wes LaBarge �” are vying for the starting quarterback spot.

“Each of them has a distinctive style and different strengths,” said Anderson.

“Friday will give us a chance to see them under pressure, but a lot of it will have to do with what we need to do against another team.”

He added that defense should be the Indians’ strong suit this year.

“I think we may be even better there than we were last year,” Anderson said.

Friday’s jamboree will feature a set number of plays between the two schools’ junior varsity squads, followed by three quarters of play by the varsity teams.

Action will begin at 7 p.m.

Admission will be $5 per person.

While Wetumpka has been gearing up for one opponent, Edgewood has been preparing for two vastly different foes.

“We’ve been trying to throw everything we can at them during practice to make sure they are ready,” said Bobby Carr, coach of the Wildcats.

Edgewood Academy will play host to Southern Academy and then Macon-East Montgomery Academy in Elmore starting at 6:30 p.m.

The Wildcats will play Southern first, two 9-minute quarters, to start the jamboree. And following Southern Academy and Macon playing two 9-minute quarters, Edgewood will end the night against rival Macon East.

“It’s definitely going to tell us where we are at right off the bat,” said Carr. “Southern is a very physical team that is going to bring it right at us and punch us in the mouth. Macon is going to spread it out and is more of a finesse team. They are going to throw the ball all over the place.”

Macon East and Edgewood matched up during the Wildcats stint as a Class AAA school but will not meet the Knights during the 2008 season after falling to Class AA.

“Macon is a big rivalry for us. So whenever we play them it’s big,” said Carr. “The last time we played Southern was here in 2002. We had a 28-10 lead before blowing it in the playoffs.”

Elmore County will travel to face Dadeville Friday night and Holtville will travel to Goshen for the first time Thursday night.

Last season the Panthers beat the Tigers during regional play en route a run in the playoffs. However, the two schools will not play during the 2008 regular season due to Dadeville’s descent back to AHSAA’s Class 3A.

For Holtville, however, this is a new experience for coach Barry Gibson and his staff.

“I’m looking to see where are conditioning-wise and also how our players respond under the lights and in front of a crowd,” said Gibson. “I’m not as concerned about perfect execution in the jamboree game as much as I am about sound blocking, tackling and hard hitting.”

The Bulldogs and Eagles are slated for a 7 p.m., start with the two junior high’s playing a seventh grade quarter and then an eighth grade quarter. The varsities will hit the field and square off for three quarters.

“A positive showing will definitely give us momentum going into our opening game,” said Gibson. “But we will not put too much emphasis on what happens against Goshen because I know that Marbury will be an even stronger challenger than Goshen, even though Goshen has the best team they’ve had in years. In other words, we’re not going to get too high over this game or too low because next week (against Marbury) is for real. This game is not.”

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