#1 Brandon beats #6 Madison Central 21-14

[curmudgeon]

NWR's resources are simple.

39047 is the second richest zip code in the state of Mississippi. If they could build a decent school and win some games, they could be a great school. Instead, the fat cats in Rankin County are living it up in Brandon while NWR suffers.

It will never happen because of the politics behind it, but the best thing that could happen to NWR is for them to split off and form their own school district 65% of the tax base comes from NWR to support 7 other school zones.

[Todd4State]

"South Panola is slowly declining"

Sorry, but SP will be just fine.

I'm not suggesting that they will go 3-8 or anything any time soon. But they won't go 16-0 and they are not the dominant team in Mississippi anymore. They have zero Dandy Dozen players this year. When was the last time that happened? The only players that they have listed as prospects are two guys that are 5'8" and a 300 pound DT with the last name of Barksdale that is only 6'1".

Tony Conner carried that team last year.

[Todd4State]

My point on the Ridgeland guys is that Ridgeland has enough talent to compete for their division in 5A every year. If that talent were at Madison Central in addition to the MC talent that they have, then MC may have been able to get over the South Panola/Olive Branch Hump.

Just in the recent memory, Stigers and BJ Lee were pretty good players at Ridgeland that would have helped Madison Central. Overall, of course MC is a better team. Ridgeland (and now Germantown) kids could have plugged some of the holes.

Madison will be just fine. They will play Clinton in a month or so for the District championship and Madison won't be prepared to play South Panola/Olive Branch/Southaven in the playoffs because they have been feasting on horrible teams like Greenville and Northwest Rankin.

Speaking of schools that are doing nothing with a lot of resources. Northwest Rankin may go 2-8 this year. Wasn't it two years ago they entered the Madison Central game undefeated and No. 2 in the state, only to have Bobby Hall run the FB drive 75 times and win by 50 points? That district SUCKS.

Starkville is now in MC's region, as well as Columbus. This is by far the most difficult district schedule that they have had in years. Murrah almost beat MC last year and Malik Dear is the kind of guy that can take over a game in high school and pull off an upset. Clinton just hired a new coach last year, but they actually have had as much D-I talent the last three years as MC- Cedric Giles and now Grant Harris. Northwest Rankin is snakebit. Reid Humphries had Tommy John last year and had to stop playing QB, and then they lost their really good RB due to discipline. And now MRA is raiding them for o-linemen. On top of that, their old coach got arrested in that crazy drug bust. They will be fine if and when they get it together.

[TopDog58]

Oh I agree. But since Brandon doesn't "have", they will never let NWR have. And since the public outrage over the athletics portion of the failed bond, both will be stuck with pathetic facilities for years to come.

[Todd4State]

Hard to fire a high school coach that wins like he does just because he can't get over the OB/SP hump.Madison Central
2012: 10-4 (7-0) District Champions, Lost Semifinals 38-6 to South Panola
2011: 11-3 (7-0) District Champions, Lost Semifinals 40-35 to Olive Branch
2010: 12-2 (6-1) District Co-Champions, Lost Semifinals 43-7 to South Panola
2009: 13-1 (7-0) District Champions, Lost Semifinals 36-21 to South Panola
2008: 12-2 (7-0) District Champions, Lost Semifinals 24-21 to South Panola

The guy has enough support to withstand any fire, and he thinks there should be a statue of himself on Highland Colony with the results above.

He's the Phil Fulmer of Mississippi high school football.

Of course that again goes back to the administration not knowing jack about football and the landscape. A trained monkey could beat Jim Hill with MC's talent. You would think that the obvious question would be "why can't we get over that hump"? But the answer is "oh, Bobby said it's just bad luck and we should be even better next year. Well, OK."

Honestly, the worst thing is the extreme lack of discipline that his teams show. And that honestly gets them beat against those "equal or better" teams more often than not. I was at the South Panola game where players were throwing helmets down the sideline about 35 yards in disgust in the second quarter while Hall stood there and did nothing. Then you had the Olive Branch debacle where he threw his hat almost to the midfield logo two or three times. Last week they almost got into a fight with Ridgeland at a jamboree.

[DogBanker]

Northwest drives the RCSD. They had a private foundation a few years ago and when Weathersby found out he made the school split between each other. What needs to happen is consolidate Pisgah/Pelahatchie, Richland/Florence, and Puckett/McLaurin. Too many schools in that district.

As far as football, the players don't wanna play for Hurt. They played for Coates. I would know as I played for both of them at Northwest. Hurt has ran off several guys this year who are at MRA now as juniors who started as sophomores. Hurt's ego is too big. For a guy to win at Northwest, he needs to have a relationship with the players; that's big everywhere. I think that's why Brandon is doing so well because Peterson has that relationship with his players. My junior year, the year we beat MC at their place, we were a better team then them. Had Coates kept running the ball in the playoff game we would've won. We had inside their 20 two times in the 4th by running, but then he decided to pass it when we were whipping them up front just like we had done the first game, I was on the OLine so I'm still mad he didn't run it late. Now the Brights Light game, we just weren't ready. I think we practiced a total of 3 hours that week. MC did a good job of not letting Ramone break any tackles. It was a long night in that offense huddle.

[Jack Lambert]

and Drugdog is right, there is no reason that Madison Central shouldn't be the premier school in the state.

Haven't won a title since 1999, and that is their only one. My theory?

Losing Ridgeland kids in 2002 + There's just enough talent leaving Madison and playing at Prep, JA and MRA to keep them from being premier. The kid from Prep that signed with Ole Miss last year would have been at Madison Central. MRA is attracting skill positions because Forrest Williams is running the air raid. Doesn't mean its right, but it excites big time receivers and big time arms.

Potential South Panola players are learning the basics of the offense in 4th grade, while Madison kids are competing for 4th grade championships against each other. Plus, SP kids aren't flocking to North Delta Academy.

The kind of kids you are going to need are not going to move into your school district. If they do they will end up at one of the big private schools. They will either move into German Town or Ranking county schools. Your property value is just too high. Madison Central will continue to keep their status.

[Todd4State]

The kind of kids you are going to need are not going to move into your school district. If they do they will end up at one of the big private schools. They will either move into German Town or Ranking county schools. Your property value is just too high. Madison Central will continue to keep their status.

And then Madison has the D1 football center and Baptist is about to open a Performance Center that is going to focus on football right down the street from MC. I have to wonder how that is going to affect MC football going forward. I think it will do nothing but help.

[biscuit]

I'm not suggesting that they will go 3-8 or anything any time soon. But they won't go 16-0 and they are not the dominant team in Mississippi anymore. They have zero Dandy Dozen players this year. When was the last time that happened? The only players that they have listed as prospects are two guys that are 5'8" and a 300 pound DT with the last name of Barksdale that is only 6'1".

Tony Conner carried that team last year.

And they still won number 10 last year. They have a really good chance at 11 this year, and if not this year, next. They will be a player for a loooong time.

[curmudgeon]

This may be Brandon's year in 6A.

Heard today that West Point decided to murder themselves with a schedule.

Non-conference schedule

at South Panola (6A Champion)
Starkville (defending 5A Champion, now 6A)
Columbus (6A Playoff team)
at Noxubee County (4A powerhouse)

Then they open conference play with probably the best team in 5A this year, Oxford.

They could legitimately start 0-5 and make their way to the championship game.