Six Rebels, five Jags make All-District 3A team

By Staff
Staff Reports
Nov. 29, 2001
MPSA District 1-A champion Heidelberg Academy and runnerup Wayne Academy had the most players named to the 21-man All-District team.
Heath Ainsworth of Heidelberg Academy was named Most Valuable Player, while Cory Cochran of Wayne Academy was named Most Valuable Back and Joe Conner of Heidelberg and Buddy Welborn of Sylva-Bay Academy were named Co-Most Valuable Linemen.
The players named to the first-team from Heidelberg were Ainsworth at running back, Conner at defensive lineman, Maples at offensive lineman, Josh Webb at Quarterback, running back/defensive back Blake Bass and defensive lineman Brannon Sims. Bass and Sims are juniors and the rest are seniors.
Wayne was represented on the squad by Cochran at running back, senior Jacob Ferguson at running back/defensive back, junior Matt Brown at running back/linebacker, Steven Woods at quarterback and Jarret DuVall at tight end.
Welborn, senior linebacker Lloyd Rayner, sophomore running back Ryan Mathis and sophomore running back Cody Phillips mad e the team from Sylva-Bay, while senior running back Adam Davis, senior Michael Mattox and senior lineman Ben Dufour were chosen from Kemper Academy.
Representing Central Academy was senior linebacker Brandon Huerkamp and senor linebacker Bob Dinsmore, while Willie Bounds, a senior linebacker, was named to the team from Newton County Academy.
Names to the second team were: Jeremy Eason, Ryan Aultman, Brooks, Lewis, Matthew Andrews, Lee Aultman, J.B. Harris, Brent Welch, Mason Key and J.R. Stephenson of Heidelberg; Shawn Dearmon, Brandon McDonald, Jeremy Carr, Colby Pitts, Derick Brown, Lucas Little and Matt Riley of Wayne; Nathan Hayes, John Thompson, Tyson Brown, Michael Butler, Mitchell Conn, Catlin Grey, Phillip Smith, T.R. Parker of Sylva-Bay; Tyler Huerkamp, Walter Fields and Von Gomel of Central; Josh Jarvis, Tim Kirkland and Wesley Joyner of Kemper and Chris Bounds and Lee Blackburn of Newton County Academy.
Austin Bishop
Louisiana vs. Mississippi
Two of the four MPSA finals will match Louisiana-based schools against Mississippi teams.
In AA, Oak Forest of Amite, La., will face Magnolia Heights of Senatobia on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Robinson-Hale Stadium. Oak Forest is 11-1 while Magnolia Heights is 10-2.
In AAA, Silliman Institute of Clinton, La., (12-0) will take on North Delta School (10-3). North Delta School is based in Batesville.
North Delta School, by the way, is coached by legendary head man Willis Wright. Wright won a state title at Starkville High School and also led Greenville, Ala., to the 5A title. He also helped resurrect a moribund program at South Panola.
The only all-Mississippi finals are in Class A and AAAA. Wayne Academy battles Trinity of Natchez on Thursday at 1 p.m.
Both schools, ironically, had to beat out-of-state teams in order to reach the finals.
Trinity knocked off three Louisiana schools in succession including River Oaks (14-12), Claiborne (29-0), and Glenbrook (28-21). The last game with Glenbrook was played in Minden, La.
Wayne, meanwhile, had to beat a 10-1 West Memphis, Ark., (32-6) team to reach the North State final against DeSoto School. They then beat DeSoto out of West Helena, Ark., 14-7 last Friday in Waynesboro.
Of course, the AAAA final is actually an all-Jackson affair matching Jackson Academy against Prep. This is the fourth time they've played each for a state title. Just two weeks ago in the regular season finale, Prep pulled out a 21-20 win.
Jeff Byrd
Hey, Mr. Tally-man
Mooreville drilled Falkner 99-26 last week with Jim Tally scoring 15 points, Lance Tally tossing in 11, and Russ Tally adding 10.
The Troopers improved to 5-0 with the win.
Marty Stamper
You can't touch this
Wayne Academy and Heidelberg Academy continued their dominating ways in MPSA Division 3-A this year.
The only team to beat either of those teams in league play in recent years has been each other.
This year Sylva-Bay Academy joined in the mix, with its only two league losses being to Heidelberg and Wayne, with the Saints only falling to the Jaguars 21-15.
But the rest of the league was nowhere close to the top three.
If you combined the total points scored by all three of the other teams in the six-team league Kemper Academy, Central Academy and Newton County Academy it would still not be as many as any of the top three.
Wayne has scored 370 in 13 games with one more to go, while Heidelberg hung up 351 points in 11 games and SBA notched 295 points in 10 games. Kemper, Central and Newton combined for 276 points in 30 games.
Austin Bishop
Keeping down the scoring
Despite winning the first dozen football games they played this year on the way to a 12-1 record, the Cougars of Newton County High School only posted one shutout all season. That came against Forest (35-0) in the season opener.
But the defense was consistent. The most points NCHS allowed all year was the 19 to Collins it gave up in Friday night's 19-12 playoff loss. For the year the Cougars gave up only 141 points in 13 games for an average of 10.8 points per game.
Austin Bishop
Horn, Wooten honored by Wendy's
Whitney Wooten of Falkner High School and Albert Horn of Hebron Christian School have been named state winners in the annual Wendy's High School Heisman Program.
The program honors the nation's' top high school seniors for the combination of their athletic, academic and community activities.
Six athletes from the East Mississippi area were among those nominated for the state award.
They are: Katie Bergin of Northeast Lauderdale, Tiffany Jones of Quitman, Leslie McNeil of Heidelberg Academy, Valerie Hayes of Lake and Blake Fulton and Ashley Harrison of Winston Academy.
Austin Bishop
They have eyes for the ball
Kemper County's Eric Hubbard, a 5-foot-10, 266-pound senior lineman, recovered seven fumbles in 2001.
West Lauderdale's Tyler Herrington, a 6-foot, 170-pound senior, had four fumble recoveries.
Marty Stamper