Wayne Co. opens season with tough non-division foes
By By Ryan Satcher / staff writer
July 7, 2004
WAYNESBORO Wayne County will depend on a tough early schedule to get its younger players ready for a difficult district schedule.
After losing many seniors off last year's MHSAA Class 4A State Championship team, the War Eagles will depend on new starters to step in this season.
"We lost a lot of seniors," said Wayne County coach Marcus Boyles. "We've got some young guys that will need to grow up quickly. Hopefully, by district play we will be pretty good."
Wayne County kicks off its 2004 campaign by hosting Columbus before traveling to play Madison Central.
According to Boyles, the early season 5A opponents should tell him a lot about the team.
"We have two tough 5A schools to start the year," said Boyles. "We will find out a lot in those two games."
The schedule doesn't get any easier for Wayne County as it takes on McComb on Sept. 10.
"McComb is always a strong 4A team," said Boyles.
The early games should prepare the War Eagles for a very difficult district schedule which includes a trip to play West Jones and home games against Quitman and Northeast Jones.
"In our district, West Jones should be really loaded," said Boyles. "Northeast Jones is also much improved and Quitman has a lot of players back. It's an extremely tough schedule. It's going to be a challenge but that's why we play teams like Columbus so by the time we play the big district games the pressure and the big crowd is nothing new."
Wayne County begins the district schedule with a trip to play Florence and then hosts Quitman.
After a non-district game with Salmen (La.), the War Eagles will travel to play Northeast Lauderdale and host Mendenhall before their big game at West Jones.
The War Eagles finish off the regular season by hosting Northeast Jones Oct. 29.
According to Boyles, Wayne County's main focus at this time is the opening game with Columbus.
"We've got to take it one game at a time and focus on Columbus," said Boyles. "Last year we were able to look ahead a little bit during the year but we have to take this year week-by-week. Our goal is to try to make the playoffs. We want to continue to improve and be better in October than we were in August."
