By Staff
From staff reports
Jan. 4, 2002
The Mississippi High School Activities Association held an Overall State Championship from 1951 through 1982. The winners of each of the state's classes would come back the week after their respective state tournaments and play for the overall title.
During that time span the classifications were AA, A, BB and B, with AA being the largest and B being the smallest.
Harrison Central (AA) beat Mendenhall (A), 40-39 to take the 1982 boys title, while the Harrison Central Red Rebelettes edged Lafayette (A), 48-45 for the girls crown.
It was not always the biggest schools that won, although they did hold an edge, especially in the latter stages of the event.
Duck Hill (B) won the 1979 title and it beat the Class BB school (Scott Central), 74-70 in overtime to do it.
Class B Ingomar won the 1978 boys championship with a 66-62 win over Class BB Utica.
Austin Bishop
Meet to have three divisions
The Alabama High School Athletic Association State Indoor Track Met is set for Feb. 1-2 at the Valley Sports Coliseum in Priceville.
The meet will be broken down into three divisions, instead of the two that was printed in the 2002 AHSAA Winter Sports book.
The competition will be for classes 1A-4A, 5A and 6A. The meet begins at noon on Feb. 1 with the 3200 meter run finals and the four field events. The last event of the day is the 800 meter relay finals at 4:45 p.m.
The meet picks back up the next day on Saturday morning at 9:30 and concludes at 5:25 p.m. with the awards presentation.
Austin Bishop
Somebody had to be first
The first ever football champion to be recognized by the Mississippi Private School Association was Indianola which took a 21-7 win over Fayette for the Class AA crown in 1970.
No Class A champions were recognized until 1972 and Jackson Prep won the first AAA title without the benefit of a playoff in 1971. Play did not begin in Class AAAA u until 1986.
The first Class A champion was Strider, which defeated Heidelberg Academy 34-6 in 1972.
Austin Bishop
WL, MHS ranked
The Meridian High School Lady Wildcats are ranked No. 5 in the state in the latest Jackson Clarion-Ledger prep soccer poll, while the West Lauderdale boys were chosen No. 10
Brandon, at 10-1, is the No. 1 ranked team, while Madison Central (13-1-1) is No. 2, Tupelo is No. 3 and Vicksburg is No. 4. The Lady Wildcats pay a visit to Florence on Saturday.
Madison Central (13-0) is the NO. 1 ranked boys team, while Brandon is No. 2 and St. Stanislaus is No. 3.
The 8-4 Knights of WL return to action on Saturday when they take on 4-0 Lamar School at the Northeast Soccer Complex at noon.
Austin Bishop
Wildcats back at home
Following two long trips to tournaments in Lake Charles, La., and Popular Bluff, Mo., the Meridian Wildcats will return to face Mississippi foes on Jan. 8 when they visit Hattiesburg.
Meridian finished the first half of its schedule at 10-7 after going 1-4 combined in the out of state tourneys. The Wildcats were 1-2 in Missouri beating McClellan High 57-49 but falling to Columbia 64-51 and Antioch 66-60.
Meridian will bounce back into division play on Jan. 11 when it hosts top-five ranked Columbus.
Jeff Byrd
SCHS Indians on hot streak
The Southern Choctaw Indians knocked off Choctaw County 63-52 recently to extend their winning streak to eight games.
Southern Choctaw, 10-2, got 18 points from Marlon McMillian, 12 from Bernard McGrew, and 10 from Larry Campbell. Hashim Dixon led Choctaw County with 10 points.
Marty Stamper
Noxubee Co. boys go 1-1
The Noxubee County Tigers went 1-1 in the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, Ala., last week. The Tigers opened with a 44-30 win over the Ramsay JV team, then lost 54-47 to Jackson-Olin.
Jackson-Olin improved to 7-10 after starting 0-5 with an extended football season and some players out with injuries.
Noxubee got 16 points from Delvin Young and 12 from Omar Conner against J-O.
J-O eventually won the championship without having to score in the finals. The Mustangs were scheduled to face Wheeler High of Marietta, Ga., for the title, but Wheeler had to forfeit as a Georgia rule prevents a school from playing more than one game in the same day.
As a courtesy to the fans, Woodlawn played J-O in what would have been the main event. It was the third game of the day for Woodlawn.
Marty Stamper