Glaring sunlight greeted me as I approached the parking lot.Before opening the driver’s side door, I had taken a deep gulp offresh air. The steering wheel of my Chevrolet Lumina was hot to thetouch.

Wow!

A blast of oven-like air greeted me when I opened the door. Yup.Summertime must be approaching in Mississippi and that means itmust be time for spring football jamborees.

Coaches and players have labored through 15 days of springfootball drills. They’re anxious to play a game and hit somebodybesides their teammates.

Brookhaven’s Panthers go on the road Friday night to Hattiesburgfor a spring fling. They’ll play the McClain Mustangs of Lexingtonand the host Tigers tomorrow night. Junior varsity teams from eachschool will get the first taste of action, starting at 4 p.m. Newhead coach Andrew Hickman is anxious to see whathis Panthers can do against some tough competition.

The Enterprise Yellow Jackets, coached by RickyDeere, play a spring game at Lumberton today at 5:30.

At Franklin County in Meadville, Coach MichaelGoff is hosting the Sixth Annual Cellular South SpringFootball Classic tomorrow on Louie Mullins Field. Goff always doesan outstanding job with this event and the coaches look forward toit.

Joining Franklin County in the competition are teams from WestLincoln, Loyd Star, Bogue Chitto, Lawrence County, Wesson, Dexter,Tylertown, North Pike, Amite County and Wilkinson County. It startsat 4 p.m.

Two controlled scrimmages will take place simultaneously on eachside of the 50-yard line. That’s a lot of action. Football fans areencouraged to bring their sunscreen, water canteen, sunglasses anda hat. Those aluminum bleachers are broiling, this time of theyear.

When David Smith resigned as head women’ssoftball coach at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, a lot of folkswere surprised. Smith had become a fixture in Co-Lin athletics. Fornine years he and the Lady Wolves have enjoyed much success.

This recently completed season saw the Lady Wolves finishrunners-up to Gulf Coast Community College in the State/Region 23Tournament at Wesson. It was the first year for fastpitch softballin the MACJC and Co-Lin nearly won it all.

The Lady Wolves had defeated Gulf Coast in 5 of 7 encountersthis season. Gulf Coast salvaged 2 wins in three meetings in thestate tourney. The Lady Bulldogs swept a team from Oklahoma lastweekend in a regional playoff at Perkinston. Obviously, Mississippiis producing a high quality brand of fastpitch.

Smith’s teams compiled an overall record of 209 wins and 89losses and he had the highest winning percentage in the MACJC. Theywere 26-7 this year. His 2000 slowpitch team finished second in thenational tournament, going 27-12. It was the highest finish of anyMACJC team.

The Lady Wolves won the South Division six times and made thestate tournament every year. They won the state title in 1993 and1996. They were runners-up twice, 1998 and 2000.

If you like All-Americans, Co-Lin has produced four since 1996.Shortstop Marianna Reeves earned the honor in ’96, followedby shortstop Sara Beth Reeves in ’98 and shortstop Tammy Case andthird baseman Kim Brashier in 2000.

Co-Lin consistently cranks out state tournament teams in nearlyevery sport. In this school year, the Co-Lin golf team , coached byChuck Holloway, captured the state championship and threeof its players landed a berth in the nationals. The Co-Lin men’sand women’s tennis teams qualified several players for thenationals. They are coached by Brenda Smith and MikeMcIntyre.

Certainly, it has been a successful spring for many high schoolspring sports teams. Brookhaven Academy’s baseball team, coached byRon Rushing, finished runner-up in the South State AAplayoffs. The Cougars lose only one senior starter so the futurelooks better than bright.

Brookhaven High School’s tennis team, coached by SallyPerkins, brought home the Class 4A state championship. It was thefirst state tennis title for the Panthers since 1979. Also a youngteam, Brookhaven loses only one senior to graduation.

At Brookhaven Academy, the tennis team produced a greatcampaign. The girls were runners-up in the state tournament and theboys placed second. They are under the direction of KathyPhillips.

At Loyd Star, the Hornets made a strong showing in theClass 2A state golf tournament at Wolf Hollow. They finished third,just two strokes behind the second place team. Coached by RickyMyers, there are no seniors on the Loyd Star squad and only onejunior.