MEADVILLE – If you wanted to describe the Sixth Annual CellularSouth Spring Football Classic you would say the heat on and off thefield took advantage of everyone.

Louie Mullins Memorial Stadium featured a full house of areafans Friday afternoon as 11 teams squared off against one anotherto boast speed, agility, and a brief look of their prized teambefore the 2001 gridiron campaign begins on August 31.

Tylertown(JV) 21, Loyd Star (JV) 7

The first games featured a junior varsity showdown as Loyd facedTylertown and Franklin County hosted West Lincoln’s varsity team oneach ends of the field. Tylertown would take it to the house on theLoyd Star junior varsity as sophomore quarterback Trent May bombedthe Hornets with two touchdowns bombs of 38 and 21 yards.

West Lincoln 14, Franklin County (JV) 0

Down on the other end of the field the Bulldogs wide outscouldn’t keep up with the powerful arm of sophomore quarterbackChris Blackwell. Blackwell threw six incompletions that gave WestLincoln momentum to pull off a 14-0 upset that was highlighted byjunior Cody Mitchell’s 15 and two yard scoring plunges. TheBulldogs only bright spot of the game was the running of sophomorehalfback Cecil Kenzie. Kenzie gained 26 yards on four carries forthe Dawgs. On defense the Dawgs got six tackles from freshmenlinebackers Donald Ray Smith and Marcus Stewart.

Bogue Chitto 7, North Pike 7

Both the Bobcats and Jaguars played to a 7-7 deadlock that wasshowcased by 20 yard sophomore throw and receive by Jaguarquarterback Dusty Davis to tight end Jeremy Pittman. The Jaguarsdisplayed a physical and heavy hitting type of defense withnumerous big play shockers that electrified the action packedcrowd.

Tylertown (JV) 38, West Lincoln 8

Passed the fifty yard line on the east side of the field theTylertown JV played a rugged game of blast the Bears with numerousair shows by May and ground attacks by several Chief running backs.West Lincoln’s only score came off a Mitchell to split end ClintSmith scoring reception.

Lawrence County 6, Franklin County 0

In what was featured as a defensive struggle the Bulldogs usedseveral new players in new spots to try to faze a strong and rowdygroup of Cougars. The Cougars drew blood first as running backCharles Barnes scored from five yards out. After a two pointconversion by senior standout Jonathan Eley the Cougars held acommanding 8-0 lead.

The Bulldogs offense then came onto the field and the Cougarsgreeted them with a full in your face style of play. The Cougarsused the services of Bandit defensive ends Johnny Spikes andMatthew Autman to cause confusion and panic on the Bulldog frontline that resulted into several sacks of Bulldog junior quarterbackColby Beach. The Bulldogs tried several throwing plays but noneworked as the Cougars gained the first of two victories in theclassic.

Overall on defense Autman led with a sack and four tackles. Forthe Bulldogs senior defensive back Walter (Mane) Anderson shookthings up with six tackles, one deflection, and one fumblerecovery. Seniors Drew Smith and James Hunt collected four tackles.Stewart and junior defensive tackle Hardy Fox had four tacklesapiece.

Wilkinson County 14, Amite County 6

The Wildcats of Wilkinson County continued their rampage from2000 with a powerful running attack, led by senior Carl Cage withtwo touchdown scampers of 10 and 28. The Wildcats used a specialblend of spices on defense as seniors Bryan Lee and Charlie Spillergreeted the Trojans with bone rattling tackles. Senior wing backEric Bateaste led the Wildcat attack with 63 yards on sevencarries. Cage finished with 32 yards on six carries.

Lawrence County 18, Amite County 14

The Trojans quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead on the Cougarswithin seven minutes of action. Once the Cougars got the ball backthey reeled of 18 points off the running of Eley and Barnes. TheCougars skipped two two point conversion tries to get back onoffense in order to win the game before time expired.

“We subbed in a lot of our freshmen and sophomores in the secondgame against Amite,” said first year Cougar coach Trent Hammond.”Overall we played pretty good.”

Franklin County 6, Tylertown 0.

Franklin County ended the classic with an exciting victory ledby the elusive running of senior wing back Tommie Smith. Smithscored the Dawgs first and only touchdown of the day of a slotpattern around the left side for a 15 yard scoring jaunt.

The Bulldog defense wouldn’t allow the Chiefs to see anythingpast the 10 yard line. Bulldog juniors Hardy Fox, Taylor McMinn,and junior Vance Windom kept the Chiefs quite with several bigplays. Anderson and Stewart kept the Chiefs out of the end zonewith deflections and tackle saving plays that kept the Chiefs fromscoring as time ran out.

“We did pretty good,” said long time Bulldog coach Michael Goff.”This is proably the best spring we’ve had in 10 years. We’re stillin the learning process on both sides of the ball. Attitude will bethe key to see how far we’ll go in the fall.”

Goff’s Dawgs and Hammond’s Cougars both looked impressive as theoverall teams to beat in the area next fall. Still a lot can happenbetween now and two a days in August, and even more before theseason starts August 31.