Katrina cancels Co-Lin’s opener
Published 5:00 am Wednesday, August 31, 2005
WESSON — Preparation for Copiah-Lincoln Community College’sseason opener football game had continued this week in theaftermath of Hurricane Katrina. However, the storm has forcedpostponement of Co-Lin’s game with Holmes Community College.
Apparently, all games in the Mississippi Association ofCommunity/Junior Colleges have been canceled.
Co-Lin head football coach Glenn Davis said that all footballplayers should return to campus by 5 p.m. Monday afternoon. Co-Linwill host Northeast on Saturday, Sept. 10, starting at 2 p.m. inStone Stadium.
Glenn Davis and his staff kept the team on campus after theschool closed due to the storm. They were practicing Monday morningin the old, upstairs gymnasium in Calendar Hall when a gust of windripped away a portion of the roof. The team quickly exited thebuilding., Downstairs, the student health and fitness center, plusthe grill sustained water damage.
“There’s an old chimney up there and I think the wind blew thatoff the old gym,” said Davis. Mullen Gymnasium, home of thebasketball Wolves, also suffered roof damage.
Davis said he appreciated the efforts of the cafeteria employeeswho fed the team and coaches this week. Some 60 players, coachesand managers had to be fed.
“The cafeteria crew worked their tails off for us,” said Davis.”They didn’t have any electricity, but they had gas, so they wereable to cook.”
Pauline Byther is in charge of the cafeteria. “She ram-roddedeverything for us,” said Davis. “She made the comment, that sheknew how to improvise and get things done.”
What was on the improvised menu?
“We had ribs Tuesday night,” answered Davis. “She (Byther) usedmine and Coach (Calvin) Green’s grill. One night we had pancakes,sausage and hash browns.”
Davis said Co-Lin also is cooking for Entergy workers who arestaying on campus.
Sullivan Field, home of the Co-Lin baseball team, sustainedmajor damage from the storm. Roofs of both dugouts were blown off.The metal roof of the first base dugout was wrapped around the goalposts located on the adjacent football practice field. Cementblocks from the dugout were picked up and hurled 100 feet.
Also down were several feet of the right field fence.
Wolf Tails: Jarmal George, a Co-Lin sophomoredefensive back from New Orleans, was concerned about his family’ssafety and had not heard from them since Katrina struck theCrescent City area with severe flooding on Monday.
Davis said, “Jarmal headed home yesterday to check on his familyin New Orleans. His mother sent him a text message so he turnedaround and came back.”