MHSAA ruling has Starkville hosting West Point in opener
Rivalry football will open the 2020 season in Starkville thanks to a ruling which came down by the Mississippi High School Activities Association on Tuesday.
The Mississippi High School Activities Association executive committee voted to delay the fall sports season two weeks. That means football practice won’t begin until August 17 and the opening game won’t be until September 4.
Unless there are any other adjustments with the schedule due to the ongoing novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Starkville Yellow Jackets will host the West Point Green Wave to open the season.
“That’s a big time game and a heck of a way to start the season off,” SHS head football coach Chris Jones said. “We’re looking forward to it.”
As it turns out the Jackets will lose the home game against Brandon, which was scheduled for August 21, and also won’t play the Little Egg Bowl this year at Oxford on August 28.
The two-week delay was something that Jones anticipated would happen. He just hopes people will take the necessary measures so there will eventually be a season at some point.
“Any football is better than no football,” Jones said. “Hopefully the numbers will go down and people will do
what they have to do, wear masks and social distance so it can slow down a little bit.”
West Point Athletic Director and head football coach Chris Chambless said moving back the start date is helpful because it would have been very difficult to get a team ready to play a jamboree by
August 13 and open the season on August 21.
“That gives us a little more time to get prepared from the getting in shape aspect,” Chambless said. “You don’t want to, for safety reasons, put the kids on the field, so I thought that was a smart move. Hopefully, they’ll revisit i9t the next couple of weeks to see if anything else changes.
“It’s not just us. Everybody is having to deal with
the same thing.”
The ruling not only takes games away from MHSAA teams, but also MAIS as Starkville Academy was set to host French Camp on August 28 and now it looks like that game won’t happen.
Along with football, practices for volleyball, cross country and swimming will start on August 10 with first meets/matches to take place on August 24.