By David Knox
Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE – After issues with the Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy football program caused the Florida school to back out of its game with Hewitt-Trussville, the Huskies had to scramble to find a suitable replacement.
After a couple of weeks searching, they did. Boy, did they.
Callaway of Jackson, Miss., will travel to Trussville to help the Huskies open the regular season on Friday, Sept. 1.
It will be the first meeting between the schools and only the second time Hewitt has faced a Mississippi school. Jack Wood’s Huskies lost to Starkville 33-0 in 1994. That Starkville team won a state title, and Huskies coach Josh Floyd said Callaway will also be a tough test.
The Chargers went in 7-5 in Darius Brown’s first season at the helm. Brown, who played at Mississippi State, won two state championships at Amory, Miss., and the Chargers look for more success after having dropped down to Class 5A from Class 6A.
“This will be a great test for our team, as Callaway has many of the top prospects in Mississippi,” Floyd said. “This game will certainly prepare us for region play. We know this will be a great game for our fans and community to open the season.”
Callaway features wide receiver Malik Heath, running back Lakeinth Thompson, safety Timothy Robinson and defensive lineman James Williams. Heath, a Mississippi State commit, is 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, and is regarded as the top receiver in the state. He also had offers from Alabama, LUS, Ole Miss. Thompson, a junior, averaged 9.1 yards per carry last season. Williams made 90 tackles, including 12 sacks, and is rated as one of the top defensive linemen in the state. Williams is 6-6 and 265. He is considering Alabama, MSU, Ole Miss, Georgia, LSU and Louisville.
No reason was given for the last-minute change, but Holy Trinity has gone through a series of leadership changes dating back to July of 2015. Last spring, the Florida private school named a new president as part of a change to a new leadership model.
Floyd said the Melbourne school also backed out of a game with Colquitt County, Ga.
At any rate, Callaway will be a formidable substitute.
Trussville City Schools Athletics Director Lance Walker said, “We are excited to be able to add this game at such a late date. Playing a home game on Sept. 1 was important to us so we are thrilled to compete against a great team in our home opener.”
The Huskies, coming off an 11-1 season, will face Pell City on Friday in the Champions Challenge preseason game at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery before hosting the Chargers to officially kick off the season.
2 Comments
Christopher Card
Mississippi??? Wowza! Is that a big thing in the south? Because I never recall a time when high school teams where I’m from played against out of state teams. Bands did the competitions. Of course there’s some national championships (baseball comes to mind) for high schools, but putting those aside, we were stretching it to play a team from a different division. Let alone another state!
Matt Thompson Sr.
Here’s an idea. Play the school that’s 2 miles down the road. It was a great rivalry. Just because clays won how ever many in a row doesn’t matter. Quit being scared and make this game happen.