When Nathan Wright looks out across the practice field these days he takes in a view that he has not seen before in his 12 years as head football coach at French Camp Academy.
"We have as few players on the team as we have had since I've been here," Wright said of the 26 players who were expected to suit up for a road trip to McAdams High School on Friday night. "The way I see it, the Lord has it down to who really wants to be out there and we have got the boys who really want to play."
Despite the low numbers, the Panthers rolled to a 54-18 win over visiting Montgomery County last week, giving FCA its first win of the season.
"If we win this game at McAdams, then all of the sudden things are looking a little better for us," Wright said. "We then have a non-division game (against Starkville Academy) before we get back into division play and run into a really good Nanih Waiya team."
The schedule does the Panthers no favor by having the two league favorites — Nanih Waiya and Noxapater — on the FCA schedule on back-to-back weeks.
"(Right now) we are at a spot in our schedule where we have a chance to improve and get a lot of things worked out and ironed out," he said. "If we can beat McAdams, then we are in the hunt (for one of the region's four playoff spots.)”
French Camp is currently 1-4 overall and 1-1 in Region 3-1A play. FCA lost is league opener to Sebastopol 21-0 two weeks ago.
After falling behind 6-0 to Montgomery County last Friday, the Panthers led 14-6 after one quarter of play and 41-12 at the half.
"We tried a very different look last week, and offensively we did a lot of good things and lots of things went right and we made some good plays," Wright said. "We were playing with a much greater energy and enthusiasm."
Kendall Coleman scored three touchdowns for the winners in the game, scoring a 25-yard run, an 80-yard run and a 68-yard kick return, while Holman Edwards scored on a 55-yard run and hit Colin Perry with touchdown passes of 6 and 28 yards and Zach Gilmer with a 3-yard scoring strike. Gilmer also scored on a 1-yard run.
Edwards hit on 10-of-12 passes for 124 yards and three touchdowns in the game, while rushing for 143 yards on seven carries. Coleman had three carries for 102 yards, while Perry had four catches for 53 yards, Gilmer had two for 11 and Braxton Bright one for 42.
Aaron Witt led the winners with six tackles, while Clayton Leathers had five and Coleman, Edwards and Gilmer had four apiece. Coleman also had an interception and two tackles for a loss in the game.
