Call it “The Incredible Shrinking Region.”
A year ago, there were nine schools in Region 3-1A for football. As of now, there are four for this year, and the shrinkage could continue.
It started when Ray Brooks closed. Now Leflore County, West Tallahatchie, West Bolivar and McEvans have announced they will not be fielding teams this year due to the pandemic.
That leaves four teams – McAdams, Ethel, Hollandale Simmons and Coffeeville. Maybe.
Simmons athletic director Cortez Johnson said a decision has not been made, but he expects a decision by the Hollandale School Board shortly.
Coffeeville athletic director Willie Mays said as of now the school plans to field a team. But he added “It's a day to day situation. We want our kids to be able to compete. But safety is a concern so we are kind of playing it by ear.”
The opt outs leave holes in the schedule for McAdams and Ethel.
McAdams lost four consecutive games in the middle of the season. The Bulldogs were scheduled to have home games with Leflore County September 25, McEvans October 2 and West Bolivar October 9, and a road game with West Tallahatchie October 16.
Coach Kenneth Nelson is hoping to add some games to fill the gaps.
“I'm on the phone with coaches right now trying to fill them up.”
He said he's willing to play any available team. “Classification doesn't matter.”
Playing home at home with other 3-1A teams is a possibility, although Nelson said that would be “a worst case scenario.” But he added “If the district teams are willing to do it, we'll do it.”
Nelson is especially unhappy losing three home games.
Ethel was supposed to play at West Tallahatchie September 18, at West Bolivar October 16, Leflore County at home October 30 and at McEvans November 6.
“I'd like to play another game or two,” first-year coach Adam Smith said. “I'm not sure what we are going to do.”
He said he would not be surprised if everybody shuts in down.
“Personally, I don't see a point in that. It's a virus and probably it's going to be with us from here on, like the flu or the summer virus we deal with all the time. I don't see this going anywhere ever, so I don't see a point in us shutting down,” he said.
Mississippi High School Activities Association Executive Director Don Hinton said there probably will not be an affect on alignment of regions.
“We will just play them like they are,” Hinton said.
West Bolivar, Leflore County and West Tallahatchie finished one-two-three in the region last year. McAdams was fourth.
With a maximum of four teams in the region, everybody would qualify for the MHSAA playoffs.
“We'll make the playoffs, but we will have to be strong enough to do something in the playoffs,” Nelson said.
McAdams was defeated in the opening round by state runner-up Lumberton last year.
