PHEBA — Michael Dawkins and the Central Academy football team needed this one.
After falling victim to bigger and faster teams and a fair share of self-inflicted mistakes in their first three games, Dawkins and the Vikings hoped Friday night to establish some positive momentum against Hebron Christian in their Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) Eight-Man, District 2 matchup.
History wasn’t on their side.
The Eagles had won the previous five meetings by a combined score of 209-22, but Dawkins hoped the Vikings had the edge in experience with four seniors and that they could take advantage of the fact that the Eagles were young after the graduation losses of 10 seniors from the 2015 squad.
Dawkins’ hopes were realized in a big way.
Buoyed by a turnover on the opening kickoff, Central Academy scored on its first three plays and cruised to a 47-6 victory.
“We got a lot of experience in tonight,” Dawkins said. “I had one kid who has never played football before (sophomore Bradley Pool) and he had a learning experience at cornerback tonight. He had a couple of deflections.”
Central Academy (1-3) started quickly thanks to its ability to collect a bouncing kickoff that wasn’t quite an onside kick. The ball rolled in between several Hebron Christian players before the Vikings recovered at the Eagles’ 41-yard line. Following an offsides penalty, William Dawkins raced 36 yards around the right side for the first score. Central Academy held Hebron Christian to -9 yards on its first two defensive and built its lead to 22-0 on a 54-yard run up the middle by Jack VanDevender and a 38-yard run around the right corner by quarterback Jerry Long.
Setting the tone
The scores helped set the tone and enabled Central Academy to build momentum following losses to Park Place (42-6), North Sunflower Academy (48-6), and Riverdale (44-14). Coach Dawkins said the last loss was especially frustrating because the Vikings moved the football well and had “about 15 trips into the red zone but couldn’t overcome penalties and mistakes. That’s why he was so pleased to see so many players contribute right down to the final horn. Coby Weston capped the scoring when he intercepted a pass by Jax Warren and returned it for a touchdown.
“We had a lot to work on. I felt like we could have been a lot closer than what we were,” coach Dawkins said. “We were totally out-sized and outnumbered in the first two games. This last game, I thought we could have won the game. It was a lot of sloppiness. There were a lot of things that weren’t clicking for us.”
Central Academy didn’t have those mistakes Friday night. Dawkins joked that he probably would find more than the two that came to him after the game, but he admitted he wasn’t surprised the Vikings committed that many mistakes because they, too, are a young team once you get past seniors William and Preston Dawkins, who are his sons, Long, and VanDevender. Central Academy hopes it will be able to use that experience to win more than three games like it did last season. The victory against Hebron Christian gives it something to build on leading up to its remaining District 2 games against Calhoun Academy, which should field a squad of similar size, and Kemper Academy, which is the favorite to win the district title. The teams will meet Oct. 14 in DeKalb.
Dawkins isn’t looking that far ahead, though. Next week, Central Academy will travel to Leland to face Unity Christian, a team it beat last season, so he hopes one victory can lead to two, especially if the Vikings play mistake-free football. If that happens, Dawkins believes in his players because they have taken their licks in the first three games. He reiterated what he said in the preseason that he wouldn’t trade the 10 he has for 30 more.
“We have a huge gap between our experienced players and our non-experienced players,” Dawkins said. “We have some ninth-graders in some key roles, and if they mess up, they get burned and we pay for it, and that’s what has been happening. I am not blaming them for anything, but they grew up a lot tonight. You can watch film and we can practice all day, but until you get on the football field during a game, that’s when you learn. I hope we learned a lot tonight.”
True Eight-Man teams
Dawkins credited Hebron Christian coach David Foster for being “first class” in how he runs his program and how his players handle themselves on the field. On paper, the game figured to be about as even a matchup as either team could expect this season given they each started the game with 10 players. Hebron Christian had three players unavailable due to injury.
“This is one of the true eight-man teams that we play,” Dawkins said. “I know they are really young and they are hurt, but hey always have been a true eight-man football team, and we’re one of the few, too. We needed this. I needed this, and our kids worked their tails off. We have gone against some giants, and we are lucky we haven’t had any injuries up until now. Thank God both sides were healthy tonight.”
The victory was Central Academy’s first in the series, which wasn’t played from 2008-11, since a 42-14 victory in 2006.
Since then, Hebron Christian has had its share of success largely with an old-fashioned 3 yards and a cloud of dust approach that Foster loves. Last season, led by senior quarterback Channing Tapley and wide receiver Landon Hill, the Eagles won eight games and advanced to the second round of the Eight-Man playoffs. The loss of 10 seniors would hurt any program, but graduation took an even bigger toll on Foster’s group, which fell to 0-4. It scored its second touchdown of the season on a 70-yard pass from Warren to Bradley Scott in the third quarter.
With such a young group, Foster knows there will be small steps this season. At least one came on the touchdown pass because Warren made an adjustment on that throw after his pass to Scott fell short on the previous play. Foster said the Eagles will try to build on things like that and continue to get stronger so they will be able to compete for longer stretches down the road.
“Our goal is to try to get better every week,” Foster said. “Some weeks we don’t accomplish that. Tonight, I know the score wasn’t good, but we didn’t get better than what we have been playing. We blocked better than what we have been doing, and we tackled better than what we have been doing. We also had more excitement when we were playing.”
Foster admitted it is hard to take knocks like Hebron Christian is taking this season, but he joked that he is mellowing in his “old age.” A sign of that might be Foster allowing Kolbe Thompson to participate in a talent show at a pep rally at the school. He said told Thompson after he sang with someone in the talent show that he better have at least six tackles against Central Academy. Thompson reached that goal, so he told Thompson he would get another chance to sing, just not Friday night because he wasn’t in the mood to hear it.
Like he said in the preseason, Foster said he has to remember his players are still young and learning the game. He said he caught himself trying to call a play on the fly and he didn’t because he knew his players wouldn’t know how to do it.
Foster also said he will have to be patient for his players to mature physically so they will able to be more physical and block and tackle better.
“Some of them don’t want to be real physical yet, and it is because of their age and their size,” Foster said. “I understand, but when you have a chance to be physical with someone you can match up against, that is when you have to be physical.”
Foster made that point on the sideline in the first half when he told one of his players that he had to “take the bangs and hit and then give the bangs and hits.” Foster and the Eagles might take more of those bangs and hits than they want this season, but the veteran coach believes his players will mature and eventually have a game like Friday when they are able to showcase everything they have learned and take a step forward.
“It will come,” Foster said. “I see some of them trying to do things like I want them to, but they’re just not physically able to. We’re not fast enough or quick enough yet. Sometimes we’re not strong enough. That is just because they are so young. My older guys haven’t played a lot of football, so they haven’t had a lot of training.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.