Mike Halford is looking forward to tonight.
Like many people who work in Lowndes County, Halford will be at New Hope High School at 7:30 tonight to watch the Trojans take on Columbus High in a highly anticipated football game. Tickets are $5, and will be available right up until kickoff.
“The ballgame will be well managed and well patrolled and supervised,” said Halford, the Lowndes County Schools superintendent. “If it is not something that is safe, (Columbus Municipal School District Superintendent) Dr. (Del) Phillips and I never would have had this agreement.”
Halford said off-the-field issues caused concern about the safety of fans at the game and contributed to the Columbus-New Hope football game not being played last season. He said he planned to meet with New Hope High security personnel and CMSD security officials to make sure everyone knows procedures for parking and entrance on the home and visitor sides and expectations for tonight”s game.
“We”re going to be very aware and have law enforcement at the game,” Halford said. “If there is someone who has been trouble and we don”t know, they”re not going to get in the ballgame.”
Halford said no additional seating will be added for the game, and that he expects a crowd of 4,000-5,000.
The matchup was realized late last month after West Point High School had to cancel one of its 12 games to comply with the Mississippi High School Activities Association”s limit of 11 in a regular season. West Point canceled its Sept. 3 game at Columbus, which gave the Falcons consecutive open dates.
Instead of allowing Columbus High not to play on back-to-back weeks, Phillips contacted Halford to see if Columbus and New Hope could play on Sept. 10. Fortunately, New Hope had an open date, too, which helped everyone make the best of what could have been a bad situation.
Halford said he and Phillips were more than willing to assist West Point High because that school has been a good neighbor in the past, particularly when there have been scheduling issues that needed to be changed.
The fact that Lowndes County”s biggest schools will meet on the football field as a result after not playing each other last season is a bonus.
Columbus High coach Tony Stanford is looking forward to the game. He doesn”t anticipate any problems surrounding the event.
“I think it is good for us,” Stanford said. “The people in charge were the ones stopping it. Both of the coaches wanted to play, but we”re not the ones making the decisions.”
New Hope coach Michael Bradley echoed those thoughts, saying his school will do its best to make everyone feel safe and welcome.
“I hope both schools will conduct themselves with a lot of school spirit and that it will be a fun place to be Friday night,” Bradley said. “It is what high school football is supposed to be about.”
Bradley feels two schools so close together should play every year, and have fun doing it. He feels tonight”s game can be a positive thing for the community. He also doesn”t anticipate there being any problems.
“I”d like to a see a standing-room only crowd with an electric atmosphere and a lot of intensity for a game with two schools that respect each other and are going to get after it,” Bradley said. “Everybody needs to keep it in perspective. It is not the end of the world for the loser. It is not a loser leaves town. We have a tough division to play after this and so do they. This game is for local pride and bragging rights. That”s it. It is a big game nonetheless, and we want to win those local games. I am sure they feel the same way.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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