Red Carpet Classic today at VHS|[01/27/07]

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 27, 2007

The 14th Red Carpet Basketball Classic makes its second appearance at Vicksburg High today with six games on tap.

RCB committee member Ricky Mitchell urged fans to get to the games early.

&#8220This is only the second time we’ve had the Red Carpet Basketball Classic at Vicksburg High so I urge fans to use good judgment in where they park,” Mitchell said.

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Vicksburg High hosted the event for the first time two years ago and the gym was packed for an early afternoon girls clash between Class 5A powerhouses Warren Central and Harrison Central. The same two teams met later that March in the State 5A semifinals in Jackson.

There is not that high profile a game this time around, but there are some good matchups. Action starts at 10 a.m. when the St. Al girls (14-7) under first-year coach Kyt Bonner meet Mize in a rematch from last year’s RCC.

The St. Al boys (12-7) play Mize at 11:30.

The Lady Vikes (18-5) have potentially the day’s best matchup when they take on the Brandon Lady Bulldogs (16-7) at 1 p.m.

The WC boys (11-13) will face Lawrence County (11-13) at 2:30

The host Vicksburg Missy Gators (12-8) take on Hazleburst at 4 p.m. and the Gators (12-8) meet the Hazlehurst boys at 5:30.

&#8220We pretty much let the coaches find an opponent. Coach (Donny) Fuller usually gets a top-notch team and I’ve heard Brandon has a pretty good record,” Mitchell said.

&#8220I’m excited about Lawrence County coming in. They are coached by Preston Wilson, who was the boys coach at WC. He’s coming home to face his old school,” Mitchell said.

Unlike football, which is a big moneymaker for the RCB committee, basketball is a break-even venture.

&#8220The main reason behind the Red Carpet Classics is to raise money to fund our scholarships to local students. Basketball is pretty break-even because we have to pay officals and scorekeepers and such. Still, we’re thankful for the Vicksburg-Warren School District being able to extend their facilities for us all day so we can have all three of the local schools in St. Al, Warren Central and Vicksburg to be able to play.

&#8220But we could not do this event without our core sponsor in River Region Hospital along with our other local sponsors,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the RCB committee is already working on next fall’s premier football matchups which will bring four-time defending Class 5A state football champion South Panola and 4A runner-up Clarksdale to the Red Carpet Bowl at WC’s Viking Stadium.

&#8220We’re desperately trying to find more bleachers because we’re expecting a huge crowd that day,” Mitchell said of the late August season-opener for the Vikings and Gators.

And don’t look for a pullout from South Panola even though its coach, Ricky Woods, is leaving for a new job in Bainbridge, Ga.

&#8220One of the best things we do is have a local attorney, Briggs Hopson, draw up our contracts. And we have that contract signed by both the coach and an administrator. That way, if a coach leaves, like coach Woods is doing at Panola, the new coach can’t come in and say ‘we’re not coming,’ because we have a binding contract.”

Baseball is the one sport without a Red Carpet Classic, but Mitchell says that could change in the near future.

&#8220I would love do to baseball. But what we’re looking at is to extend it beyond a one-day event. We would like to have two round-robin tournaments, one at WC and one at Bazinksy. Spring Break is the best time to have it, but we’ve run into scheduling problems in the past with our teams already having committments.”

Another future plan is to bring St. Aloysius back to the football classic and possibly pair it against Porters Chapel Academy. This month, the Mississippi High School Athletics Association approved a plan to allow member schools to schedule schools from the Mississippi Private School Association.

&#8220We’ve made overtures to St. Al in wanting to bring them back in the fold,” Mitchell said. &#8220To pair them with Porters Chapel, that would certainly be an entertaining game for the fans. And maybe we could extend that to include basketball.”