There aren’t a lot of easy games in the first month of the season for Porters Chapel.

The Eagles face tough Class AA teams from River Oaks and Prairie View in weeks 2 and 3, then a road district game with Veritas in week 4. Then, sneaked in on opening night, is a three-hour drive to Claiborne Academy for a curious contest.

The Rebels gave PCA fits in last year’s season opener before sliding to a wretched 2-9 record. On paper, it should be a rare “gimme” for the Eagles. Coach Randy Wright said that is dangerous thinking, however.

“First and foremost they are a very well-coached football team. They’re very big, strong and physical. They are much improved from last year. Last year was a bit of a down year for them, but we’ve definitely got our hands full,” Wright said.

The Eagles, who overcame a 1-2 start to reach the second round of the playoffs in 2007, also appear to be improved. Quarterback Clayton Holmes, a transfer from St. Aloysius, and Warren Central transfer Josh Perry at running back will give PCA a solid one-two punch in the running game.

Four of five starters on the offensive line – most of whom will also start on the defensive line – are also back, while Holmes and safety Colby Rushing will add a presence in the secondary for a defense that held six of 13 opponents to a touchdown or less last season.

That’s good news against a Claiborne team that averaged only 11.7 points a game in 2007. Claiborne runs a wing-T offense that’s easy to figure out, but difficult to stop if the Rebels are on their game.

“They’ve just got some realy big kids and are physical. They’ll hit you in the mouth if you’re not ready to play,” PCA linebacker Joe Borrello said.

The early stretch is tough enough – Prairie View pounded PCA 34-7 last season and went on to reach the Class AA playoffs; River Oaks beat PCA 40-0, finished 7-4 and has not had a losing record since 2002 – that the opener with Claiborne could be the difference between another 1-2 start and an 0-3 hole heading into district play.

Wright said a bigger goal was to be healthy after the first three weeks, however, and pointed to last year as an example that it’s better to finish strong than start strong.

“Since I’ve been the head coach here, every year we seem to get better as we go along through the season,” Wright said. “Every team I’ve had has been better at the end of the season than the beginning, and that’s the goal again.”

Humphreys at Central Hinds

Central Hinds’ last preseason test was not a pretty one. The Cougars had several turnovers and struggled to score in two quarters each against Hillcrest and Adams Christian in the Copiah jamboree. That CHA was still able to win both scrimmages, by identical 7-0 scores, helped coach Bobby Allen shrug it off a little.

“Eliminate a couple of fumbles and a couple of penalties and we’d have scored five times in two quarters against a 3A school and a 2A school,” Allen said. “We moved the ball consistently. There weren’t any glaring mistakes defensively.”

Central Hinds will get another test tonight against Humphreys Academy, a last-minute fill-in game. CM&I, the Cougars’ original opponent, canceled its season last week. CM&I did the same thing last year and Central Hinds ended up with a forfeit win and an open date when no substitute opponent could be found.

Allen joked that that might have been a better option this time around, rather than facing a Humphreys squad that went 8-4 and reached the playoffs in 2007.

“We were fortunate to pick up Humphreys. I say fortunate – they were (8-4) last year,” Allen said with a laugh.

Tallulah at Glenbrook

When Doug Branning took over as Tallulah Academy’s coach in July, he knew little about the teams in the Mississippi Private School Association. Tallulah’s first opponent has given him a crash course.

Branning makes his debut as the Trojans’ coach tonight against Glenbrook, which returns nearly every key player from last year’s Class A championship team. Tallulah played the Apaches tough for a half in the 2007 season opener before losing 43-14. Branning was hoping for a similar performance, albeit with a different outcome, this time.

“You may as well play them early. People get better as the season goes along, so a team like that you want to play them as early as you can,” Branning said, adding his team is showing signs of improvement after last year’s 1-10 campaign.

“We’re progressing every day. We were a little better in the jamboree than we were in the scrimmage at Porters Chapel, and we’re looking a little better each day in practice,” Branning said. “I know we’ll run, we’ll hit somebody, we’ll get out there and play.”

Briarfield at Prairie View

The Rebels start its new era under coach Ben Durham tonight in Bastrop against a tough Trojan squad.

“We know Prairie View has an excellent running back in Jeremy Spires. He may be one of the best we see all year,” Durham said.

Spires rushed for 190 yards and two touchdowns to Prairie View to a 28-14 win at Briarfield last year in the season opener.

Veritas at SIA

The Confederates hope its beefed up numbers to 18 players will help when they host Veritas tonight in Rolling Fork.

SIA went 0-11 last year and the prime reason was they had only 12 varsity players. Still, they did manage to score two touchdowns against Veritas, which unfortunately, was half of its entire season output of four scores.