Flashes, Trojans create rivalry|Prep football

Published 12:00 am Monday, August 31, 2009

It didn’t take long for St. Aloysius and Tallulah Academy to create a rivalry.

All of the ingredients were already there — two schools in close proximity, some connections with family and friends. The first meeting between the teams, a 28-6 St. Al win on Friday night that got chippy toward the end, just sealed the deal.

The teams endured a hard-fought, if one-sided, game. St. Al won but was flagged for five personal foul penalties. Tallulah had none, a fact that St. Al coach B.J. Smithhart jokingly praised them for.

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“Give (Tallulah) credit. They were smart enough not to get caught and we were doing it in the middle of everybody,” Smithhart said.

Ah, trash talk. The final piece of the puzzle.

St. Al and Tallulah played the first-ever football game in Warren County between members of the Mississippi High School Activities Association and Mississippi Association of Independent Schools. Both Smithhart and his counterpart at Tallulah, John Weaver, said it won’t be the last.

“This is going to turn into a rivalry that will be played year-in and year-out,” said Weaver, who has several family members who attended St. Al and even did radio broadcasts for its baseball team during last spring’s Class 1A championship run. “There’s a lot of personal stuff between us here. They won round one.”

A large crowd estimated by St. Al officials at between 1,500 and 2,000 people turned out for the game. Fans filled the bleachers and lined the fence from the 50-yard line on Tallulah’s side to about the 20-yard line on St. Al’s side. The money the game generated, as well as the money next year’s game at Tallulah will generate for that school, made it likely the series will continue after the current two-year deal expires.

“When we looked to schedule this game, what we were looking for was a solid football team with good fan support, and a team that played hard. And that’s what we got,” Smithhart said, adding when asked if he’d schedule Tallulah after 2010, “I don’t see why not. I would think we had one of our better gates tonight and it was a good game.”

Weaver was also eager to take another shot at the Flashes — albeit next season. Tallulah opened the season against Porters Chapel, a more traditional MAIS rival from Vicksburg. After another intense game in Week 2, preparing for this Friday’s game against two-time defending Class A South State champion Glenbrook and next week’s district opener against Huntington will seem easy.

“I’ve heard so much talk about St. Al, Porters Chapel, St. Al, Porters Chapel. I know my fiancee is going to be happy these two games are over,” Weaver said. “My team is worn out and I’m worn out.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com