War Dawgs face rival Blue Waves

Published 12:01 pm Thursday, August 26, 2010

Hinds AHS has held the upper hand lately in its Highway 18 rivalry with Port Gibson, winning three in a row.

This, however, is likely to be the year things change.

Hinds AHS opens the season Friday night against Port Gibson (1-0) in a game that will begin its rebuilding process. Hinds returns only three offensive and four defensive starters from last year’s team.

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Port Gibson, meanwhile, has high hopes for this season after opening with a 14-0 win over Raymond last week and going 4-7 in 2009.

“They’re vastly improved. (Coach Lynn) Lang has done a good job of turning them around. They’re real physical. They’re going to be a major test for us,” Hinds coach Michael Fields said. “It’s been a pretty physical rivalry. It’s going to get one-sided with us declining and everybody around us growing.”

Port Gibson isn’t the only early-season test for the War Dawgs. Their first three games are against Class 4A schools.

That led Fields to forego a season-opening classic game to save his young players some wear and tear.

“We didn’t want those guys to take a pounding,” Fields said.