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.
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.