Move over, Vicksburg vs. Warren Central. There’s a new rivalry in town.

Porters Chapel Academy and St. Aloysius will play each other in a regular-season football game for the first time next season — and be district opponents in football and all other sports for the next two years — under the latest realignment plan from the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.

PCA and St. Al played each other in a preseason football scrimmage last August, but have never faced each other in a game that counts in the standings. They’ll play at Porters Chapel on Sept. 15, and then at St. Al in 2018.

“I think it’s going to be great. It’s something we talked about with the scrimmage last year. It’s something people at these schools and in Vicksburg have wanted for a long time,” said Blake Purvis, PCA’s football coach and an alum of the school. “Year in, year out, it’s going to bring big crowds, and I’m excited. It’s the beginning of another crosstown rivalry.”

By coincidence, the PCA-St. Al matchup will be the only game in town on Sept. 15. Vicksburg High is on the road at Columbus, and Warren Central has an open date. Purvis said that should generate even more interest for this first meeting between the city’s two private schools.

“I was not aware of that, but most definitely it’ll help. Just like it would help Warren Central or Vicksburg if us or St. Al was out of town,” Purvis said. “If that’s the only show that week, it just magnifies the game.”

PCA and St. Al have long had an informal rivalry based on both being private schools of similar size, and have become regular opponents in softball, baseball and basketball in recent years. Their matchups at the Red Carpet Basketball Classic in the early 2010s drew large crowds.

A football game between them was never feasible, however, since PCA was in the MAIS and St. Al in the Mississippi High School Activities Association. St. Al’s schedule was often filled with district games and rivalry games with other Catholic schools, while PCA had its dates filled with other MAIS teams. Games between teams in the two associations were also forbidden until about 10 years ago.
That all changed when St. Al joined the MAIS in 2015. After that, it seemed a matter of time before they were finally paired up.

Unlike the MHSAA, which allows individual schools to create their own schedules, the MAIS office makes a master schedule for the entire organization. As part of that process it generally tries to match up geographically close teams. PCA was also moved up from Class AA to Class AAA under the most recent realignment, which put them into the same district as St. Al and made it a certainty that they’d play each other.

PCA and St. Al were placed in District 3-AAA along with Central Hinds, Hillcrest Christian, Park Place Christian and Riverfield Academy.

“We’re excited as a school to get a district schedule, whoever we play. We knew whenever they readjusted the districts we were going to have some new teams,” St. Al athletic director Mike Jones said. “It’ll be good down the road for both of us. When we played basketball several years ago, it was always a good crowd.”

While the St. Al vs. Porters Chapel rivalry is dawning, two others are being put on hiatus indefinitely.
St. Al will not play Catholic school opponents Greenville-St. Joseph and Madison-St. Joseph for at least the next two years. St. Al has played Greenville-St. Joe every year since 2009, and on a regular but not annual basis before that. St. Al and Madison-St. Joe met annually from 1952-2000, took a six-year break because of conflicting schedules, and then have played each year since 2007.

Greenville-St. Joe is also an MAIS member and could eventually wind up back on the Flashes’ schedule. Madison-St. Joe is still in the MHSAA, putting the future of that long-running rivalry in question.

“It’s one you hated we didn’t continue, but at the same time you know why it happened. Years ago, we also did not play each other for seven or eight years. It’s not easy to cross over between the associations,” Jones said. “You never know what might happen years down the road. If the Diocese wanted us to play or something like that, we’d try to make it happen.”

2017 ST. ALOYSIUS SCHEDULE
Aug. 18    Leake Academy
Aug. 25    at Adams Christian
Sept. 1    *Central Hinds
Sept. 8    at Washington School
Sept. 15    *at Porters Chapel
Sept. 22    *Park Place
Sept. 29    Manchester
Oct. 6    Cathedral
Oct. 13    *at Hillcrest Christian
Oct. 20    *at Riverfield
*District 3-AAA games

2017 PORTERS CHAPEL ACADEMY SCHEDULE
Aug. 18    at Columbus Christian
Aug. 25    *at Riverfield
Sept. 1    *Hillcrest Christian
Sept. 8    Central Private
Sept. 15    *St. Aloysius
Sept. 22    at Union Christian
Sept. 29    Claiborne Christian
Oct. 6    *at Central Hinds
Oct. 13    at Glenbrook
Oct. 20    *Park Place
*District 3-AAA games