2000

hop1ng to 1

ar, the Warriors of ( ntral Community

C I e football team came v; 1tlun one game of playing ft r the MAJCC state champi– oru.htp. And head coach Terry t:nden\ood 1:; confident this year' squad can do even bet– ter. "La-.t year we knocked on the door ," Und erwood said. "This year we plan to knock It down ." Unden \·ood has good rea– son to bt> optimi~tic about his roam's chances. The Warrior::. return 19 :-;ophomores from the 1999 team which fini!:ihed the regu lar ;;:eason with a record of 8-2 before losing to eventual state champi on 1 orthwest Mississippi Com– munity C liege in the first round of the s tate-playoiTs. Northwest Mississippi had been the early favorite to win the slat<' title again this year. But t he Rangers have been placed on probation by t he National .Junior College Ath– letic AsRociation and will not figure into this year's title hunt. With .Notthwcst out of the pictut·e. the Warriors chances to wi n it all i n 2000 h ave improved significantly. But according t o Underwood , even had t he Ranger s not been placed on pr obation, Ea:st l\lississ1 ppi would have been a scriow; contender . According to Undenvood, the Warriors should be strong at the ,;kill po~it10m d th ball t.lu...

Paula Merrittrrhe Meridian Star GETIING IT RIGHT - East Central Coach Terry Underwood talks to h1s team dur– ing last year's contest with Northwest Community College.

with the running game and with the passing game. He's a very good athlete, which will allow us to put him on the move as well." Along wit h McKinnon, the backfield will include sopho– more Terrance Wan,..lev 16-v. 1 • "e t D c· UDU c r ... m

Blakely, Ga. a nd John Bibb nine starter::;. (5-11, 215) ofTuscaloos~ Ala. "We lost four out of five "Our strength on defenl"e starters in our offensive line will probably be our lineback- and we lost our whole start– er s. Anthony was an All- ing four on t h e de fensive State player la~t year as a line." Underwood s aid . freshman. I don't know if "We've got some people t here there are many any league '"how fe I good about and uer than him LaK- ho are dom~ u ~ood job and • H -.t n t n., better, but the~ re not ed a lot for us la'-t year and truly tested yet. And until we \\e think he'"' going to bt' a get out and go to war and see heck of a player,., Vndenmod how they're going to respond, said that's going to be somewhat Hot: added the secondary "is of a question to us." also ven solid and should do As they prepare for the a good job." 2000 campaign, Underwood If t here is a question about and his coaching staff are pri– the Warriors 2000 squad, it b marily focusing on using the how the offensive and defen- first three games to set the tve lin4ts will respond after tone for the rest of the sea- ing a combined ei~ht of son. mark - ~gRAT ___

mnon will b of reigns at quarterback . :\lcK- Tuscaloosa , Ala. and fre~h­ innon (6·3, 195) is a sopho- man Derrick Speller s (6-2 , more from Palatka, Fla., from 196) of Fa yet teville, N.C., whom Underwood is expect- sharing time at tailback . ing big things. Defensively, Under wood "He played a lot for us last says he feels "real good" year and handled all the about the linebacker corps . snapi' in the spring," Under- which includes LaKendrick Ap wood said. "He's a :;ea~oned Houston ( 6-0. 220 of 1-y - ·· t.. • .r. 1 ...... n .. tlow Louisville and Antnon.) couNTv~~riOO 8 3 UNION APPEAL • tnkm,., tht: PatrKK Pnnce .'1-lt~. 19 LAI • 1 scon.. K ' av-~ Thomp on 6-1 22~

WINSTON COUNTY J SPIRIT OF MORTON

~lf ----------------

·w e break the season into NEWTON MESSENGi thirds. We're looking a~ the

to :-ay that if we were 1-2 1r 0-3 that we still couldn't have a good year, but m this leve and this league you need to get off to a good start in my opinion." Evan Smith is a sports wrrter for

~ first t hree games. And if we can be on the plus side after t he first thr ee games .. . we feel like we'll have a chance fn h QVO A r cA1Jv P'OOd vear."