It won’t count toward either team’s record, but Southside and Dallas County will continue their county rivalry Friday night.

The teams will play a jamboree contest at Memorial Stadium starting at 7 p.m. and in doing so, continue a rivalry that has been played every year since 2008. Dallas County head coach Marty Smith said by making the game a jamboree, it doesn’t hurt either team’s record but it gives each school a chance to get its feet wet.

“I’ve been so appreciativee of the attitude from both schools, whether it’s players, fans, coaches,” said Dallas County coach Marty Smith about the lead up to the game. “It’s almost been a celebration of football.”

Dallas County is trying to figure out who its quarterback is. Junior Hunter Skinner and senior Hunter Myers are in the midst of a tight position battle.

They’ll both see action Friday, with a chance to win the starting job.

“What I’m looking for is who’s going to take over this team?”  Smith said. “Who’s going to take over this team? Who’s going to be the one that the team rallies around?”

Southside hasn’t made its mind up on a quarterback either. G’Neil Johnson and Malik Johnson are battling it out for the starting role in one of many positions up for grabs for the Panthers.

“We’ve got so many different position battles,” said Southside coach Daniel Flowers. “Right now we’ve got about six guys who can play corner and we’ve got two corner spots, so I’m looking for that spot. We’ve got a linebacker battle in one of the middle linebacker spots and in the free safety spot, we have two guys battling for that spot.”

Dallas County defeated Southside in 2014 and 2015, but those were regular season contests. On Friday, both teams will leave the field 0-0 going into big weeks.

Dallas County plays at McAdory next week, while Southside will face rival Selma.

 

Morgan Academy vs. Edgewood Academy

Morgan Academy will try to do what no team has been able to do since 2010 — beat Edgewood Academy.

The Wildcats enter 2016 with the nation’s longest 11-man football winning streak. Edgewood has won 71 straight games, including three wins over Morgan Academy in that time.

But things have changed immensely at both programs over the offseason.

Bobby Carr, who had coached Edgewood since 2000, is now at Autauga Academy. Eric Folmar, who actually accepted and held the Morgan Academy baseball coaching job for a brief time this summer, has taken Carr’s place at Edgewood. Morgan is being coached by Josh Thacker, who enters his first season leading the Senators.

The game will be played at Faulkner University. Edgewood has won the last two meetings by similar scores — 68-18 and 69-14.

Meadowview Christian vs. Victory Christian (Columbus)

Meadowview opens its season with a home 8-man football game against Victory Christian from Columbus, Mississippi. The Trojans played jamboree contests against New Life Christian and Ballard Christian last week and lost both contests. Both games were only a half long.

Keith vs. Winterboro

Keith will start its regular season Friday night against Winterboro in Orrville. Winterboro went 6-4 last season but missed the class 1A playoffs.

The Bears are likely to start freshman Jared Edwards at quarterback. Edwards will be handing off to senior running back Domonique Jones regularly. Jones ran for more than 1,700 yards last season and has his eyes set on an even better senior campaign.

 

Ellwood Christian at Wilcox Central

Ellwood Christian has only been practicing a couple of weeks, so Friday’s game against Wilcox Central will give the Eagles a chance to see how they stack up early on.  The Eagles went 3-7 last season, including losing their last seven games.

Wilcox Central has not won a game since Sept. 27, 2014 — an 18-12 win over Choctaw County.