Dallas teams, Francis Marion meet in jamboree

Published 10:35 pm Thursday, August 18, 2011

By Robert Hudson

The Selma Times-Journal

Three local high school football teams will arrive at Memorial Stadium Friday night aiming to get one final look before the start of the regular season.

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The Keith High School Bears, Selma High School Saints and the Francis Marion High School Rams will meet in a jamboree game Friday at 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

Admission is $5.

Each team will play each other for two 10-minute quarters, with Keith facing Francis Marion to start things off.

Then Francis Marion will play Selma and the game will finish with Keith facing Selma.

Keith High School coach Harry Crum said his team has been preparing for the jamboree the same way they prepare for any game.

“We’ve been doing our same routine,” Crum said.

“We’re practicing hard, working on fundamentals, working on taking care of the ball and not fumbling or turning it over. We’ve just got to work. Repetition is the word.”

Crum said he’s just going to keep it simple against both teams.

“I subscribe to the old adage, try to do a few things, but try to do them well,” Crum said. “That’s what we’re going to do instead of doing a whole lot of things and mastering none of them. We’re going to try and just do what we do. We’re a Wing-T football team and we’re going to run our playbook.”

Selma High School coach Leroy Miles said he’ll use the jamboree to evaluate his players and his coaching staff.

“The fall jamboree is just another evaluation kind of thing where you evaluate the kids and give them an opportunity to participate and see where you are,” Miles said. “How well we can make adjustments is a big thing, and I think playing these two teams will be good for us with them running the Wing-T, so we can see how well we can adjust to that with us not seeing that on a regular basis. It’s a test run for us also as coaches.”

Francis Marion coach Javaris Jackson said getting his team prepared mentally is just as important when preparing them for the jamboree.

“My main thing right now is mental toughness,” Jackson said. “I’m just making sure my players are prepared and ready for the season.

Jackson said he wants his team to give its all when they take the field.

“We want them to leave it all on the line,” Jackson said. “This is a jamboree game, so win, lose or draw, don’t quit. Just don’t give up.”

Crum said he thinks the game will be a good thing for the community.

“I hope everyone comes out and supports the game,” Crum said.

“It’s football season and I think everybody’s waiting to get a taste of it.”

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