Central High Football Resurgence

By Woody Jenkins, Editor • A few years ago, the Central High Wildcats traveled north for a big against West Monroe. As more than 120 West Monroe Rebels ran onto the field, one could sense what an extraordinary program the school had.

The Wildcats brought 52 that night, and the game wasn’t close.

A rule of thumb in high school football is the larger your team numbers the more likely you are to have a great team.  With big numbers, a team is likely to have lots of talent.

That’s one reason Central High athletic director and head football coach Sid Edwards is so high on this year’s team.  Central High has more students out for football this year than any time since 2008.

They will dress out 91 and have another 60 on the freshman team.

In addition, Central will have the biggest team physically  that it’s had in years.

Coach Sid said, “We’ve lost our four-year starting quarterback, Sam Kenneson.  Because of his wheels, we were always in the fight. However, as much as we’ll miss Sam, we have an able replacement in Jonathan Swift. I have a tremendous amount of confidence in this young man.  He’s been an outstanding running back, but this year we expect him to be our starting quarterback. He’s only a junior but already a veteran.”

Coach Sid said it has been a difficult year with school out for the spring and the ever-changing rules for high school football. “They tell us the players on the field won’t have to mask, but those on the sidelines will. In fact, everyone on the sidelines will have to mask.”

“The latest is they are only going to allow us to fill the stadium to 25 percent capacity. That puts us at 1,000 people in Wildcat Stadium. That includes players, coaches, staff, the band, cheerleaders, and fans. It was a big surprise because that’s just not enough.”

Bureaucracy is taking a lot of the fun out of sports, he said. For example, before they had their first volleyball game, Coach Sid had to write an 8-page proposal for the fire marshall on how every aspect of the event would be handled. Later when he asked the fire marshall about it, the fire marshall was not aware of the requirement.

Lots of times the new rules and mandates haven’t been thought out, causing undue hardship, he said.

The eight-game season will begin with Belaire on Friday, Oct. 2 and end in late November.

Scotlandville is supposed to be the outstanding team in the district but Zachary, which has won state three of the past six years, could have its best team ever.

Meanwhile, the Wildcats had their first day of contact Monday, and they are eager to hit the new turf at Wildcat Stadium and test themselves against the competition.