Sports Editor

It’s the last chance the Charles Henderson football coaching staff will get to see their players in action till the fall. And the last time the players will get the opportunity to prove they deserve playing time.

The Trojans will be hosting a Spring Jamboree at Richard M. Scrushy Field at Memorial Stadium on the TSU campus today with a $4 charge at the gate for all wishing to get a glimpse of the 2000 Trojans in action. The B-Team (JV) will start off the day with a 4:30 p.m. kickoff while the varsity begins at 6 p.m.

Two teams will be taking part in the Jamboree along with CHHS. The three will alternate play in games that are two quarters in length with CHHS and Booker T. Washington playing first, BTW and Eufaula playing second, then CHHS and Eufaula finishing things up. Normal rules will apply with no kicking game being used.

CHHS head coach Hugh Fountain looks forward to playing the two schools and feels they will both be a challenge for his squad.

"What we’re looking at is probably two different types of teams," Fountain said. "Booker T. is a passing football team and Eufaula is normally strong running the ball. Honestly we don’t approach this game the same way we do a regular game. We’ll be working on a lot of different things. Mainly we want to see how good we are fundamentally on our basic offense and defensive stuff."

Fountain and his coaches will be watching and taking close notes on their players. They want to iron out some kinks on both sides of the ball and make some decisions on which players are going to be able to carry them come the Fall.

"The things I told the boys I want to see is personal intensity, team effort and how hard we play, then we’re looking for the guys who make plays," Fountain said. "Performance in practice is the number one thing, but you have to be good in those game-type situations.

"It really is good to play the game in the spring because you get to see them in the game and see who can and can’t make the plays," he added. "Obviously we aren’t going to keep a kid that can play on the sideline. If a kid can play it will speak for itself."

To win or lose is not ever the main objective in a Spring Jamboree, but Fountain isn’t naive about that sort of thing either. He knows that while the main purpose is to get a good idea of what a team has to work on, the competition aspect of the day still takes on an important role.

"There is always a lot of pride involved whenever you line up and play somebody," the coach said. "Obviously winning is not the most important thing in a Spring Game, but trying to win is always important."