Sports Columnist

What a football weekend! You’ve got Charles Henderson High School at the stadium tonight against Greenville, Troy State in Starkville against Mississippi State, Alabama at Ole Miss and Florida at Auburn.

If you love football like I do this should be a heavenly weekend for you.

Of course, CHHS steals the spotlight because they are at home but you can watch the Alabama-Ole Miss game at 11:30 and the Auburn-Florida game at 6 p.m. on TV. The Troy State-MSU game is not scheduled for television, but you can listen to it on WTBF Radio 970 on your dial beginning at 12:30. TSU will be featured on ESPN’s Gameday this Saturday. ESPN was in Miami to shoot the footage last weekend for the four minute segment.

Charles Henderson is red hot at 6-0 if you count its victory over Pike County High School in a jamboree to start the season.

To say that Hugh Fountain has built a strong football program at CHHS is an understatement. It took him three or four years to do it but he has succeeded. I can’t think of a time where the Trojans football program from the seventh grade up had more quality athletes. All you have to do is look at the middle school program under Forrest Lee to see that kids in Troy are growing up dreaming of the day they can wear that orange helmet at CHHS.

Yes, Trojan football for the next five to six years looks to be very solid.

Lee is making it fun for the 75-80 players that wear the orange jerseys for the seventh and eighth grade teams at CHMS. Every kid on the team plays in the game. That’s how you build chemistry. The ninth grade program under Mark Head has lost just one game in two years.

But it all starts at the top with Fountain. He’s put together an excellent staff and has developed a great working relationship with the school administration and the coaches at the feeder programs.

From Troy Superintendent Hank Jones on down, Trojan football is a very important element of school life.

Greenville will be a tough team to handle. They run the option well enough to be dangerous on offense and play solid defense. Coached by former Auburn star Alvin Briggs, Greenville is 2-0 in region play and defeated Trojan nemesis Stanhope-Elmore two week’s ago.

On the other hand, Briggs and his Tigers have not seen the kind of firepower that CHHS puts on the field. Look for this to be a good one, but I think the Trojans have too many weapons.

CHHS 28, Greenville 12

Alabama’s day in Oxford, Miss., tomorrow could be frightful if the Tide secondary is not ready to play its best game of the season. Eli Manning could be better than both his daddy Archie and brother Peyton, before he leaves Ole Miss. Hopefully, Tyler Watts will have another outstanding game mixing the pass and the run. In a high scoring affair, Alabama 45, Ole Miss 31.

The Gators are coming! The Gators are coming to the "Jungle" in Auburn! Auburn’s hope here is for a terrible rainstorm. Florida scores at will. Auburn still needs to work on offense. Auburn’s defense could give the Gators some trouble if they can put a lot of heat on UF quarterback Rex Grossman. Tuberville is sometimes called the "Riverboat Gambler", but I’ll take a Gator anytime one-on-one. Florida 31, Auburn 12

In Starkville, Troy State goes up against its first ever Southeastern Conference opponent in Mississippi State. This Bulldog team was supposed to be State’s best team in years, but so far they’re 1-3. But look who they’ve lost to; South Carolina at home, Florida in the "Swamp" and Auburn in the "Jungle."

This is still one of the SEC’s biggest and strongest football teams. State’s offensive line averages 330 pounds and with top quality running backs in Dicenzo Miller and Donte Walker, their running game can be overpowering.

Here’s hoping that Osi Yumenyiora, Jose Gamboa, Davern Williams and Vernon Marable will be able to stand their ground against the Bulldogs. I hope to say after the game "Who let them Trojans out?"

Troy State 17, Mississippi State 14, in a shocker! I believe!

Remember! Those of you Trojan fans making the trip to Starkville on Saturday can enjoy a delicious barbecue thanks to Kelly’s Barbecue of Elba and sponsored by the Troy State Alumni Affair’s Office. Better then that its free! Take the second MSU exit if you’re coming from Columbus and you’ll turn left at the red light and drive until you see the MSU tennis courts and baseball field. You’ll see a tent with a TSU sign on it and the Kelly’s Barbecue wagon. Let’s have some fun and fellowship outside of Scott Field and then we’ll walk in together to see Troy State shock the world!

Go Trojans!