JACKSON — Lights! Camera! Action!

The stage is set for a glorious weekend of high school footballstate championship action. The Mississippi High School ActivitiesAssociation will showcase five championship games at MississippiVeterans Memorial Stadium, starting Friday afternoon and runningthrough Saturday night.

Seven of the 10 teams entered are undefeated, including theHazlehurst Indians (12-0) who face Charleston’s Tigers (13-1) forthe Class 3A state championship. Kickoff is 11 a.m., Saturday, theopener of a tripleheader.

“It should be a great weekend,” said MHSAA executive secretaryDr. Ennis Proctor. This is the 100th season of high school footballin the Magnolia State and players have worn commemorative decals ontheir helmets during the campaign.

For the unknowing reader, Yazoo City defeated Winona 5-0 back in1905 in what is considered the first-ever high school football gamein Mississippi. Touchdowns counted 5 points, way back when.

Certainly, this has been an unusual football season. After theAug. 26 season openers, Hurricane Katrina played havoc with theschedule, smashing the Magnolia State on Monday, Aug. 26. Gameswere canceled or postponed for two weeks, pushing the playoffs back1 week. St. Stanislaus was forced to cancel its season, due to theloss of facilities on the Gulf Coast.

Proctor said the $12 ticket price for admission to the statetitle games would also benefit the athletic programs on the Coast.One dollar of every ticket sold would go to the disaster victims tohelp purchase equipment and other items.

Pregame ticket sales are important to each school. Hazlehurstwas allotted 2,500 tickets. Hazlehurst superintendent of educationHenry Dorsey said tickets would be on sale at Copiah Bank, theHazlehurst high school office and the superintendent’s office.

This year the South state champion in each classification willserve as the home team. The home side is the press box or southside of the stadium.

Hazlehurst athletic director Gary Tabor said pregame ticketswould cost $10 each. The school would receive $5 for each ticketsold in advance. This would benefit the entire athleticprogram.

Hazlehurst principal Marvin Davis was wearing a proud smile, adark blue suit and a polka-dot bow tie yesterday as the players andcoaches met the media at the Mississippi Sports Museum on LakelandDrive.

“I’m most impressed with our team,” said Davis, a 1995Hazlehurst graduate. “Their achievements on the field and in theclassroom are impressive. They deserve to be here asstudent/athletes.”

Davis said Hazlehurst head coach Willie Brown and his staff havedone an outstanding job leading the team. “The team iswell-organized and they have a sense of belonging. The workmanshipof the entire coaching staff is commendable.”

Davis also said he anticipates a large turnout for Saturday’sgame. “We have strong support from the community and theparents.”

The Indians, making their first-ever appearance in the statetitle game, are among four newcomers to the championship weekend.They join Charleston, Benoit Ray Brooks in 1A and HollandaleSimmons in 2A for the coming out, debutante party.

Brown, in his sixth year at the helm, is a New Orleans nativewho once coached defense at Alcorn State under former head coachCardell Jones. He brought running back Courtney Hall andlinebacker/receiver Johnny Sanders to the media conference.

Brown and his coaching staff watched Charleston on game filmduring the weekend. He was impressed.

“Charleston is fast and strong,” said Brown. “They play gooddefense and run to the ball well. It should be an outstandinggame.”

Brown’s Indians are cut from a similar mold. They are fast andstrong. On defense, they swarm the football.

Sanders, the team’s leading defender with 170 tackles, also has12 quarterback sacks and 4 interceptions to his credit. Asked abouthis role on defense, Sanders grinned and said, “I like to hitpeople.”

Over 5,000 folks watched Hazlehurst hit the South Pike Eagleswith a shocking 22-19 victory last Friday night in Hazlehurst. Manymore will watch them Saturday in Jackson.

Write to sports editor Tom Goetz, c/o The DAILY LEADER, P.O.BOX 551, Brookhaven, MS 39602 or e-mailsports@dailyleader.com