Member schools of the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) can choose to play a Week 0 football game to begin the regular season and that’s exactly what Brookhaven Academy and first-year head coach Ryan Ross are doing this week.

Ross and his squad will take to Hwy. 84 and head east to Waynesboro, where they’re scheduled to take on the Wayne Academy Jaguars at 7 p.m. on Friday.

The Jaguars play in the MAIS 4A classification and finished 6-6 last season, losing to Bowling Green School in the first round of the playoffs.

Last season was the first for Brookhaven Academy to play in the MAIS 5A ranks and the team finished 2-8 under former head coach Reggie Lea.

Wayne and Brookhaven were once members of the same 4A district, with BA winning 35-14 when the teams last met in 2022.

The Jaguars are led by Todd Breland, who led programs at Laurel High and South Jones earlier in his career. Breeland led Laurel to a MHSAA 5A state title in 2014.

It’ll be the first game for the Cougars under Ross, who’s a native of Brookhaven and a former head coach at Loyd Star, Ocean Springs and Long Beach.

Ross and his team were scheduled to open the season against MAIS 6A powerhouse Hartfield Academy next week at home, but the chance to go to Wayne Academy and face a similar sized school to start the year.

BA was going to be the largest school in the 4A when the latest round of reclassifications took place two years ago, but the decision by Park Place Christian Academy in Pearl to play 8-Man football meant the Cougars had to bump up to 5A.

Ross and his staff of Justin Daley, Bubba Keene, Tyler Russell, Joseph Puckett, and Hunter Przytarski don’t have film on Wayne, but have a good idea of how the Jaguars will operate out of their shotgun formation.

Braden Revere, Austin Tanksley, Nathan Poole, Asher Newman, CJ Chevralier, Will Thomas Calcote, and Jon Mark Beasley make up the senior class for the Cougars.

The expectation is for the Cougars to dress approximately 24 players in grades 9-12 on Friday.

Whether he plays running back or quarterback in the split back veer offense run by BA, Revere will be a guy that has the ball in his hands. Tanksley is making a move to the backfield from the line and Poole is a returnee at tight end. Chevralier and Calcote are two experienced returnees on the offensive line and Newman can play wideout or defensive back. Beasley is new to the team after previously playing basketball in his career.

“We had a good scrimmage last week against Bowling Green School, which was a chance for us to get some stuff on film at game speed,” said Ross. “We came in on Monday and used that to correct some things and the guys have been working hard to get ready for Wayne.”

That hard work has come during a brutal stretch of summer heat and Ross said hydration has been a huge focus for his team.

On Tuesday, the team took water breaks in the shade of the covered softball hitting facility that sits beside the practice football field.

“Knock on wood, but we haven’t had anybody have to miss time because of hydration issues or cramps so far,” said Ross. “You know that kind of stuff is going to happen when you get fully dressed and have guys going both ways at game speed, but we’re going to do everything we can on our end to prepare the kids for it.”