The Brookhaven Academy Cougars and the Copiah Academy Colonelswill resume their football schedules Friday night following thewake of Hurricane Katrina.

Brookhaven Academy travels to Amite School Center at Liberty andCopiah entertains Central Hinds at Gallman. Brookhaven plays ASC at7:30 p.m. while the Copiah-Central Hinds matchup begins at 7.

All Lincoln County football games were canceled as well asseveral area games due to damage done by the hurricane. Wesson,which was scheduled to play at West Lincoln, is left with an opendate. Area schools not playing include Lawrence County, North Pike,McComb and Parklane.

Several area teams have found new opponents Friday. FranklinCounty, originally scheduled to play Lawrence County in Monticello,will travel to Terry. South Pike, set to battle Brookhaven at KingField, instead scheduled a road game with Noxubee County.

Hazlehurst hosts Wilkinson County Friday night.

BA head football coach Ray Ishee wasn’t able to exchange gamefilms with ASC head coach Gregg Walsh because of the power outagesand gas shortage. Ishee said his team will make adjustments on thefield as necessary during the game.

“We are in a bind,” said Ishee. “We’ll make adjustments Fridaynight. We’ll find out when we get there what’s going on.”

The Cougars’ most recent game was Friday, Aug. 26. Brookhavenhammered the host Prentiss Christian Saints 35-12.

In the win over Prentiss Christian, junior running back T-BoyLynch paced the Cougars with 92 yards on 13 carries and twotouchdowns. Junior quarterback Price Sessums followed with 83 yardson seven carries and scored two TDs.

In two games, Sessums has carried the football 15 times for 115yards and scored three touchdowns. Lynch rushed 20 times for 158yards and recorded two touchdowns.

Defensively, Brookhaven (1-1) was led by Wesley Taylor with sixtackles against PCS. Making five stops apiece were Kolby Byrd,Bradley Allred and Lynch.

ASC (0-2) fell to Huntington Academy 35-6 two weeks ago. TheRebels were unable to practice until Tuesday, Sept. 6, because ofthe hurricane.

“We hadn’t practiced since Tuesday afternoon,” said ASC headcoach Greg Walsh. “We had 17 players yesterday (Tuesday) and 18(Wednesday). We had 26 kids before the storm.”

Three of his starters haven’t made it back to practice,according to Walsh.

“We’ll try to go,” added Walsh. “We saw BA play in the Natchez(ACCS) jamboree. They have a good football team. They’re wellcoached. The kid (Sessums), who is the quarterback, is good. We’llhave to try and contain him.”

The Saints will make the changes they need and hope the threestarters are able to rejoin the team by Friday.

“We are going out there and hopefully play well,” added Walsh.His assistant coaches are John Buford Walsh, Brian Spillman, JimmyHutson, Albin Brousard and former Enterprise-Lincoln coach RichardDeere.

Copiah (2-0) is looking for its third win ofthe season when the Colonels host the Central Hinds Cougars (1-1).It will also be the Colonels’ first District 3-AA game of theseason.

Two weeks ago, Copiah knocked off the East Rankin AcademyPatriots 21-13. Central Hinds was whipped 39-10 by powerfulHillcrest Christian.

“Central Hinds is picked to win our division,” said Copiah headcoach Mitch Mitchell. “The Cougars throw the ball more this yearthan in the past. They run a split four scheme on defense. They arebig across the front.”

In Copiah’s win over East Rankin, senior running back DavidBrunt powered the Colonels’ offense with 27 rushes for 202 yardsand two touchdowns. On the season, he has rushed the football 46times for 353 yards and five TDs.

On defense, Jake Guess led the Colonel defense with eighttackles.

According to Mitchell, his Colonels held three practices lastweek and are working out this week

“We’ve been back on schedule this week,” continued Mitchell.”First, we have to get focused on playing again. We have to blockthem better up front than last year.”

Franklin County (1-0) will need a strongdefensive effort to slow down Anthony Dixon, Terry’s all-staterunning back. The Meadville-based Bulldogs played well in theirseason-opening 6-0 win over Brookhaven two weeks ago.

“Dixon is a big, strong back with speed,” said Franklin Countycoach Grady McCluskey. “We played against him last year,” when theBulldogs beat Terry 27-6.

Franklin County is led by senior defensive end Marcus Tillmanwho has made a verbal commitment to sign with LSU. Tillman blockeda punt and made 4 solo tackles in the win over Ole Brook. FullbackD.J. Shaw scored the first-quarter touchdown.

Terry has invited all Hurricane Katrina evacuees to attend thegame free. Anyone with a Gulf Coast or Louisiana identificationwill receive free admission.