‘Road Warrior’ Rockets ready for 2021 schedule

You might call the Neshoba Central football team the Road Warriors this season as they have six road games with four of their first five being played away from Rocket stadium.

The Rockets will be playing in Region 2-5A along with eight other teams. Those teams include Holmes County Central, Jim Hill, Forest Hill, Callaway, Vicksburg, Provine, Canton and Ridgeland.

“The Jackson Public Schools didn’t play last year,” said Rockets coach Patrick Schoolar. “I have an idea about Provine and Callaway but I don’t know that much about Jim Hill and Forest Hill. We lost Cleveland Central.

“We will be on the road a lot but that is the schedule I drew,” Schoolar said. “This is how it shook out.”

The Rockets finished 9-2 last season and made it to the quarterfinals of the Class 5A playoffs. They will be playing without star running back Jarquez Hunter, who has signed to play with the Auburn Tigers. Coach Schoolar said this year’s team has put in a lot of work during the off season.

“We played in a 7-on-7 league in Starkville over the summer and went 12-4,” Schoolar said. “We played against some good defenses in Starkville, Louisville, West Point, Noxubee. We also got second place in the Auburn tournament. There weren’t any other Mississippi teams. We were playing against teams for Alabama and Georgia. Valdosta and Phoenix City was there. We played against some good teams and did well.”

According to the Mississippi High School Activities Association, fall practices started Monday, Aug. 9. Teams will be allowed to play a jamboree/ scrimmage game Aug. 20, and the season kicks off Aug. 27. Neshoba Central has a practice game at Germantown on Aug. 20, and opens the season at home Aug. 27 against South Panola.

“We are in a division with nine teams,” Schoolar said. “We have always played Germantown but couldn’t get them on the schedule this time. We set up a scrimmage game.”

The Rockets open at home against South Panola. Then they travel to West Lauderdale, Forest Hill, Holmes County and Provine before returning home Oct. 1 against Canton. Afterwards they visit Ridgeland and Jim Hill before returning home to play Vicksburg and Callaway.

“South Panola is always good and we’ll have our hands full in the first game,” Schoolar said. “We want to play the best competition we can find. We have come a long way in five years.

“When I first got here, we weren’t very good. People would call us, wanting to play. Now, we have good players. We have been together for a while and we have built a solid program. We are a solid 5A program and we only play 5A and 6A teams.”