Sports Editor

In the last few years, it’s been hard for Charles Henderson High School fans to get up for playing Southside-Selma.

The Trojans have owned the Panthers in each of the last three outings, winning by the combined score of 111-22.

However, CHHS head coach Hugh Fountain expects to meet a dangerous football team this Friday night when his team travels to Selma for another Class 5A Region 2 contest.

"They’re big and athletic and have good skill position players," he said. "They’ve got a fast quarterback, a good running back and wide receiver. They were a young football team last season when we played them and the look to be better this year."

What worries Fountain most about the Panthers, is their record. Southside is 2-3, but it’s who they’ve beaten that is the concern. Southside beat Anniston and Class 6A city-rival Selma in an opening season contest. Selma High has since beat some quality competition in Pelham and Sidney Lanier.

The Trojans are coming off a 30-0 shutout of Monroe last week. Charles Henderson only allowed the Tigers to pass midfield just once in the ball game, a streak carried over from the previous week’s 12-8 win over Hillcrest-Evergreen.

"I thought we played a little sloppy there in the fourth quarter, but when I went back to look at the film, I was real pleased with the effort of our kids," he said.

Fountain also said his team isn’t looking ahead to next week’s game at home against Greenville High.

Greenville earned its second win of the season over Stanhope-Elmore, a traditional 5A power and a team which has played spoiler to CHHS in the past. The Tigers won 14-7 in a three overtime contest last Friday night to improve to 2-3 on the season. A win tonight by Greenville over fellow region foe Carroll-Ozark and the Trojans and Tigers could be playing for homefield advantage in the Class 5A playoffs come the postseason.

"That was a huge win for them," said Fountain about GHS’s win. "I believe they are really going to start coming on strong here toward the end of the year. But right now we’re focused on Southside."

In stark contrast to last year’s team, in which the Trojans had a go-to receiver in Will Jones, a main rushing threat in Terrill Smith, and veteran No. 1 quarterback in Kevin Stephens, no single player stands out on the Charles Henderson roster. Clearly, one could make the case that "all-everything" Roderick Burden is the most dangerous athlete on the field, yet the Trojans are not orientated toward any one individual.

Fountain believes that is his team’s one main strength.

"We have a lot of interchangeable parts," he said. "We try and play a lot of people during the game. We play seven or eight offensive linemen, four to six running backs. We swap out our punt returners. The biggest thing is we take what the opponent is giving us on both offense and defense."

Kickoff for tonight’s game in Selma is at 7:30 p.m.