By Angie Ledbetter

The Batesville Jr. High team kicked off its season on Thursday, September 4 against Higgins Jr. High from Clarksdale.

Even though the team came up short 20-0, head coach Trey Higdon said some positive things came out of it.

“One good thing about the first game of the year is you always get to find new players,” said Higdon. “We found several kids that weren’t starters that we’re going to find a place to put them on the field.

“In the first game, usually the team that makes the mistakes first is the one that loses,” Higdon said. “All the things that happened in this game we can fix and we’re going to work hard for the next two weeks. We had two very costly turnovers, but that’s something that we can fix. We had a lot of big runs called back due to penalties and those are going to be some things that we can fix.”

Higdon said the team was going to have to get in practice and get their stuff done, not lope and have a good 40-minute practice.

“I was really pleased from a coaching standpoint how the kids reacted after the game. They were hurt and they’re suppose to be. They know they’re not where they need to be and they made a bunch of mistakes.”

One key player was quarterback Antonio Conner.

“He did a fantastic job,” Higdon said. “Our team looks up to him because he is our leader. He took losing to heart and was upset and as a coach, that’s what you want from a player. He has potential to be a truly great player if he works toward that.”

Defensively, Higdon pointed out linebacker Jerry Ware and Carlos Hooks in the secondary.

He also pointed ourt Gregory Hayes who did a good job of running the ball.

The next home game scheduled against Pope for Friday has been cancelled due to the varsity team home game.

“We are trying to find another date to play that game. It would’ve been a seventh grade game and we want to play that game. Our seventh  graders have been working extremely hard and they’re going to be another great group. They’re so intelligent and sharp.”