Laurel @ Meridian

[Bulldogs4]

I know both of these teams are flying well under the radar at 0-3 and 1-2. But this is one of the most storied rivalries in the state.

Meridian leads it 44-30-5 so this will be the 80th edition of this game.

And that is with us only playing each other sparingly over the last 30 years otherwise this game would be well over 100 games played. 
 

All that said, both teams right now appear to be a work in progress. I hope my Cats can avenge the loss last year and come out with a victory but it will not be easy. 
I will say Meridian 35, Laurel 21 and that will even our record at 2-2 and keep the Tornadoes winless. 

[Dubaction]

Should be a goodie… kinda interested to see if Laurel bounces back. Doubt they wanna be winless going into next week. 

[ogwarriorbandman]

I expect Meridian to win it hands down! 

[maroontide06]

31 minutes ago, Dubaction said:

Should be a goodie… kinda interested to see if Laurel bounces back. Doubt they wanna be winless going into next week. 

Laurel is staring 0-5 right in the face.

[Vott]

26 minutes ago, maroontide06 said:

Laurel is staring 0-5 right in the face.

You mean 0-6. They have mccomb after oak grove

[Deonte3455]

Laurel will be the only 0-6 team that I can remember that will be a threat for a championship. 

[maroontide06]

1 hour ago, Vott said:

You mean 0-6. They have mccomb after oak grove

Maybe I was giving them a chance at that one but I guess the snowball effect takes precedence.  But you are absolutely correct there.  The best thing that can happen to Laurel right now is for them to crash into a tree and stop the momentum.

[maroontide06]

In order for Laurel to turn things around they are going to have to be solely dependent upon external factors in which they have no control over.  Who honestly would have thought that it would come down to this?  It’s really a bad place to be.

[Bulldogs4]

With the new divisions, you can theoretically be 3-7 or even 2-8 and still possibly be in the playoffs. 
 

But a team can gain or lose confidence with these early games. For Meridian, we need to win games to build some confidence. So Friday is very important for us IMO. 

[maroontide06]

14 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

With the new divisions, you can theoretically be 3-7 or even 2-8 and still possibly be in the playoffs. 
 

But a team can gain or lose confidence with these early games. For Meridian, we need to win games to build some confidence. So Friday is very important for us IMO. 

In PRC’s case you can be 1-8.  The one win would need to be against a 3-6A district opponent and that opponent would need to go 0-4 in district play.

 

I tend to think that Meridian takes care of business against Laurel.  It’s a shame there was a break in this rivalry because it has that same historical significance as The Little Brown Jug.

[tigers79]

I will go with meridian. Laurel not playing too well. They might get up for This one 

[maroontide06]

@Bulldogs4when was the last time there was a capacity crowd of 14K at The Ray?  I’m sure that’s a sight to behold when it does happen.

[Wareaglefan1us]

1 hour ago, tigers79 said:

I will go with meridian. Laurel not playing too well. They might get up for This one 

They will definitely get up for this one. Laurel’s HC Ryan Earnest was OC at Wayne County under Marcus Boyles. So it’s the understudy against his mentor.

[s1nglewing]

25 minutes ago, Wareaglefan1us said:

They will definitely get up for this one. Laurel’s HC Ryan Earnest was OC at Wayne County under Marcus Boyles. So it’s the understudy against his mentor.

If talent is equal, I'll take the mentor.

[ccbulldog]

I'd love to see the 7 championship games split up and maybe play the bottom 3 at a site like Meridian High, because each side is an equal 7,000 capacity. Plus Meridian is in the middle part of the State. Most high school stadiums have a large home side but much smaller visitor side. At Meridian each team would have an equal side.

[maroontide06]

2 hours ago, ccbulldog said:

I'd love to see the 7 championship games split up and maybe play the bottom 3 at a site like Meridian High, because each side is an equal 7,000 capacity. Plus Meridian is in the middle part of the State. Most high school stadiums have a large home side but much smaller visitor side. At Meridian each team would have an equal side.

Interesting line of thought there, but why would it need to only be 1A-3A?  At Southern Miss the seating is limited to the two lower sides which is probably half capacity at best so it’s probably equivalent roughly to Meridian’s capacity.  You don’t play all the games on one day, so in theory you could get all 7 classifications through the gates at Meridian.  The only logistic you would need to work out would be parking ingress and egress.   Parking will probably overlap some between games because you might be at the tail end of a ballgame waiting on yours to occur.  Also, Meridian might would want to convert the practice field adjacent to the Stadium to a parking lot.

Edited September 13, 2023 by maroontide06
Added another thought

[Dubaction]

We should never host high school state championship games at a high school stadium. Even the biggest one. 

[dogsoldier74]

12 hours ago, Bulldogs4 said:

With the new divisions, you can theoretically be 3-7 or even 2-8 and still possibly be in the playoffs. 
 

But a team can gain or lose confidence with these early games. For Meridian, we need to win games to build some confidence. So Friday is very important for us IMO. 

Shoot some of those 1a and 2a divisions only have 4 teams, you can go 0-10 and make the playoffs. 

[Dubaction]

12 hours ago, Bulldogs4 said:

With the new divisions, you can theoretically be 3-7 or even 2-8 and still possibly be in the playoffs. 
 

But a team can gain or lose confidence with these early games. For Meridian, we need to win games to build some confidence. So Friday is very important for us IMO. 

That’s a positive way to look at it in some divisions. But in OUR division that’s not happening. Especially at 2-8. 

[Bulldogs4]

12 hours ago, maroontide06 said:

@Bulldogs4when was the last time there was a capacity crowd of 14K at The Ray?  I’m sure that’s a sight to behold when it does happen.

The last big crowd at The Ray was around 2014 when we played South Panola. The crowd was about 12-13K. 
 

In the heyday of the OG-Meridian rivalry (2003-2013) crowds would be in the 9-10K range.

 

The record crowd was in 1966 when we played Provine (they were very good in those days) for the Big 8 Championship. The crowd was 18K. They set up bleachers behind each end zone and bowl around the N end of the stadium was full as well. 
 

Years back , we would always play Laurel the first game of the year and it was always a grudge match. They did not like us and we did not like them. Great respect for each other but it was always a battle. Between the Bricks and Ray Stadium would be full each year as the visiting team always brought a big crowd (a one hour drive up/down I59). That was always a lot of fun. 
 

Unfortunately, in recent years attendance has been sparse. Hopefully, as Coach Boyles continues to rebuild the program more fans will come back to the Ray to enjoy a game. 

[maroontide06]

7 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

The last big crowd at The Ray was around 2014 when we played South Panola. The crowd was about 12-13K. 
 

In the heyday of the OG-Meridian rivalry (2003-2013) crowds would be in the 9-10K range.

 

The record crowd was in 1966 when we played Provine (they were very good in those days) for the Big 8 Championship. The crowd was 18K. They set up bleachers behind each end zone and bowl around the N end of the stadium was full as well. 
 

Years back , we would always play Laurel the first game of the year and it was always a grudge match. They did not like us and we did not like them. Great respect for each other but it was always a battle. Between the Bricks and Ray Stadium would be full each year as the visiting team always brought a big crowd (a one hour drive up/down I59). That was always a lot of fun. 
 

Unfortunately, in recent years attendance has been sparse. Hopefully, as Coach Boyles continues to rebuild the program more fans will come back to the Ray to enjoy a game. 

I was just thinking that if that thing got full and with todays drones with cameras, you could get some really nice aerial photography of it being full.  It would actually make some good photographs.

[Bulldogs4]

10 hours ago, ccbulldog said:

I'd love to see the 7 championship games split up and maybe play the bottom 3 at a site like Meridian High, because each side is an equal 7,000 capacity. Plus Meridian is in the middle part of the State. Most high school stadiums have a large home side but much smaller visitor side. At Meridian each team would have an equal side.

In 1982, that did happen. It was the beginning of the playoff era and Gulfport played West Point for the 5A championship in Ray Stadium. Gulfport was a heavy favorite and jumped out to an early 14-0 lead but WP settled down and came back to win 21-14. WP fans sat on the E side and GPT fans on the W side. WP probably had 3K and on the W side it was probably 4K for a total of 7K. There were a lot of Meridian (like me and one of my buddies) neutral fans who attended the game and we generally were seated on the W side. 
 

After that they were at MC in Clinton for several years before moving to the Vet. 
 

I think it could be a cool venue for for some of the smaller schools as CC mentioned. Though I doubt it happens. But who knows it could ease the logistics of having seven games on one field. 

[maroontide06]

15 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

In 1982, that did happen. It was the beginning of the playoff era and Gulfport played West Point for the 5A championship in Ray Stadium. Gulfport was a heavy favorite and jumped out to an early 14-0 lead but WP settled down and came back to win 21-14. WP fans sat on the E side and GPT fans on the W side. WP probably had 3K and on the W side it was probably 4K for a total of 7K. There were a lot of Meridian (like me and one of my buddies) neutral fans who attended the game and we generally were seated on the W side. 
 

After that they were at MC in Clinton for several years before moving to the Vet. 
 

I think it could be a cool venue for for some of the smaller schools as CC mentioned. Though I doubt it happens. But who knows it could ease the logistics of having seven games on one field. 

Do Meridian fans still sit on both sides of the stadium when there's a home football game?  I remember it was like that when we played Meridian in 2004.

[Bulldogs4]

That was the long time tradition of the stadium. The W side center was for season ticket holders and SW stands were Meridian general seating. 
And the NW seating was for the visitors.

 

The entire E side was home. Half being the student section and band and the other half general seating.

 

Some of the visitors would complain but they had a 2500 seat section to sit in.

 

 

This year they have moved the home side to the west and the visiting now sit on the E side. 
Crowds are pretty small these days. 

[maroontide06]

7 minutes ago, Bulldogs4 said:

That was the long time tradition of the stadium. The W side center was for season ticket holders and SW stands were Meridian general seating. 
And the NW seating was for the visitors.

 

The entire E side was home. Half being the student section and band and the other half general seating.

 

Some of the visitors would complain but they had a 2500 seat section to sit in.

 

 

This year they have moved the home side to the west and the visiting now sit on the E side. 
Crowds are pretty small these days. 

My how things have changed.  I honestly thought that was kind of cool.  Maybe Marcus can get it back to that.