MC Choctaws Open Football Practice to Jackson Boys Club
Their 30-minute visit to the MC campus Monday was a chance for New Orleans Saints fan Arturro Bingham, 9, to see another winning team in action after the Choctaws upset Mary Hardin-Baylor 17-14. The win Saturday vaulted MC to No. 15 in the NCAA Division III ranks after shocking the No. 3 nationally ranked team from Texas.
MC now sports a 5-1 record this season, and seeks to win an American Southwest Conference championship.
Bingham, who attends Gary Road Intermediate School in Jackson, found another team to cheer for. And this one in Clinton is located only a few miles from his home in Hinds County.
Arriving late Monday afternoon in a yellow school bus, the boys, ages 6 to 18, posed for pictures and picked up autographs from MC players as practice was winding down. Despite a little added noise on a bright fall afternoon, MC head coach Norman Joseph kept practice going on schedule with star quarterback Adam Shaffer continuing to work plays on offense.
On the sidelines, kids from the Jackson area got the opportunity to meet MC senior Brannon Walls, who kicked the winning 31-yard field goal to defeat Mary Hardin-Baylor in the final seconds of Saturday's home game. They also snagged autographs from junior Jared Cummins, who held the ball for the game-winning kick by Walls.
Walls and Cummins are both kinesiology majors at the Christian university. They once were cross-town rivals in Madison County. Cummins played for the Madison-Central Jaguars. Walls, who wears No. 44 for the Choctaws, played for the Ridgeland High Titans.
The two joined teammates united around a wonderful cause Monday, a national non-profit group that reaches out to at-risk children. The MC players and coaches welcomed the opportunity to give back to their community.
Nationwide, about 4.5 million boys and girls have served in the Boys & Girls Clubs. There are more than 4,300 club locations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and U.S. military bases worldwide. The clubs have more than 50,000 trained professional staff.
The goal of the organization is to meet the difficult challenges facing America's youth. The clubs seek to promote academic success, healthy lifestyles and good character to help at-risk youngsters grow into responsible adults.
Randall Gray, the project intervention director at the Boys & Girls Club on Raymond Road, was among the leaders trying to get the children quiet for a few minutes to pose for a few pictures. For many of the children, it was their first trip to a college campus, and they were thrilled to be on the field in the MC Choctaws big football stadium.
The MC visit, Gray said, had another purpose in mind. There are some MC students who serve as volunteers at the Boys & Girls Club, he said, "but we are constantly trying to get more." He hopes to see more MC students sign up as volunteers who can be valuable as role models to the children.
Happy to hand out T-shirts and sign autographs, Cummins was ready to get back to the business of football practice. That would be preparing for MC's upcoming road game Saturday against East Texas Baptist.
Despite the new No. 15 national football ranking for Mississippi College, Cummins is far from satisfied. "We want to stay hungry," said the Madison Central High graduate, who wears No. 89 for the Choctaws. "We want to win it all."
PHOTO: Mississippi College Choctaws kicker Brannon Walls of Madison signs autographs on T-shirts going to Jackson youngsters at Monday's practice.
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