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Wednesday report: Carthage football practice
Traveled to Carthage today to talk to head football coach Scott Suratt and check out the Dawgs new home, Bulldog Stadium. (Yes, “Dawgs” is the correct term. Carthage’s warm-ups are covered in it, and the home baseball uniforms don it, too.) I’ll have a feature story about Carthage’s stadium opener against longtime rival Henderson in Friday’s paper.
The new stadium looks nice and the turf field appears to be great. The thing that jumps out is how much larger Bulldog Stadium is than its predecessor, Q.M. Martin Stadium. Martin seated 2,000 on the home side and 500 on the visitor side. The new Dawg Pound seats 2,000 on the VISITOR side and 4,000 on the home side. That should help Carthage draw plenty playoff games from Class A up to opening-round 4A clashes.
The home side stretches from goal line to goal line. The upper middle portion of the home side has red seat-back chairs, while the lower middle portion has bench bleacher seating. Each home end is typical metal bleachers. The seating is similar to Hallsville’s home side.
There’s a large, red Cincinnati Reds-style “C” at midfield. The field house is located beyond the north end zone outside the fence. Surratt said it’s a few weeks away from completion. An enormous concessions/restrooms facility is located inside the fence beyond the south end zone. Having woods for a backdrop behind the visitor side gives Bulldog Stadium a menacing touch.
The players like having a stadium located at the high school, rather than across town at the junior high (old high school) like Q.M. Martin was.
As for the action on the field Wednesday, one thing jumped out at me: Carthage has big skill players. Quarterback Si’Darius Blackshire is 6-1, 220. Receiver Joe Jones is 6-2, 205. Running back Dwight Smith is 6-0, 205. Jones and Smith are burners, too.
Blackshire practiced with a brace on his left knee after an injury suffered last Friday against Kilgore. It didn’t appear to affect him that much, as he made his usual drops without any evidence of pain. When he wasn’t getting reps, 5-9, 165-pound sophomore Anthony Morgan was, and he showed a live arm for a small package. His height isn’t much of an issue considering Carthage’s shotgun-heavy offense.
Another thing that was interesting was how many players Carthage’s varsity dresses. The Bulldog varsity roster lists almost 60 players, which is more than most 4A schools in the area. There were several sophomores on the field, too, such as Morgan, linebacker Kendall Thompson, receiver Jalen Claiborne, and defensive back Cortlyn Ware. If Claiborne sounds familiar, it’s because Jalen’s father Earl used to coach basketball at Carthage and Tenaha. His older brothers Shannon and Nick also played at Carthage. Shannon was a three-sport athlete for the Dawgs, while Nick won a state championship playing for his dad at Tenaha.
Be sure to check back in Friday’s paper for more on Carthage’s new stadium and the Bulldogs’ 2008 home opener against Dickey Meeks’ Henderson Lions.
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September 4, 2008 7:29 PM | Link to this
GO DAWGS……………