Seven local athletes named MPSA All-Stars

Published 12:14 am Friday, December 5, 2008

JACKSON — Centreville has one more honor to add to its football team’s list of accomplishments this season.

The MPSA Class AA State Champion Tigers had three seniors named MPSA South All-Stars.

Wide receiver and defensive back Adam Perry, receiver and linebacker Hunter Brabham and lineman Justin Henry, were named to the all-star team.

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“Adam is a three-year starter, and defensively he is a very heads-up player and very knowledgeable of the game,” said Centreville head coach Bill Hurst. “Hunter is one of the best blockers you will ever run up against, and he is a high-energy player.”

Hurst said this honor is the icing on the cake of an amazing season.

“They’ve worked hard to get to this point, and all three are deserving,” Hurst said. “I feel I have more kids who are deserving also, but there’s only a certain number you’re going to get. We had quite a few all-stars that didn’t get picked, in my opinion.”

Henry, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the postseason, will not play in the game but will be on the sidelines.

“Justin is someone you can count on,” Hurst said. “He’s very dependable, very reliable. He’s someone you can lean on and count on being there.”

Perry’s father Michael said he is very proud of his son and knows he is enjoying the last week of football.

“It’s a blast,” Adam Perry said. “We’re having a great run and there are several people on our team that could’ve easily made it. It’s a shame I couldn’t have them with us because I’d do anything to play with them again.”

The boys are practicing with the team all week at Mississippi College in Jackson to prepare for the game.

Perry said the North team is taking the practices and the game much more seriously.

“We’re goofing off, having fun and trying to learn the plays,” Perry said. “We’re doing two-a-days, but we’re not doing conditioning. We’re just trying to come together where we can actually run plays in the game.”

Also on the South All-Star team are Trinity linemen Bryant Pearson and Larry Calcote, Huntington School running back Josh Lee and Tensas Academy’s Jim Lentz.

Hurst said the boys are probably having a lot of fun at practice.

He has coached the South team in the past.

“All-star is an honor,” he said. “But it’s never as much fun as playing with your teammates and getting to play for a state championship.”

Perry said the three Tigers received congratulations on their state title from everyone else on the South team, players he and his teammates have been trying to stop all season.

“It’s a lot easier to play with these good players than to have to catch them,” he said. “Like (Bowling Green’s) Kasey Cooley, it’s a lot nicer to actually play with him.”

Centreville is one of just four schools to have three players nominated, and only one school — Jackson Prep — had four nominees. There are 24 total schools with nominated players.