Golden Eagles quarterback Austin Davis talks with the media after receiving the Connerly Trophy this week at the MS Sports Hall of Fame.Southern Miss Athletics

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss senior quarterback Austin Davis received the 2011 C Spire Wireless Conerly Trophy for the top college football player in the state of Mississippi in a presentation at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, in Jackson, Tuesday night.
The victory by Davis completes the calendar year cycle sweep for the school as Southern Miss won all three major state awards for its men's sports, including Gary Flowers capturing the Bailey Howell Trophy for basketball and Tyler Koelling being awarded the Boo Ferris Award for baseball.
-------for the rest of the story see The Yazoo Herald printed edition or subscribe to the Digital Edition.----------

The Mitchell ReportEverybody has fears, myself included.
While public speaking isn’t one of those, I have to admit I was a little nervous after eating my chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes at Stub’s. For those of you interested, snakes are my biggest fear (they’re creepy and bad news, it says so in the bible).
Thursday during lunch I was the guest speaker at the Yazoo City Lion’s Club. Before things got started and as I had time to think about what I had gotten myself into - or rather my boss got me into - I was nervous about what I’d say and how the audience would respond.
Fortunately, it all went smooth.
Manchester Academy Headmaster Bryan Dendy presented me to the Lion’s Club and did a great job of explaining my background. He didn’t seem nervous and as I sat there listening to my own accomplishments, the nerves slowly began to go away.
Then it was my turn to speak.
Other than my speech class in college, I really haven’t given any speeches. In fact, I can’t think of one. So, Thursday was my first time speaking to a group of people. Fortunately, the topic was something I’m knowledgeable about. Me.
Those of you who have followed The Mitchell Report before it became The Mitchell Report probably know what all I talked about.
I explained to the group how I came to Mississippi back in 2007 and then how I came to be in Yazoo City only four months ago (boy, how time flies). I also talked about the experiences I had and things I learned while working for two newspapers in Cleveland.
Another thing I discussed was the current projects and other adventures we here at The Yazoo Herald are working on. Of course, there’s the MAIS All Star game that took place Friday afternoon, as well as Saturday night’s Yazoo County-Yazoo City basketball games. During the question and answer part, I was asked who I like in those games. That was a pretty easy question for me.
I like the County girls to win their game, while I predict the City boys will win theirs.
One thing I was excited to talk about with the audience, who I assumed are readers of the newspaper, was the upcoming football review magazine and I’d like to say the same thing here because not every reader heard what I had to say.
I’ll be the first to admit the football cover has become mundane. It’s the same thing over and over again. However, in early January, I expect that when you pick up a copy, you’ll look at the cover and say “wow”.
The cover isn’t the only thing that will be different. Sure, there will be the usual MVP, offensive, defensive, special teams, newcomer and coach of the year awards, as well as a 24-player All Herald team. What will be different is the type of stories and the way they look.
I’m not going to go into too much detail on those changes here because I want you, the reader, to be surprised in January.

Seniors Demarcus Mahoney (left) and Bo Dickerson (right) were selected to participate in the MAIS All Star game this Friday evening at Mississippi College after leading their respective teams to a winning season and playoff appearances earlier this month.By TAYLOR MITCHELL
Sports Editor

Even though the playoffs for the MAIS is over, football hasn’t fully left the Magnolia state’s private schools. This week marks the end of the football games with the annual North vs. South MAIS All Star game to be held this Friday in Clinton.
A pair of local athletes have been selected to participate in the game. Seniors Bo Dickerson of Benton Academy and Demarcus Mahoney of Manchester Academy will cap off their high school careers with Friday’s all star game.
“I’m very proud of him,” Benton head coach Wayman Grantham said. “I’ve been his coach for his entire career and he’s just a great player. He deserves this.”
“It’s a big honor for him,” Manchester head coach Benny McLendon said. “We nominated him and other coaches voted him into the all star game, so that goes to show you that other coaches thought he was a really good player. He was a big contributor for us.”
Dickerson, who has been one the Raiders best players since stepping onto the field three years ago, helped guide Benton to its second consecutive playoff appearance and its first playoff victory under Grantham after beginning the season with four straight losses. -------for the rest of the story see The Yazoo Herald printed edition or subscribe to the Digital Edition.----------

The Mitchell ReportIn a story recently published by The Clarion-Ledger, the MHSAA is exploring the possibility of hosting their six state football championships at a different venue each season.
Currently, all of the state title games are held at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, a good location because it’s right in the middle of the state and roughly the same distance from both the northern and southern boundaries of Mississippi.
However, the governing body of public high school athletics is seriously considering a change. According to the story, possibilities for new locations would be the football stadiums of Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Southern Miss.
Personally, I don’t think having the state championships held each year in Jackson is that bad of an idea. You don’t have any school complaining of having to travel too far because it’s the same for everybody. It’s great for schools in Yazoo County because it’s only a 45-minute drive to Jackson.
Should they change the venue to a three-location rotation, that wouldn’t be a good thing for Yazoo County schools. Oxford is 144 miles away, Hattiesburg is 135 miles away and Starkville is the closest at 116 miles. Those are all drives that will last over two hours.
Granted, if this becomes the normal routine, no school will say they aren’t going because it’s too far. I mean, this is the state championship we’re talking about and no high school will miss that if given the chance.
It would also be great for the players to get to experience what its like to play in a big time college football stadium.
A lot of states play their state championships in college or professional venues. Alabama rotates between Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium and Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium. In Texas they play the games at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium (an awesome experience it was to play at the old stadium back in 2006).