Charleston High School head football coach LaDon Taylor said the 2021 season will be unpredictable.
“It’s kind of a wait-and-see deal,” he said Aug. 21. “You don’t really know what to expect, to be honest. A year-and-a-half away from football is tough.”
2020 was Taylor’s first year as head coach, but he did not get to do much actual coaching. Due to COVID-19, the East Tallahatchie School District switched to virtual learning. All athletics were canceled.
The CHS football program has missed two spring practice seasons (2020 and 2021) and a full regular season.
Then there was last week, when the Tigers were to host cross-county rival West Tallahatchie. Because that school district went virtual for two weeks due to rising COVID cases, per Mississippi High School Activities Association regulations, West Tally had to forfeit and Charleston was awarded a 12-0 win as a result.
That makes CHS 1-0 on the season heading into Friday night’s road contest against the Class 4A North Pontotoc Vikings at Ecru. It is the season-opener for the Vikings.
Charleston High School 2021 football schedule (Sun-Sentinel graphic)
Taylor said his team, which got off to a slow start in practices this fall after a player tested positive for COVID and the entire team had to quarantine for 10 days, is excited for the opportunity.
“From the kids, pure excitement,” said Taylor. “They are just so happy to be back.”
Enthused, yes, but young and very green. Two-thirds of the team are underclassmen or juniors. Just four starters return.
“A lot of the kids are young kids who didn’t actually play football two years ago and haven’t been around it,” said Taylor. “That’s the stressful part, knowing that we are going to step out there with a lot of young guys who have never played before.”
Even those who played junior high football a couple of seasons ago will be at a disadvantage due to a lack of exposure to the high school program because of COVID protocols.
"In junior high, you just kind of line up and play ball, and then you move to high school and have to know all of these different coverages and formations and stuff like that," said Taylor. "It makes it difficult for kids, especially, who haven't been in the high school program."
The terminology, as well as the various schemes which the Tigers employ, have been difficult for some players to grasp and commit to memory, the coach noted.
"The thing that worries us more than anything is the mental aspect of it, just being able to go out there and carry out the plan that we need them to carry out," Taylor said. "There's a lot of terminology that we use in games. ... We have simplified it as much as we could, but still it’s just something that some of these kids are not used to hearing.
"At the end of the day, you're dealing with 14-, 15, 16-year-old kids. Some of them are going to grasp that real quick and some of them will take longer," he added. "But we don't have time [to wait]; we've got to go, and we've got to learn on the fly."
Taylor said, "We hope that by week four or five, they’ll get better with it."
About that time, CHS will be moving into region play, when the wins and losses matter most.
"Early on, it's going to be something new for me to holler out there and say something to a 10th-grader who has never played. He's going to have to think a split second. He's going to know, but he's got to think. And that split second could be the difference in that play," the coach said. "He's going to get there one step slower than he normally would if he knew what I was saying, so will that be the difference in him making the tackle or not?"
Despite COVID restrictions, Taylor said he was able to attend the state coaching clinic this year in Jackson, where he had hoped to pick up some pointers in dealing with the unusual circumstances brought about by the pandemic. With most football programs in Mississippi having played football last year, there were not many coaches at the clinic who could commiserate or share their experiences.
"When we went to the coaching clinic, I tried to talk to some coaches who have been doing it for a while," the coach noted. "When I explained what we have been through, they really didn't have much to tell me. It's like, 'That's tough. I don't have any advice for you.'"
CHS also was able to get in some summer camp work.
"We took the offensive linemen to Arkansas State this year," said Taylor. "That was a really good deal for those guys. They learned some stuff and got a little bit better. We also took a few kids to Memphis to [a football] camp and then we took a few to Itawamba."
The coach said Charleston even went over and played some June invitational games at J.Z. George High School in North Carrollton, where former CHS assistant coach Rusty Smith is the head coach.
"We played J.Z. George, Eupora and Kosciusko," said Taylor. "We won. We only played Kosciusko once, but we beat them."
The competitive experience was important to his guys, the coach said, especially with an unusual season looming.
It is unusual in numerous respects.
The CHS schedule, beginning with North Pontotoc, reflects the necessity of pivoting from the usual and customary.
"We struggled to fill the schedule this year just because of not playing last year," said Taylor.
He explained that East Tallahatchie's late decision to switch to virtual learning and cancel all athletics last fall left teams like Senatobia and North Panola, longtime foes of the Tigers who were on their 2020 schedule, in the lurch.
After that experience, Taylor said those teams "really didn't want to schedule us this year."
"I can understand," he noted, "but it made it tough for us to fill out our schedule. That's two teams that we've been playing for years, and it's a close trip for the teams."
Instead, Class 2A Charleston will play at the Class 4A Clarksdale High School Wildcats and will host the Class 2A Pelahatchie High School Chiefs of Rankin County.
"Pelahatchie is a team that we picked up just because we couldn't find anybody to play, and we were going to have two open dates," he said. "It's a long trip for both of us, but we both needed a game. The coach there said he would travel here this year if we would come to them the following year."
Even so, Charleston still has an uncharacteristic open date on the schedule for Oct. 1, following the Sept. 24 game with Clarksdale and before the start of regional play against North Side on Oct. 8.
Another uncontrollable aspect — and it is one facing athletics teams at all levels — is that at any moment, a positive COVID-19 test by one player could cause an entire team to go into quarantine and forfeit games.
"This is uncharted waters, but we've just got to handle it as it comes," said Taylor. "That's all I know."
Taylor's staff is filled by offensive line and defensive line coach Jamal Brock; defensive coordinator, linebacker and running backs coach Rasheed De'Berry; offensive coordinator, wide receiver and defensive back coach Kameron Myers; quarterback and defensive back coach Jerry Richardson, who is the head football coach at Charleston Middle School; defensive end and tight end coach Larry Richardson, a volunteer from the junior high staff; and linebacker and running back coach Allen Spurlock, also a volunteer from the junior high staff.
Despite all of the challenges, Taylor said his team will strive "to put the same product on the field" that CHS fans are used to seeing.
With athletes like junior quarterback Rod O’Bannon (6-0, 158), cousin of former CHS star runner Percy O’Bannon, Taylor said the Tigers will line up and give it their all.
“We’re gonna put kids out there that are going to play hard every play until the whistle blows,” he noted.
