History of Lauderdale County School District | Page 113

Most members of the Rebel Conference teams playing include: State Line at Stringer,
Enterprise at Calhoun, Sand Hill at Wayne Beat Four, Ellisville at Rocky Creek, Collins at
Raleigh and Glade at Boy Springs.
The Hickory High Bulldogs open their season at home with an important Big Black
Conference game against Edinburg. This will be the last time Hickory fans will be able to see
the team in action until October 12. The next four games are on the road.
Meridian Star, September 8, 1962

Clarkdale Downs Southeast, 12-6 in Opening Game
By Billy Rainy, Star Sports Editor

Clarkdale today had an early lead in the race for the first Lauderdale County high school football
championship after scoring a “road game” victory at home over Southeast Lauderdale, 12-6, Friday night.
The game, the first ever played by either school was played on the Clarkdale Field but it was a home
game for Southeast Lauderdale which does not yet have completed athletic field. The teams meet again
on the same field later in the season in a Clarkdale home game. The victorious Bulldogs scored
touchdowns in the first and fourth quarters to go out front, 12-0 and fought off a determined rally by the
Tigers of Southeast who scored midway of the fourth period and moved within two yards of pay dirt in
the closing minutes of the game.
Clarkdale fullback Mickey Sellers, the outstanding player on the field in the first intra-county
game in the history of the Lauderdale County school system, plunged over from the one for the first
Bulldog score and halfback Larry Avera raced untouched 10 yards on a double reverse for the second
tally. The Southeast touchdown was made by halfback, Ronnie Snyder who bulled his way over from the
five.
County Standings:
Clarkdale
Northeast
West Lauderdale
Southeast

W
1
0
0
0

L
0
0
0
1

T
0
0
0
0

Next Week’s Games Friday – West Lauderdale at Clarkdale
and Southeast at Northeast
Clarkdale won it with a good ground attach, featuring the full back play of Sellers and with an
alert defense that stopped the determined Southeast attack with a strong goad line stand as time ran out.
Mickey Sellers, a junior, was the game leading ground gainer with 104 yards in 15 carries. He also
caught the only pass completed by Clarkdale, a 16-yarder thrown by quarterback Don Martin. Another
Martin to Sellers pass for 35 yards and a touchdown was nullified by penalty when Clarkdale had an ineligible receiver down field.
Southeast had the best of it through the airways with Quarterback Billy McInnis completing
seven of 17 tosses for 120 yards. He had one intercepted. Halfback Roy Garrison was Southeast’s top
ground man with 33 yards on 8 attempts. Southeast led in first downs 10-9. Clarkdale picked up a total
of 267 yards on the ground while the Tigers accumulated 113 on the land.
For the fans, many of them seeing their first football game, the history making affair was a
pleasant event. The coaches, Bob Ethridge of Clarkdale and Dick Massengill of Southeast had reason to