MISSISSIPPI AREA CONFERENCE: LEAGUE EMBARKS ON SECOND SEASON

The name is new, the members, old rivals.

The Mississippi Area Football Conference is the result of a merger of the Jefferson County Conference and the Mineral Area Activities Association.

Football is the only sport under the conference, which was created in 2000 to provide more parity among competitors.

The conference begins its second year of existence with a three-division alignment Red, White and Blue.

Red Division

Perryville, Farmington, Hillsboro, North County, Windsor and De Soto, the larger schools in the area, comprise the Red division.

Farmington, 8-2 with a conference championship in 2000, have New Madrid County Central, Cape Central and Sikeston on its 2001 schedule.

Cape Central defeated Farmington in the Class 4A, District 1 finals last year.

Coach Mike Thebeau has five returning starters back and his team will be young and inexperienced at the skill positions.

Senior fullback Mike Hahn, senior guards Jarred Bonnell and Jim Nicholson, senior tackle Nick Burch and junior tackle Jake Whitener are the returnees.

Junior quarterback Barry Watson will be the triggerman of Farmington's wishbone attack.

Perryville, 1-9 last season under first-year coach Lance Bell, looks for improvement. The Pirates will battle Jackson, Cape Central and Sikeston in the SEMO Conference.

Hillsboro and North County are early picks for the division title.

White Division

Fredericktown, Park Hills Central, Festus, Herculaneum, Potosi and Ste. Genevieve make up the mid-tier of the conference.

Preseason picks to lead the division are Festus and Ste. Genevieve, with Herculaneum not far behind.

But Fredericktown coach Kent Gibbs feels his team, 7-3 in 2000, could be in the running, also.

"We're all pretty close," said Gibbs. "Everybody has a chance."

Fredericktown's SEMO Conference foes include Chaffee, New Madrid, Dexter and Kennett.

Festus is the defending champion.

Blue Division

St. Vincent was the toast of the local football scene with a 13-1 slate in coach Keith Winkler's debut season.

The only blemish on that glimmering record was a loss in the Class 1A state finals.

But St. Vincent will be hard pressed to return to the top after losing 22 seniors off last year's squad.

Said Winkler, "We're very inexperienced. All our seniors are going to have to step up and lead the younger kids."

The Indians are joined in the small-school division by Grandview, Valle Catholic, Crystal City and St. Pius.

St. Vincent will have to contend with Valle, expected to be strong this season, in both the conference and district.