Myrtle Receives Approval to Begin Football Program

MYRTLE, Miss. (WCBI) — Prepare for football in northern Union County.

First reported by Donica Phifer of the New Albany Gazette, the Union County School Board has approved a proposal submitted by Myrtle Attendance Center to begin a football program at the school.

“The Board has told parents they must fund the program so there is no official date for the program to begin,” Phifer tweeted earlier Tuesday evening.

According to Phfier, Myrtle submitted a 4-year plan to the Union County School Board for the football program. They plan to start a junior high team in the fall of 2016 and graduate to junior varsity in 2017.

The JV team will be for ninth and tenth graders, along with junior high, through 2018. A varsity high school team would then begin in 2019.

Former Vardaman head football coach Justin Hollis has agreed to coach the junior varsity in its first season.

Myrtle would be the third school in Union County to assemble a football team, with New Albany and most recently East Union also having teams from Union County.

In 2010, Myrtle joined East Union, Ingomar and West Union to form the cooperative football program “Union County”. The team played for two seasons, going 4-6 in its two years as an MHSAA independent. The team disbanded in 2011.

East Union began their own football team as a school in 2012 and the Urchins have seen tremendous success with the program in their fourth season, as they’ve made the playoffs from Class 2A in 2013 and this current football season. Ingomar and West Union currently do not have football teams.

As a school, Myrtle Attendance Center has never had their own football program. Phifer also reported the Myrtle parents are looking for space on the school’s campus for a practice field and in contact with BNA Bank Park about hosting games in 2016.

The Myrtle Hawks have basketball, baseball and softball teams that compete in Class 1A of the MHSAA.