#HSFT16: Stop No. 51 – Calhoun City Wildcats

CALHOUN CITY, Miss. (WCBI) — There has arguably been no other school in the area that has been more successful in the postseason than the Calhoun City Wildcats.

Winners of 35 playoff games in the last 15 years, head coach Perry Liles has continued the tradition of power football at City. And he expects the winning playoff tradition to continue in 2016 due to his senior class’s success from their pee-wee days.

“I told them this little team won the state championship in the 5th and 6th grade,” coach Liles said. “This is their time to do something. If you go through Calhoun City’s history, the kids in the 4th, 5th and 6th say that when it will be their time, they will do this.”

It will be a new team in 2016 at Calhoun City, but don’t think for a second that new means average or even above average.

The Wildcats are still loaded in spots all over the field and they expect to be just as talented as last season, despite the losses on both sides of the ball.

“We just have to work harder,” senior Tyrese Quinn said. “They are big shoes to fill. We have to work harder than we did before.”

“I think this year’s team will be a lot bigger up front that will help us a lot,” Perry Liles said. “We have a lot more backs. This team has a lot of running backs. We stuck with Brieton’s abilities last year but this year we will be less predictable.”

But there is the one name to replace that will be the most difficult: Brieton Sykes was an all-state star for the Wildcats and he joins a strong senior class that departs Calhoun City.

Many may think that losing those big name players will hurt the Cats and cause them to fall, but that’s exactly what the team wants you to think while they turn their sights on a State Title return.

“They think because we don’t have Breiton or Jaalen, we won’t be as good last year,” senior Jessie Nabors said. “We have a young group but we’re working hard. I believe we’ll make it to State and win it this year.”

“It fires us up,” junior Jojo Gray said. “They don’t think we’ll be good without Brieton or Jaalen Thomas but we want to show who we are.”

“Everybody thinks we will be an underdog but the lower you are the higher you can go up,” senior Taylor Liles said. “I’ve done a lot in my 3 years at Calhoun City but the one thing I haven’t done is win a State Championship. I want to get a ring before I leave.”