High School Football Tour: Choctaw County

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ACKERMAN, Miss. (WCBI) — A new era gets underway at Ackerman this year.

But they’re not Ackerman anymore, they’re the Choctaw County Chargers. Some may see it as an identity crisis as the Indians have combined with the Weir Lions to form the new Chargers, but the players and coaches haven’t had any problems with the name change.

“It has been different but everybody is bonding great,” senior Kavon Dobbs said. “It’s like a melting pot of schools and everybody is getting along great. We have strength in numbers now.”

“We’re approaching it as a new school and a new team,” head coach Adam Dillinger said. “We’re starting a whole new program. It’s no longer Ackerman and Weir, but we’re trying to combine those two histories. There’s a lot of football tradition here and hopefully we’ll build a little tradition of our own. ”

With the name change comes a division change. The Chargers make the leap to Class 3A and move down South to join Choctaw Central, Forest, Philadelphia, Raleigh, and Southeast Lauderdale in 5-3A.

“I think we’re a good team and we can compete with any of those teams and everyone else,” said senior T.C. Hatchett. “If we come out and play our game, we’ll have a good season.”

Hatchett is one of those top players back with Coach Dillinger, and so is quarterback Jamarcus Bradley. But the focus for this year’s team will lie with the talent in the trenches.

“We’re really big on our front,” coach Dillinger said. “Our offensive and defensive lines have been around and have played a lot of football over the last 3 or 4 years. We’re gonna build off of them.”

The Chargers will open the season on August 23rd at French Camp, as the new ‘Battle of Choctaw County’ will commence between the Panthers and the Chargers.