Murfreesboro Diamond

By Freeman Henderson

If you want to be the best you must play the best. The Murfreesboro senior Rattlers will pursue that course Friday night on Holloway Field in Rattler Stadium when they step up to challenge Class AAA Fountain Lake in a battle of the reptiles.

The Rattlers have not been afraid of playing our of their class down through the years. Last year the locals while posting a 10-2 record lined up against the two top teams in AA competition. MHS lost to conference champ and state AA titlest Mount Ida and to Bearden, who was the state runner’s up.

This year the fearless Rattlers open the season with three AAA teams. Last Thursday night, they invaded the Bauxite Miners stronghold and lost 33 to 8 to the perennial top 10 team. The athletic relationship between the two teams have been competitive. The Rattlers last played Bauxite there in 2001 and Josh Holcomb leading a strong running game beat the Miners 36 to 33. Bauxite eased past Murfreesboro 14 to 6 in 1996 in War Memorial Stadium, when they played for the State Championship.

The athletic relationship with the Fountain Lake Cobras has been spotty over the past 25 years. The schools two junior teams clashed regularly back in the 1980’s but a Cobra-Rattler tussle of the senior squads has been scarce. If my records have been thoroughly researched, the Cobras and Rattlers first met in the state A play offs in 1987 with Fountain Lake winning 42 to 20. The two teams met again in 2000 and 2001 with the Rattlers taking both games 22-13 and 36-21 respectively.

Fountain Lake has dropped down from 7-4A to a new conference 5-3A this year. Last year the Cobras went 6-5 for third in 7-4 A, a conference that included Nashville, Warren and Dollarway. This year Fountain Lake is rated number one in 5-3A and are ranked #3 in the State among 3A schools.

Incidently the MHS Rattlers are rated second in the 7AA West and 8th in the State among AA schools.

Game time is 7:30 p.m. Friday night on Holloway Field in Rattler Stadium.

Be reminded you may bring towels and detergent to the game to help the Rattler team. Your donations will not be part of admission, but a gift to the Rattler athletic program.

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