2025 High School Football Tour Stop #27: Booneville
BOONEVILLE, MS (WCBI)- Booneville football returned to the top of the district in 2024, going undefeated in those games. But an early playoff exit sent not just the Blue Devils home, but a massive part of the team.
“We lost 21 seniors last year. It was a good group of kids, a large group,” head coach Scott Brown said. “We don’t have the quantity that we’ve had in the past, but we do have a lot of quality with the seniors we do have. The leadership, what we’ve put on their shoulders, I’m excited about what they bring to the table. The resiliency, I think, they understand even though they’re small in numbers, what they mean to this team, our program, and our community is invaluable.”
With so much turnover from last year’s team, the program has also shifted in culture. The once young underclassman will now have to take on veteran roles.
“We are young. We’re going to play a lot of young guys, and we’re probably gonna take some lumps early on, and that’s fine,” Brown said. “We just want to make sure we’re growing and getting better, not each game but every day. Every practice we want to take a step in the right direction. I’ve seen that with these guys since the offseason. They’ve really embellished that, and it’s kind of the mindset they’ve taken.”
The Blue Devils will feature five seniors in 2025. While that number may be small, if you ask any of the players, they’ll tell you about the big impact that they’ve had on the Booneville program.
“The senior class we have, even though it’s small, we’ve seen the progress that we’ve made,” wide receiver Porter Tapp said. “From the first round exit to the second round exit, we still have that sour taste in our mouth from getting put out in the first and second rounds. We remember that, and we don’t want to have it happen again, so we look to keep progressing even more and make it even better in the playoffs this year.”
“We’re all like brothers, honestly,” quarterback Jack Sandlon said. “We’ve all been working really hard together all summer long. I think we have a great senior class. We’re all leaders, we all do the right thing, and I’m just ready for this year.”
Booneville will kick off their season when they head to North Pontotoc on August 29.
