The next installment of our 2009 OBHS Lettermen's Club meeting will be this Monday, November 9th beginning at 6 PM at Wray's Fins & Feathers Restaurant located at 7059 Depot Street in the Old Towne District.  We will have a guest speaker and catfish buffet, all for only $10.

Please plan on attending this Monday as this will be our LAST meeting for 2009 and we always have a great time.  Bring a friend and enjoy a relaxed atmosphere and great food, also get an update from Coach Samsel regarding Olive Branch Football and the 2009 Playoffs! 

The Mississippi Association of Coaches has announced that two Olive Branch High School players were recently selected to play in the 23rd Annual Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Football Classic to be played Saturday, December 12th at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama beginning at 1 PM.

OBHS offensive linemen Shon Coleman and Damien Robinson will be two of the players on the 37 man roster chosen by the Mississippi All-Star coaching staff and selected media members on October 21st.  Including this year's selections, there have been a total of thirteen Conquistador seniors picked during the past six years for this prominent Classic.  In addition to this year's selections, OBHS players chosen for the previous five Classics were: Rod Woodson, Keshun Cowan, Aubrey Phillips, Sylvester Hemphill, Marlon Walls, K. J. Wright, Anthony Summers, Markeith Summers, Allen Walker, Victor Thomas and Ryan Hoormann.

(Click here to view the roster of 2009 Team Mississippi and its coaching staff)

OBHS runningback Keyshun Shipp and defensive lineman Reggie Williams were recently picked as part of the North roster for the Bernard Blackwell All-Star Football Game.  The annual classic features senior graduating players (Class of 2010) from North and South Mississippi in an all-star game.  (Players who participate in December's Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Classic aren't eligible for this game).

Mississippi's 61st Annual Bernard Blackwell All-Star Game this year will be played on Saturday, December 19th at Milner Stadium in Gulfport, Mississippi.  The games had previously been played in the Jackson area in July.

(Click here for the North / South rosters for the 2009 Bernard Blackwell Game)

On March 31, 2009 the Mississippi Legislature passed an amendment presented by State Senator Merle Flowers into a conference report that will create a distinctive motor vehicle license plate for Olive Branch High School.  The tag will cost an additional thirty-one dollars, with approximately twenty-four dollars from each license plate sold going directly to the Olive Branch Football Booster Club.

The minimum of 100 plates have been pre-sold and sent to the State Tax Commission for processing.  The specialty tags are expected to be delivered in late December of this year to the County Tax Collector's Offices for OBHS supporters to be able to purchase when their vehicle tags are scheduled for renewals. 

Thanks Senator Flowers and OBHS Supporters for Your Help in this Project!

The DeSoto Sports Network is providing live audio broadcasts of the Conquistador's games through their website this season.  The program is being produced by Mr. Wendell Davis.  The broadcast is being streamed from the audio segment of Comcast Cable Channel 19 OBTV Quistor Sports play-by-play team of Jimmy Woods, Phil Lachaussee and Ken Reid.

A special thanks to Floyd Graham of Graham Media and Stephen Rikard for making this broadcast possible.  The audio broadcasts will begin five minutes prior to the scheduled game time.  To access the website for the games, click here: www.dcslive.org/

The Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Executive Committee voted 14 to 0 to move to the 6A classification (beginning in the 2009 - 2010 school year)  system with 32 schools each in the top two classes and the rest of the schools evenly divided among the other classes.

The Conquistador football team will play in Region 1-6A starting in the next football season.  Other teams in this region are the same ones that comprised of the former Region 1-5A schools and include: Columbus, DeSoto Central, Horn Lake, Olive Branch, Southaven, South Panola, Starkville and Tupelo.

A recent article on Jackson's Fox40 website that includes the new classifications for football for 2009 and 2010 seasons is here: www.fox40now.com/sports/35660269.html

Olive Branch High School would appreciate your donation to help with the renovation to Leslie Pool Field.  All Olive Branch High School students, alumni, Boosters, former Lettermen, parents, friends and neighbors are invited and encouraged to participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity.

The Spirit Brick program will establish a "Bricked Courtyard" at the main gate into Pool Field.  Your customized Spirit Brick will be placed in the Pool Field Courtyard to become a permanent piece of OBHS legacy.  We want you to have an opportunity to commemorate a special event in someone's life, honor a friend or family member or memoralize someone special to show your Conquistador spirit.

With OBHS Spirit Bricks, you can be one of the first to forever immoralize your school spirit and show your support for Olive Branch High School and the Pool Field renovation project.  Donate a piece of history with your personalized brick and for Conquistadors past, present and future.

Click on the banner above for additional information.

The Conquistadors debuted their new uniforms in week 4 against the Sheffield Knights.  The green bay gold jerseys and navy blue pants color scheme was worn by Olive Branch players for the first time since the 1975 season.

The book was released on August 15th and are now available locally at two Olive Branch locations.  Copies of Y'all vs Us may be purchased for $34.95 each from:

1)  Olive Branch High School - 9366 East Sandidge Road - through OBHS Principal Kyle Brigance (Phone 662-893-3344).

2)  Jackibel's - 9094 Goodman Road west of the Old Towne Square off Pigeon Roost Road (next to the Sonic Drive-in) in Olive Branch (Phone 662-890-4686).

The authors of the highly successful book Gridiron Gold released in 2007, X.M. Frascogna Jr. and his two sons, Mike III and Marty, recently announced they have begun interviews for their new book, Y’all vs Us – "Thrilling Tales of Mississippi’s Hottest High School Football Rivalries".

Continuing to tap into Mississippi’s rich high school football culture, the Frascognas’ next book will explore the dynamics driving fifteen of Mississippi’s hottest football rivalries.  By relating the many untold stories behind these annual gridiron contests, the authors will explore how and why these games have become so important to their respective communities.

Told from the various perspectives of current and former players, coaches, cheerleaders and school administrators, together with insights from mayors, sports journalists and fans connected to each of the teams, Y’all vs Us will provide readers with a colorful backdrop on fifteen of today’s big games in the Magnolia State.

 Y’all vs Us is sure to capture the reader’s attention and imagination with insights about the people, the pageantry and the pride of towns and communities engaged in the fiercely competitive gridiron wars waged on Mississippi’s high school football fields.

The Olive Branch – South Panola series has been selected as one of the rivalries to appear in the book which is expected to be released this August.  For the first 60 days it will be available exclusively through the booster clubs of the schools featured in the book.  Thereafter, it will be available at bookstores and gift shops in your area. You will also be able to purchase copies through the book's official website: www.yallvsus.com/

A recent article on the book appeared in the DeSoto Times newspaper and can be found here: www.desototimes.com/articles/2008/06/05/sports/doc48452e8fe51d9552738673.txt

The U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recently ruled that artifical turf fields are safe for kids to play on.  USA Today writer Michael McCarthy provides two articles regarding the commission's findings, which can be found here:

www.usatoday.com/sports/2008-07-29-turf-makers_N.htm?csp=34

www.usatoday.com/sports/2008-07-29-artificial-turf_N.htm