The Selma Times-Journal

Central Christian headmaster and athletic director Darrell Walker is already taking steps to make sure this year’s football season doesn’t end like the last.

The injuries that took key players down were no match for the defection of five students to other schools.

That left the Warriors without a sufficient roster to finish the remaining eight games on their schedule.

“I’m going to have all the kids sign contracts saying that they’re committed to finishing the season no matter what,” Walker said. “If you’re going to play, you’re going to be committed fully.”

It sounds like a drastic move, but that’s before considering the situation. CCA began last season with 17 players, and then injuries in a season-opening loss to Coosa Valley Academy reduced the roster to 13.

It was already a major shakeup for a group that went 7-4 and got as far as the first round of the playoffs in 2006.

The Warriors had bounced back to beat Warrior Academy before forfeiting the rest of the season due to a lack of players.

The team is currently in the midst of a search for a new coach. Walker said he hopes soon to name Herbert Williams to the position, whose first season with the team was last year as an offensive line coach.

Numbers are once again an issue for the team. CCA has forgone spring training for the first time in two years because 13 players are on the spring squad.

Walker said he expects that number to rise with the beginning of the next school year.