PLANTERSVILLE — For the second consecutive football season, the Dallas County Hornets are playing multiple games at Selma’s Memorial Stadium.

The Hornets will play Selma and Wilcox Central at Memorial Stadium this year in an effort to move their games closer to where many of their fans, alumni and students live.

“We as a program have got to give people the reason to drive 18 miles to come watch us play,” said Hornets head coach Marty Smith. “With that being said, let’s take the product to the people and give them something that they can easily get to in order to want to be a part of.”

Smith is alluding to the 18-mile drive from the Selma city limits to Plantersville, where Dallas County High School is located.

The school is located several hundred feet from where motorists enter Dallas County on Highway 22, meaning most traffic that leaves the school funnels back toward the Selma city limits.

Because of that, it’s easier for many parents to travel to Selma for a Dallas County home game than it is for them to go to Plantersville for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

“Last year we played Helena here [in Plantersville], we played Central Tuscaloosa and our gates were nowhere near as big as the three games we played at Bloch Park,” Smith said.

In 2014, the Hornets played Selma, Demopolis and Southside at Memorial Stadium. After this season, Dallas County will have played five games at Memorial Stadium and five in Plantersville during Smith’s two-year tenure at the school.

“We are in a time where unfortunately money is an issue,” Smith said. “It requires money to run a program, and we can’t continue at the pace we are at and not charge activity fees for our players and have the gates we are having here at Martin Field.”

Smith said he’d love for all the Hornets’ games to be played in Plantersville in the future. He also knows the one sure way to help increase attendance at Martin Field, the name of the field where the Hornets play in Plantersville — win more games.

Dallas County hasn’t had a winning record since 2004.

“Ideally we want to play all of our games here at Martin Field, but we have to give the general public a reason to drive that 18 miles,” Smith said. “Let’s be honest. If you put a winning product on the field, they will come.”

With five away games and two others at the stadium, Dallas County won’t play a game in Plantersville after Sept. 25 this year. Four of the Hornets final five games will be on the road. The only home game in that stretch will be a Thursday night contest against Wilcox Central on Oct. 8. Dallas County will be the only local team in action that night, which is what spurred the game to be on Thursday, Smith said.

Dallas County’s three games in Plantersville will be Jemison, Bibb County and Sumter Central, which is the Hornets homecoming and will be played on a Thursday night.

Keith, which is also in the Dallas County School System, will also play two games at Memorial Stadium this season. Unlike the Hornets, only one of those two games will be a home game. The Bears will play a road game Sept. 17 against Ellwood Christian, which plays its home games at the stadium, and then will host Selma there on Sept. 25.

Keith head coach Harry Crum said the Selma game was moved from J.V. Caldwell Stadium because it doesn’t have enough seats to accommodate a 6A school’s fans and band.