Millry is ready for a breakthrough in the midst of its best football era

By JIMMY WIGFIELD

In all the history of Millry football — and it goes back almost 100 years, just about the time power and lights first came to the small rural town — there has never been a period in which it has been so starkly electrified only to have the breakers maddeningly tripped than in the last three years.

The Wildcats have enjoyed the most successful span in school history under alumnus and coach Shane Hendry, going 29-9 even while getting figuratively and repeatedly struck by lightning, dispensing with the theory it never hits the same place twice and contorting their path to the Super 7 despite some of the best players in the state draping themselves in green.

First, knee injuries to wideouts Jquan Stewart the last two years and Jaylen Manuel last year stripped Millry’s gears.

Manuel, an All-State defensive back, suffered a freak knee injury barely 24 hours before playing archrival Leroy for the region championship last year.

“We weren’t even practicing yet,” Hendry ruefully recalled. “He was our best athlete. Somebody threw him a ball and he jumped up and caught it with one hand and he came down wrong and his knee buckled.”

Suddenly, a team that was averaging 50 points a game during an eight-game winning streak lost to its longtime nemesis 26-0.

There are other examples of sheer joy and exasperation being woven tightly together.

After years of having their hands stepped on by the Bears while trying to climb the ladder, the Wildcats stomped Leroy 36-14 two seasons ago on the way to the Class 1A semifinals for the first time. But with the throne in sight, Millry lost to the Bears 28-11 when it counted most, a derailment followed by a postgame dust-up between some of the citizenry in the middle of the night at, of all places, a local car wash in which a sheriff’s deputy was tackled from behind and busted his kneecap. No flag was thrown.

Before a new season could kick off, the Wildcats felt like they had been dragged through the car wash after the transfers — that’s right, plural — of star quarterback Daylon Edmunds, the player who has supplied most of the fuel for the team’s recent success. Within a year, Edmunds left for Gulf Shores, then returned to Millry, then this offseason hopscotched to Citronelle, taking his 5,429 yards of total offense, 89 touchdowns and first-team All-State athlete credentials with him.

To complete the obstacle course, Sweet Water moved into 1A Region 1, giving it two teams — along with Leroy — with a combined 18 state championships and making it even tougher for the Wildcats to get a high postseason seeding. In case you’re wondering, Millry is 17-50-1 against Leroy and 4-30-1 against Sweet Water all time.

Despite this pileup, Hendry feels the Wildcats can once again compete for a Blue Map if his team stays healthy, if All-State linebackers Wesley McIlwain and Landon Doggette keep planting the opposition in neat furrows atop Wildcat Hill and if quarterback Jackson Waite and Stewart keep Millry among the highest-scoring teams in Class 1A.

Is it time to kick the door down?

“I’d love to say we can but you’ve got to have some luck along the way,” said Hendry, who is 16-2 in region play the last three years, the culprits being Sweet Water and Leroy. “Skill-wise, I think we’ll be good enough to make it but we’ve got to get over that Leroy hump again.”

Setting Sweet Water aside, Hendry also knows Elba and star running back Alvin Henderson will likely be standing in the way again in the playoffs. Henderson, who has committed to Penn State, ran for 282 yards and five touchdowns in a 47-28 win over the Wildcats in last year’s second round.

“Elba’s going to be good again as long as Alvin Henderson is there,” Hendry said, “although we played well against them for three quarters.”

Hendry has shown Millry should be good as long as he is there. The only comparable three-year period to the Hendry era is from 2007 to 2009, when the Wildcats were 29-7 under Teddy Taylor — and they didn’t reach the semifinals, nor were they as prolific offensively.

Millry hasn’t had a traditional spring practice in three years under Hendry, so he might be on to something. This spring, he hoped the extra emphasis on workouts would help prevent the injuries that imposed on his team’s chances the last two years.

“That’s been a big problem and why we didn’t go as deep in the playoffs as I thought we could, by getting the wrong people hurt at the wrong time,” Hendry said. “We’re not changing systems. We wanted to work out more than working on the X’s and O’s.”

When work on the X’s and O’s begins in late July, Stewart will be back along with four returning offensive line starters, senior running back Hisun Marlowe and Waite, who was the starting quarterback last year until Edmunds returned. Their mission will be to keep the Wildcats among the state’s most potent offenses; they were No. 3 in scoring in Class 1A at 42.3 points per game in 2023 and were in the top five the year before.

With Manuel and first-team All-State receiver Eli Adams gone, Stewart will be the Wildcats’ big-play threat on the outside and Hendry hopes Maurice Johnson will become a complement at wideout.

“Jquan is healthy now and has worked hard since the surgery,” Hendry said. “He was at a camp at West Florida and texted me that he ran a 4.5 40, so he’s back to full speed.”

Waite is no neophyte at quarterback. He has 18 career appearances and is 24-of-46 passing for 250 yards and five touchdowns, although he was hampered by an elbow injury last season.

“Jackson is very, very smart,” Hendry said. “He may have a better arm than Daylon. Daylon was smart too but he was a better runner.”

Hendry said he has moved on from Edmunds’ decision to transfer, come back and transfer again.

“It’s beginning to be a problem,” Hendry said of the glut of transfers in general statewide. “It used to be if you weren’t happy, you just worked harder. If he feels that’s where he’ll be better off, more power to him. He’s been a big key to our success the last couple of years. But we’ve got somebody just as capable.”

The returning offensive linemen are honorable mention All-State right tackle Holt Hendry, the coach’s son, right guard John Hutto, left tackle Kaleb Bradley and center Braxton Jenkins. They’ll all play both ways, so coach Hendry wants to develop some more depth.

Stewart, who has started since seventh grade, will play all over the secondary and be joined by Jekel Greyson, Johnson and Shooter Holyfield.

Millry opens the season against Citronelle and Edmunds on Aug. 23 in Citronelle.