USJ, Milan football to meet in 2016

Milan head football coach Jeff Morris and new University School of Jackson head  coach Rusty Bradley met twice in consecutive years in the BlueCross Bowl when Bradley led Christian Academy of Knoxville to the Class 3A state championship in 2011 and ’12.

The coaches are now set to meet a third time.

The two West Tennessee football powers signed a contract Monday to meet at Johnnie Hale Stadium in Milan on Oct. 7.

Each team had consecutive open weeks because of scheduled bye weeks and opponents becoming unavailable.

Milan is in Region 7-3A, which is the region with Jackson Central-Merry, who is closing at the end of the school year.

“We were looking at having two weeks in a row without a game, and we’d talked to different schools across the state and in St. Louis and Mississippi and Kentucky,” Morris said. “I was getting pretty pessimistic about it to be honest with you.

“But I was glad to get USJ on our schedule,” he said. “It’s been eight or 10 years since we played them, so it should be a good game that generates a lot of interest.”

USJ athletic director Jody Evans said the Bruins are losing a Division II-A West opponent.

“Rossville Christian contacted us and let us know they were wanting to transition to a more independent situation for their program,” Evans said. “They talked to [TSSAA executive director] Bernard Childress, and they would be allowed to get out of the game as long as both sides agreed to it. We agreed.”

The loss of the game with Rossville Christian created a similar situation for USJ in which the Bruins would have consecutive weeks without a game in the second half of the regular season.

“Obviously that was a situation I wanted to avoid, and I like the way we avoided it,” Bradley said. “I’m excited about this game.

“I got to know Coach Morris some when we played in Cookeville, and he’s a great guy who has his teams prepared to go every week,” he said. “And I think it will be a good game for both teams to have quality competition without having to go long distances to get it.”

Brandon Shields, 425-9751