CROSS COUNTY — Football season starts Friday for the Wynne Yellowjackets and Cross County Thunderbirds.
Both schools are entering the 2026 season with a new head coach. Randy Coleman, the former Jonesboro and Valley View head coach, is leading the Yellowjackets, who are returning to full strength after losing a number of players following the March 2023 tornado.
Coleman said the Jackets now have more than 60 players on the roster.
“We’ve got 65 out right now and really our smallest class is our senior class. There’s 16 of them,” Coleman said. “Our junior high numbers are good too. We’ve got 75 eighth- and ninth-graders and over 40 seventh-graders. Numbers are up across the board. If things start getting where classes run an average of 25 and we can get up to over 70 players, I think that will be good.
“Looking at rosters throughout the conference, a lot of people are sub-50. Most people in our conference numbers are in the 40s so you’ve got to feel good about that,” he added. “Still we’ve got to find the right 11 on offense and defense.”
The Cross County Thunderbirds, fresh off a Class 2A state title win one year ago, have a new head coach in Ty Mimbs. Mimbs is a former defensive coordinator at Jonesboro.
Mimbs said there are more than 30 players on both the junior high and senior high rosters.
“I’m excited. These guys have worked really hard throughout the summer. It’s made it an easy transition for me. Just the way that they’ve carried themselves, prepared throughout the season, taken care of their bodies,” Mimbs said. “They care about football. They care about the culture and what we’re doing. We preach all the time in our core values staying together. Those guys that are in the junior high and the senior high both work really well together. They play really well together. They communicate. It takes a lot off of a coach when he’s got a team that’s close and lead each other in the right direction.”
The Wynne Yellowjackets will host Marion at 7 p.m. Friday at Yellowjacket Stadium to kick off the Randy Coleman era. Meanwhile, the Cross County Thunderbirds will begin the Ty Mimbs era at home against Harrisburg.
