First, the good news.
The Columbus High School football team has ended the past two seasons within reach of the playoffs. Now, the not-so-good news.
Both seasons, for all their excitement and intrigue, concluded the same way as all the others during this five-year playoff drought: So close, yet not close enough, and so much promise and so much talent yet no playoff berth.
“It”s been hard because once you strive to be in the playoffs,” said middle linebacker Bo Edwards,” going to that final championship, once you know that you miss it by one game, it makes you sick in the inside. (You think), ”I probably could have made this play, or stopped this team.” ”
The last time the Falcons reached the playoffs, future Mississippi State quarterback Tyson Lee was wrapping up his prep career. In high school years, that means an entire generation (and counting) of Columbus High lettermen never experienced the postseason payoff for all those football practices, weightlifting sessions, team meetings.
Perhaps this fall could be the year Columbus returns to the postseason, becoming the newest player in the hunt for a Mississippi High School Activities Associated Class 6A state title.
“Next year, I think we”ll win nine or 10 games,” said Justin Verner, who will be a senior on the offensive line. “We all know each other. We know what we”re capable of. And we”ve been working out hard (in the offseason).”
It will be the Falcons” best chance under Tony Stanford, who will enter his second season as head coach. He will mentor 23 seniors — including four starters on offense and six on defense.
Many of them, Stanford said, have displayed the type of offseason work ethic he expects to make an impact when the season starts Aug. 19 at Aberdeen High.
“The kids have put a lot of time in,” said Stanford, a veteran coach who was an assistant under former head coach Bubba Davis. He led the team to a 4-7 finish last season. “We have a good many that have stayed after school, doing extra work. A lot of them have taken it upon themselves to work on their own, and I think it”s going to pay off for them.”
It could, if the Falcons avoid the injury bug that hit the team last season.
Stanford starts naming players who missed games last season due to injury, a list that ranges from starting quarterback Cedric Jackson and running back Damian Baker to outside linebackers Martavious McKinney and free safety Byerson Cockrell. Verner missed a game, too.
The backups competed the best they could, Stanford said, but it wasn”t enough. And when the injured starters returned, they needed a couple of weeks to return to their pre-injury physical status, which hurt the Falcons.
Edwards, a rising senior, remembers this, and hopes he and his teammates avoid such problems. After all, he”s already thinking about the fall — his latest chance to accomplish something that has eluded Columbus High teams since he was in middle school.
“I want us to excel to our full potential,” he said. “We want to go out with a bang. We want to knock out any opponent in front of us.”
Stanford feels just as good about 2011.
“I feel like we have an opportunity to have a good football team if everybody pulls together and everything works good,” Stanford said.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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