Stamper gives props to title teams

By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports writer
Dec. 13, 2002
By now, the high school football games are over and so are the picks for the EMG Sports Journal.
Thanks to d'Iberville's 33-7 pasting of West Point, I managed to finish on top of the standings.
I'll admit it got a little shaky early Saturday afternoon. By then, I had blown the Puckett-Weir and Wayne County-South Panola games. Weir choked in overtime on a two-point play from a yard and a half out after Puckett had jumped offside. The previous play went for 10 yards, but did the Lions run it again? Noooooo. Did they get the win? Nooooo.
Then Wayne County held off South Panola for a 21-14 victory in near freezing temperatures in the Friday night game. If I had to miss a pick, this one didn't hurt my feelings. Good ole' Marcus Boyles got what he deserved.
However, when Taylorsville entered the fourth quarter of its game with Eupora Saturday looking at a 19-3 deficit, I was getting a mental picture of an 0-5 showing in the title games.
Then Taylorsville rallied to take a 22-19 win with little freshman Colt Bankston kicking a game-winning 28-yard field goal as time ran out. I came mighty close to picking him up and toting him a victory lap around the field. Real close. I didn't, but much like New Hope senior shortstop Laura Lee Holman and her diving catch in foul territory at Neshoba Central as a freshman, he'll always have a warm spot in my heart.
After making the game-winning play, most kids would have said they wanted the opportunity to be the hero of the state championship game. Bankston was honest.
You see, on his first kick of the season, he completely missed the ball and no it wasn't like with Lucy pulling the ball away from Charlie Brown, he just kicked and came up empty.
My day was made after d'Iberville padded a 3-0 halftime lead in stomping a 33-7 mudhole in West Point and walking it dry. That win officially eliminated Austin Bishop from even a tie for first place. I hope Santa Claus takes good care of the d'Iberville guys.
Collins finished the championships with a 40-14 reaming of Amory.
For those keeping score, that's all five state titles going to South State teams.
Now if I had one wish, it would be one final game with Wayne County facing Collins. We'd call it the Ring Bowl with all the money going to buy rings for both championship teams.
Basketball season is now in full swing with several of the schools that had to postpone games due to their teams being in the football games now busily trying to play themselves into basketball condition. I say playing themselves into condition because there's precious little time to practice one's way into game condition while trying to make up games.
I could be wrong, and football coaches will tell you that I am, but it seems that extending the football playoffs into December has caused a drop in the level of basketball, especially in the smaller schools where the same athletes play just about every sport.
If Santa would grant me just one more wish, it would be to wrap up the high school playoffs on Thanksgiving weekend while everybody was home visiting their loved ones and could go to the championships together if they have any reason to do so.
There's little reason to have four teams from Divisions 2A, 3A, and 4A making the playoffs. For the two years the MHSAA has taken four teams, the No. 4 seeds from Divisions 2A, 3A, and 4A are 2-46 in the playoffs with Bay Springs and Winona being the only No. 4 seeds to get a win.
You can add Nanih Waiya in 1A, but then again, 1A and 5A regions are actually the combination of two divisions already so taking four teams from those classes is perfectly fine with me.
Cutting back won't happen, in fact, they'll soon be taking four basketball, four baseball, and four softball teams from each league to the playoffs. And making the playoffs will have lost some of its prestige as the result.