Charleston and West Tallahatchie high school football teams both reached the playoffs this year, which is always a noteworthy achievement.
The Choctaws bowed out last Friday night after traveling nearly 400 miles to face a team on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the opening round of the Class 1A state playoffs. The Choctaws showed up at Resurrection Catholic High School in Pascagoula to represent their school and community. They comported themselves well and, despite the outcome of the game, should take pride in having rebounded from a winless season one year ago to a six-win campaign with a playoff berth in 2019.
The Charleston Tigers are still marching on, having already won two Class 2A playoff games in convincing fashion and preparing to host Calhoun City in the third Friday night. The Tigers are perennial winners, so making the playoffs is old hat. In fact, they have qualified for postseason play 19 years in a row. That puts them in rare company among football teams around the state. Tiger fans have come to expect it, but there are no guarantees from one season to the next.
Coaches and players in local school athletic programs deserve our support. What they hear too often is criticism from disgruntled so-called fans.
A true fan stands tall come what may, just like the coaches, student-athletes and families behind them.
