[2/3/05] National signing day is a day of celebration for high school athletes around the country. Football players officially sign their names to a piece of paper, fax it into the schools of their choice and prepare to finish out the rest of their senior season.

In this area of rich athletic traditions, players from all sports will make their intentions known.

On Wednesday, local football players had their day.

At Warren Central Wednesday, five players signed to play for junior colleges or four-year schools. Seven players from this area inked to play at four-year institutions.

On Wednesday and today, exhaustive stories equipped with interviews with the future coaches and the athletes themselves appear in this newspaper.

What will not appear are posed “signing” pictures. In years past, the athlete would sit at a table, usually in the school library, with a litany of parents, coaches and relatives in the background.

The presentation of the information was poor at best. The decision was then made to stop running those pictures.

The decision had nothing to do with relaying the information to the public, just a change in the format.

In each Wednesday’s School Youth section, local students who have earned scholarships appear down the left-hand side. Some include pictures of the students, some don’t.

The features section used to run pictures similar to the old athletic “signing” pictures, but they phased that out years ago.

The time came to phase out those same type of athletic pictures.

The information will be presented, and presented prominently in this section. Local athletes are what drives this section and we will always be committed to those athletes.

Soccer tonight… we can only hope

After two straight rainouts, Vicksburg soccer teams are again set to play in the South State championship games today.

The Gators will host Oak Grove at 6:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. The Missy Gators are scheduled to play at Long Beach at 5 p.m.

No matter how long they waited, the Gators are certain to be involved in a sloppy one. Memorial Stadium has been turned into a quagmire. The foul conditions may pay dividends for VHS as Oak Grove brings a speedy team into the contest. The winners advance to Saturday’s state championship games. The Missy Gators have won five state titles, while Vicksburg would be playing for its first title…

Girls basketball coaches shine

When Vicksburg High hosts Warren Central in basketball Saturday at 1 p.m., more than 600 victories will be represented in the coaching boxes.

WC coach Donny Fuller recorded his 300th career victory on Saturday, while Vicksburg’s Mike Coleman has won 317 career games.

Having a pair of 300-win coaches going head-to-head is impressive; having them coach in the same district is even more of a feat.