September 28, 2006.

Alonzo Stevens is a big man. A tough man. Once during his football days at Temple High he was caught by head coach Houston Markham shooting baskets with teammate Bobby Huell.

Markham, never shy about dishing out punishment for a transgression as bad as shooting hoops while football practice was in session, excused the entire team except his all-state lineman. &#8220Roll up the hill,” Markham said, &#8220and when you get to the top you can leave.”

Temple is gone, but the hill is still there. It’s across the street from what is now Vicksburg Junior High. Go look at the slopes around what was Buccaneer Field. Imagine lying on your side and rolling up. It wasn’t easy, even for a youthful athlete.

Stevens said he began rolling and would get a ways up, get tired and roll back to the bottom. Each attempt he would reach a little higher, grasping for grass, dirt, anything to get up that hill. Finally, after who knows how long, Stevens reached the top of the hill, stood up and walked straight into the gym where the Buccaneers basketball team was playing. He was caked in mud, grime, dirt and sweat.

Now the head coach at Vicksburg High, Stevens is still that tough, but he looks after his players and coaches to no end. After a loss to Provine on Friday, he refused to blame anyone but himself.

And while he has a jovial demeanor normally, it changes to one of an angry man when he feels his players or fellow coaches are being treated unfairly.

It started during the Gators’ 22-16 win over Southaven nearly three weeks ago. After losing a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter, Vicksburg took possession with less than two minutes to play, ran a couple plays, but was content to leave the score knotted and try for an overtime win.

A cascade of boos rained down the stands and caught coaches, players and officials by surprise. Rarely does a high school team, no matter what the outcome, get loudly booed – at home no less.

&#8220I’ve recruited at games where a team is losing 80-0,” Stevens said, &#8220and the fans are still cheering the whole time. It was sad to hear. Booing kids. Disgraceful.”

Stevens, who played at Alcorn State and was an assistant coach there before coming to Vicksburg, considered the possibility that maybe the fans were booing him or his staff. He can take it, he said. But with a chorus of boos surrounding a stadium, it’s not just the coaches who hear them.

&#8220I couldn’t understand it,” Stevens said. &#8220If you are a Gator fan you are a Gator, win or lose. If you don’t want to cheer for us, go to the other side and be an Arrow, or a Cougar. But don’t boo the kids.”

Stevens and his staff dealt with that distraction in preparing for Provine. After a 30-8 loss to the Rams, he is dealing with another distraction, shoving those big shoulders in front of another fire.

Posters on a Mississippi sports Internet chat board took shots at offensive coordinator Jackie Williamson this week in an undeserved vitriolic rage.

&#8220They’re cowards,” Stevens said. &#8220They can get on there and sign their name ‘John Wilkes Booth’ or ‘The Phantom’ and no one knows who they are. Sign your name if you have such an opinion.”

The former all-state lineman is rolling up that hill again, caked in mud and dirt and sweat. He’s determined.

&#8220If they have a problem with anything, they know where to find me,” Stevens said, quickly adding, &#8220but no one has.”

Things have gone worse this season than he or the other coaches expected. A couple close losses, and one not so close, has the Gator nation grumbling after a 2-3 start. It’s hard to say a game in the second week of the region schedule is a must win, but Friday’s game is crucial.

Vicksburg will face Clinton on the road. A loss seriously hurts its playoff chances. Stevens may take more criticism, but he can handle it. Coach Markham and those big shoulders made sure of that.

As far as his players and coaches are concerned, the man bows up again.

&#8220I think a lot of these people have lost perspective,” said Stevens, who has spent his entire adult life coaching football. &#8220But they can come by here any time and see me. They can’t watch practice because I close those, but they can come to the office whenever they want to. I’ll be here.”