BATESVILLE – The field is nothing special.

A set of stands on either side, a running track around the perimeter and green grass in the middle. From the field, the busy traffic along Highway 51 is clearly visible. All pretty standard.

The fieldhouse isn’t all that great, either. Individualized nameplates give the lockers a fancy touch, but it’s cramped, dark and hot. Certainly nothing to write home about.

At the practice field, the only upright is attached to an old boat trailer. High weeds and trees surround the hill it sits on, and one has to cross a small, rickety-feeling plank bridge to get to it.

At first glance, there’s nothing about South Panola High School that suggests Mississippi’s greatest football dynasty resides here.

No artificial turf fields.

No brand-new fieldhouses with weight rooms bigger than some schools’ cafeterias.

No gleaming palace of a stadium.

No magical food or additives to the water that create great football players out of thin air.

No, South Panola’s dynasty has been built the old-fashioned way – with sweat, desire, and an outright refusal to lose.