November is a special time of year for football
Published 10:40 am Tuesday, November 11, 2014
November is in the air.
You can feel the weather slowly cooling, and there are at least a couple of trees that kind of look orange. This time of the year is good for a lot of things, like fighting off 17 people at midnight with an umbrella in Walmart so you can get your mother-in-law that vacuum for 70 percent off on Black Friday. It’s also the month you get to give thanks by eating until you pass out in the recliner with the Lions losing on TV.
But November is also the time when dreams die and reality sets in for high school football teams across the state. You’re either in or you’re watching, and Warren County has two teams that could be making some serious noise as we descend upon the playoffs this week.
St. Aloysius and Warren Central are both still standing, with a heap of pelts beneath them and searching for more as postseason play begins.
The Flashes have become a matchup nightmare this year, terrorizing Region 2-1A by combining size in the trenches with a relentless running game spearheaded by DeMichael Harris. The junior (yes he’s a junior, although watching him sometimes makes you think he’s a freshman in college) might be the most dynamic player in Vicksburg and is definitely the most fun to watch. I suggest you buy a ticket to see St. Al take on Coldwater Friday night in the first round — if for no other reason than to see Harris make players whiff like a human Randy Johnson slider.
In Class 6A, Warren Central has built a team sturdy enough to weather the brutal North gauntlet that could include Southaven, Starkville and South Panola. The ground-and-pound, throw-when-ya-need-to offense is great at wearing opponents down. But the Vikings’ defense is why they stand such a great chance to make it to Jackson.
It’s the best high school defense these admittedly young eyes have ever seen.
They’ll be talking about the Christmas’s and Stamps’s of this team around the bar at The Klondyke 10 years from now. It’s a defense that has given up only 90 points this season and I’d venture to say more than half of those have been with the second string in. This team has the identity of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, only Warren Central quarterback Alex Stevens might make better throws than Trent Dilfer.
These two teams are beginning a journey that will end soon, either by hoisting the trophy in Memorial Stadium or hosting an end-of-the-year banquet thinking about what could have been. Both of them are the class of their respective regions and could end up making runs. The point is you should join them for the ride.
Because November only comes around once a year.
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Cory Gunkel is a reporter. He can be reached at 601-636-4545, Ext. 178, or by email at cory.gunkel@vicksburgpost.com