When it comes to high school football and Friday nights under the lights, I thought I had seen it all.

For more than 20 years, my Friday nights in the fall have been spent on the sidelines, covering games as a reporter or as a photographer.

There have been seasons where I have lost cameras to off the field collisions, season where teams that I have covered have won championships and other seasons where teams I have covered have failed to pick up a win. I was convinced that I had seen it all.

That was until this past Friday night.

For weeks, I had heard about and read about the Red Carpet Bowl. For me, the game was something that simply lived in black and white on the pages of the newspaper.

But Friday night, those stories came to life as I stopped by for a quick visit at Warren Central High School’s Viking Field.

What I saw was more than a football game, or in this case two football games. What I saw was a community who came together — rivals who came together again — for an amazing community event.

While the football players and the games were the focus and the draw, the event went far beyond the field. The bands were on display as were the cheerleaders and fans.

When it comes to a rivalry like the one that exists in nearly every athletic arena between Vicksburg and Warren Central, it is rare common ground can be found.

But, to watch Warren Central fans cheer on Vicksburg in the first game of the evening, and then Gator fans cheering on Vikings in the second game was great to see and yet another reflection of what the Vicksburg community truly is.

It won’t be long before Vicksburg and Warren Central face off, but for this one night the two schools, the two fan bases, were on the same side and that is what makes this annual event such a treasure.

To those who organize this event each year, well done. It was a pleasure for The Vicksburg Post to be a sponsor, and for this newspaper guy who thought he had seen it all, thank you for putting on a spectacle that I did not expect.