Thanks, guys!

The South Panola Tigers have once again presented us with an early present: a state championship game in Jackson following a brilliant north half playoff victory.

Because we’ve been down this road to Jackson for so many consecutive years, let’s don’t make the mistake of taking this trip for granted. Friday night’s game with Oak Grove is special. It is the result of the hard work and determination of this 2009 Tiger team and their coaches.

Many people in Batesville and Panola County live below or only slightly above the poverty level. Many are unemployed or underemployed.

Yet from Friday to Friday, from late summer to late fall the Tigers give us a thrill that money can’t buy. Stop for a moment and think about how simply amazing this is! These are teenage boys. Yet they have been able to come together as a team with the single focus on winning this state championship. They set a goal and kept working toward it, not just for a week or a month or even a year. And now they’ve arrived.

They’ve carried this whole community with them during the exciting journey.

Anywhere we go, when people find out we’re from Batesville, they ask us about South Panola’s “secret,” how can they keep winning game after game year after year?

The secret remains: there is no secret. Just year ‘round hard work, determination that’s passed not just from one year’s team of Tigers to the next but from one generation to the next.

Congratulations, and thanks again.