Thank you, boys: It’s been a great ride and privilege for all

These have been heady times for Imperial Valley high school football. For the first time in Imperial Valley history, two local teams played on their home fields on the same night for state titles. We don’t have statistics handy to tell us the odds involved in the eight teams in our coverage area producing two state finalists from among the hundreds of teams in competition, but we think it’s a fair guess we may never see this again.

Congratulations on an outstanding season to the Southwest High School Eagles, who fell 45-41 to the Milpitas Trojans in Saturday’s CIF State Division 4-A Championship.

Congratulations also to the Vincent Memorial High School Scots on earning a spot in the CIF State Division 6-A Championship before losing 38-20 to the Galileo Lions of San Francisco.

It’s so hard to keep athletic achievements in perspective. On one hand, there is a temptation to overvalue them. Once the dust settles and the tears of disappointment dry, some players may walk away from this experience thinking these were the best days of their lives.

We hope not. We want these young men always to find greater satisfaction and joy in the years ahead than in the ones they leave behind. We want their achievements this season to be a roadmap to future success, not an early climax to a story with a long and dull epilogue.

That brings us to the other hand, which is the temptation to diminish success in sports as “only a game.” Well, yes, it’s a game, but think how much skill, discipline and determination it takes to become good at it. Anyone who could bottle that formula and sell it would be hard-pressed to find any employer who wouldn’t be buying.

Beyond that, getting this far for both the Eagles and the Scots has involved important lessons in teamwork and fair play. We imagine it also involved a little bit of luck: A funny bounce or a missed call at some point in the season and perhaps we’re talking about only one of these teams, or maybe we’re using this space again to assess some recent public policy issue.

We’re happy that’s not the case. This has been much more fun.

The point is, any chance to play for a championship is a privilege. The chance for us to witness it for two teams in the same season has been a privilege as well.

Anyone who perused our shout-out pages in Friday’s sports section would have gotten a sense of the excitement these past few weeks have generated. Folks whose blood runs with Central Union’s blue and white or Brawley royal blue and gold were cheering on their rival Eagles. Businesses who previously may have been only vaguely aware of Vincent Memorial’s football team were rooting for the Scots.

It’s the kind of thing that makes communities stronger, even if for only a moment.

And for that, gentlemen, we thank you. You’ve made us proud.