Chargers pretty amazing in win over the Tigers

Istood on the sidelines in Ackerman this past Thursday night and was amazed.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock in Choctaw County’s 28-18 win over Noxubee County, I couldn’t help but be totally impressed. In the moment, the win locked up a Class 3A, Region 4 championship for the Chargers – an impressive feat all on its own, but it might, just might, have been the beginning for some more glory years of high school football in Choctaw County, a place that before Ackerman and Weir consolidated, knew all about bigtime success on the gridiron.

First, let me give credit to this year. I was at East Webster back in the fourth week of the season when Choctaw County suffered a third-straight loss to drop to 1-3. The Chargers, under first-year head coach Jeff Roberts, were floundering. There were signs of promise for sure, but it looked like Choctaw County would struggle just to get to .500 this season. I thought it might be a battle for the team to just get to the playoffs. Boy, was I wrong. The Chargers haven’t lost since.

It’s a credit to everyone. It’s a credit to Roberts, who kept his team together and kept it believing. It’s a credit to the guys for putting in the work. The Chargers, from the head coach on down, just refused to let that 1-3 start define them.

“We still did our stuff,” Roberts said when I asked him what changed after that 1-3 beginning to the year. “We were so close and the kids realized it. We showed them on tape. I pull up tape on Mondays and we sit there and watch the plays that are key. I’ll tag and go, ‘Guys, if we do this or this or go here or here, we’ve got a touchdown.’ Or, ‘If we do this, this and this defensively, we shut them out.’

“These kids have not quit. When we had the three-game losing streak, they didn’t put their heads down. They kept their nose to the grindstone and they just kept working. That’s been the key. They’ve just kept working. We didn’t let adversity hurt us. We just kept working.”

That work paid off with a sweet celebration on Dale Davidson Field on Thursday. If Choctaw County keeps playing the way it has the last couple months, it might not be the last Charger party.

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