First-year Sharkey-Issaquena coach Paul Kirchharr guided the once-downtrodden Confederates to a 7-3 record. (Ronnie RichardThe Vicksburg Post)

[12/21/03]ROLLING FORK The last decade has been rather unkind to football teams at Sharkey-Issaquena Academy. Injuries, coaching carousels, losing seasons, the Confederate faithful have seen it all.

Paul Kirchharr took over the program this season after yet another losing year. But he accomplished what few have been able to do at the small private school in Rolling Fork, earning him The Vicksburg Post’s Area Coach of the Year award.

Sharkey-Issaquena went 7-3 on the year for its best finish in more than a decade. The Confederates narrowly missed receiving a wild-card berth in the playoffs.

SIA has had only one other winning season in the last 10 years, ending at 7-4 in 1998. In the rest of the decade, they totaled a paltry 16 wins with no more than three wins in a season.

Neil Turner took over a 1-9 program in 1995 and it took four seasons to turn it into a 7-4 team. He left soon after, and two other coaches followed in four years, prior to Kirchharr’s arrival from Troy, Ala.

Kirchharr said when he came in, he spent a lot of time working to get rid of the players’ mental roadblocks.

“Their confidence level about football was low,” he said. “They were just playing to get through it and go home, but I think they realized they were something special and could be good.”

Kirchharr tried to open up the offense from SIA’s previous “three yards and a cloud of dust” style. He also preached learning the basics to his players, and it paid off.

“We worked on a lot of fundamentals,” Kirchharr said. “That’s something that I felt like was lacking after seeing several tapes from the previous year.”

Led by a strong running game featuring Zach McDaniel, Brett Stevens and Chase Mahalitc, the Confederates reeled off five straight wins to begin the year. Kirchharr thought the biggest of those victories came in the third week of the season in a 26-21 win over Porters Chapel.

“Last year they went 2-0, beating CM&I and Winona. Then they lost to Porters Chapel and went downhill from there,” he said. “I felt like that was the key game for us. We win there, and we have some confidence.”

Sitting pretty at 5-0, the Confederates reached a tough stretch in their schedule and fell to Tallulah, Deer Creek and Central Hinds. After the 25-0 loss to Deer Creek, Kirchharr held a meeting with his players, and they aired out their differences.

“The kids felt like I was maybe putting a lot of tension on them and pressure,” he said. “In high school, we were the type where we didn’t say anything before the game.

“These kids were different, they had to relax. Once they relaxed, they played better, and they showed that against Central Hinds.”

While SIA couldn’t score against Academy-AA Central Hinds, it did keep the Cougars under 10 points something only Simpson was able to match.

On the outskirts of the playoff picture, Kirchharr rallied the troops for a 24-8 upset win over Briarfield the following week, ending the Rebels’ seven-game win streak.

“I felt like it was big for us, big win, big confidence booster because Briarfield was undefeated in the conference at the time,” Kirchharr said.

The Confederates then ended the season with a 54-6 drubbing of Greenville Christian.

Sharkey-Issaquena expected to make the playoffs, but lost out to Briarfield (9-4) for the wild card. Kirchharr said he and the players were very disappointed.

“I felt like our kids deserved it. They worked hard,” he said. “It’s kind of sad sometimes when a team you beat pretty handily goes to the playoffs. But we’ll work them for next year.

“Sometimes you feel like you got robbed, but who knows.”

Things are looking up in Rolling Fork, and next year Kirchharr thinks his team could do even better.

“I lost five good seniors, but we’ve got everybody coming back,” he said. “We’ve got some ninth graders that will probably come up and be able to help us. I think everybody’s looking forward to next year.”