On the last meaningful play of the 2014 football season, Vicksburg native Malcolm Butler launched himself toward a Russell Wilson pass, and into both Super Bowl lore and the national spotlight.

Of course he did. For Warren County’s football fans, could this magical season really have ended any other way?

From the get-go, this was a truly special year in the long and storied history of football in Vicksburg and Warren County. Butler started it just by making the New England Patriots’ roster, rising from obscurity as an undrafted free agent from West Alabama to land a coveted spot with one of the NFL’s best teams. He was the first Vicksburger to be on an NFL roster since 2007.

Then the games started, and things got even better.

On the high school level, Warren Central started 8-0 and St. Aloysius won 13 in a row after losing its opener. The Vikings fell by the wayside, but St. Al reached the Class 1A title game — the first appearance by a Warren County team in the state finals in 20 years.

While all of that was going on, the area’s Mississippi State and Ole Miss fans had plenty to crow about. State ascended all the way to the No. 1 ranking in the country and Ole Miss wasn’t far behind.

I hate to say it, but if Vegas took bets on such things, you might have gotten better odds last February that Malcolm Butler would be a Super Bowl hero than the Bulldogs spending a month as the undisputed No. 1 team in the country.

Once again, the Bulldogs and Rebels’ journeys to the top were far better than the stay there. A handful of late-season losses knocked them off their perch, and blowout losses in their respective bowl games didn’t exactly help fans ring in 2015 on a happy note.

Butler, though, was there to lift our spirits and make us feel good again. Halfway through the Super Bowl — heck, halfway through the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl — America still didn’t know he was anything more than roster filler. Now, eight days later, he’s not only been to Disneyland and presumably got the T-shirt, he’s moonlighting as a presenter at the Grammys and getting trucks from Tom Brady.

Butler made nearly as much money in playoff bonuses as salary, and now he’s got a lucrative second job as featured parade attraction. He’s been in them at Disneyland and in Boston in the past week, and on Feb. 21 will be at one thrown in his honor right here in Vicksburg.

All the while, Butler has given shout-outs to Vicksburg in front of a national audience and put the city squarely in the spotlight. Once more, and for one last time, Mississippi is at the forefront of the national discussion when it comes to football.

The finish to Butler’s personal journey this season was storybook. The one he penned to the football season as a whole, however, was perfectly fitting.

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Ernest Bowker is a sports writer. He can be reached at 601-619-7120 or by email at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com