For those of you who haven’t noticed a recurring theme in my columns, I’m a huge football fan. And I’d be lying if I said getting to walk the sidelines of high school football games on Friday nights in the fall isn’t a huge perk of the job for me. There’s something special about prep football season, especially in the South.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been working on this year’s “Playmakers” magazine, which gives readers a preview of the upcoming season for our local teams, as well as a quick look back at last year, what players and coaches have left the various programs and which ones fans should expect to make a difference this year. I’ve had a blast reading our Sports Editor Ernest Bowker’s work and I feel confident you guys will too. 

I also feel like reading through the stories really got me up to speed on what I’ll need to know to help wherever I’m needed this year.  After all, as good as Ernest is, he isn’t omnipresent, although sometimes I wonder. So, I look forward to heading to whichever games he needs me to cover in my first football season with The Post and getting to know the athletes, coaches and fans that make up the programs at Vicksburg High School, Warren Central, St. Aloysius, Porter’s Chapel and Tallulah Academy. 

It’s such a fun journey to watch these kids make their ways through a prep football season. Following the story lines from week to week, through all of the ups and downs and victories and defeats, is way better than any TV show we might be missing. For me, it’s the start of fun football weekends in the fall that carry on Saturday with college football and culminate with the NFL on Sunday. It’s just the best time of the year.

And, for the players, I assure you it is one of the best times of their lives. While there are players that will move on to the next level after high school, for a lot of kids graduation means the end of the road for football too. It certainly did for me, but the friends I made during those four years represent a special kind of bond that you can only get through being part of a team. The advent of Facebook when I was in college has kept me in touch with many of them over the years and it never ceases to amaze me how we can still talk about certain plays on specific Friday nights as if they happened yesterday. They certainly did not happen yesterday and I have trouble remembering how the last movie I watched ended most times. But those memories are vivid and they mean a lot to me still.

It will be the same for our local players as they move on after high school, whether they keep playing football or not. So, when those stadium lights come on in a few weeks, I look forward to meeting you under them to support these guys, as well as the guys and gals making up the cheer squads, marching bands, dance teams and every other group that makes this magical time of year so much fun to be a part of.

I can’t wait to get to know these programs and fanbases better. So, if you see me running around on the sidelines this year, rest assured I’m having as much fun as anyone else, but am still a little jealous of the players out there experiencing the time of their lives.

Blake Bell is the general manager and executive editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at blake.bell@vicksburgpost.com.