By HARVEY SIMPSON
ROCHELLE — When his team held on to beat Savannah Christian 30-21 in mid-December for the Class A state title, Wilcox High coach Mark Ledford likely thought he had done his last “sweating” over the 2009 season.
Not so, though.
With plans for Monday night’s state championship ring awards ceremony publicly announced over the weekend, the Patriot mentor was about to think there might not be any pieces of the coveted jewelry to pass out at the event.
The day was saved, though, when a representative of the jewelry company that placed the order for the 60 players and four coaches who received the rings arrived at the school Monday morning with them.
“When it first started out,” Ledford recalled, “we were originally told we might have the rings back within six weeks of ordering them. “There was some mix-up in dates, though, and the arrival date just kept being pushed back.
“Thank goodness the rings got here in time for the ceremony we had planned, and I’ll have to say after seeing them it was worth the wait. It turned out to be a very special night for all of us.”
The rings contain a replica of the state championship cup presented to the school right after the game in the Georgia Dome and acknowledge the squad’s final record (13-2) and one of its mottos, “We Believe.”
The diamond-studded jewelry also has a football on it with each player’s number and position. Eight blue stones form the number “1” in designation of its finish in state play. And, perhaps best of all, the rings contain the inscription, “Wilcox County State Champions 2009.”
With an estimated 400-500 fans filling the home bleachers in the gymnasium for what Ledford and others noted was the first-ever such event in school history, team chaplain Mike Cook began the night by observing, “We’ve been waiting for this a long time and I’m glad I got to be a part of it.
“Your fan support was a big part of it, too, as most nights when we traveled we outnumbered the home team’s crowd. Fortunately, we did the same thing on the scoreboard.”
Principal Arney Bryant also acknowledged the tremendous fan support the team received throughout its banner season, telling those in attendance to “Give yourselves a big round of applause.” He also reminded team members they did “a great job.”
Athletic director Donnie Clack revealed that medals from the Georgia High School Association, DVD game highlights and plaques containing a team photo would be presented to the players during the long-awaited festivities.
“We’ve been at this (fielding a football team) for 54 years in Wilcox but for the first 11 we didn’t play a region schedule so it actually took just 43 years for us to accomplish what we did. I’m very proud of our program which has now won 10 region titles, reached the Final Four six times and made it to the championship game twice (the 2007 Patriots were the runner-up to ECI).
Ledford then came to the podium to acknowledge a 12-minute video highlight of the season was about to be shown. It ended with clips of the title contest with musical accompaniment of the song, “We Are the Champions.”
With tongue in cheek and a smile on his face, Ledford quipped afterwards that the highlights did not include action from the Wilkinson and Twiggs games the Patriots lost.
As the program wound down, the Patriot mentor reminded his players they had “earned everything you’ve received with your attendance at summer workouts, three weeks of preseason and 16 long weeks of the regular season.
“You put in a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of hard work and dedication and it paid off. It doesn’t always happen that way, though, as everybody has dreams of winning state but a lot of good players never get to do that.
“Realize how fortunate you are. By keeping our faith and staying together as a team we overcame a lot. All we did comes to fruition tonight. Congratulations, state champs.”
