Sometime close to midnight as we rolled out of Arlington passing Six Flags, it occurred to me that our football boys had fulfilled their dream in winning a state championship just a couple of miles down the road from the amusement park that may have been the object of much simpler dreams when they were children.

Our former sports editor, Gary Edwards, used to tease me occasionally about the ways I described sports. But, Thursday’s state championship game was the prettiest game of high school football I’ve ever seen. Watching how those young men played together as a team, how savvy and talented they were was a delight. It was just icing on the cake after seeing them grow up here and represent our school and town in a way that makes us proud.

As a Jacket alumni and mother of two Jacket football alumni I’ve been cheering for them, even if I didn’t make their games. One of the team members, Noah Sneed, attends our church and from what I have seen, and everyone agrees, he is one of the finest young men I’ve ever known. A former coach of Chantz Perkins’ had told my son what a great athlete he was before he even moved here. Many moons ago, I was in class in high school with Jeremiah Crawford’s grandmother, Linda Smith. She is someone once you meet, you always like. So, that extends to her extremely talented grandson.

I also covered the Mineola School Board meeting nine years ago when former Superintendent Mary Lookadoo introduced Joe Drennon and he was hired. I recall he and his wife Lorie were there and can’t quite remember if their children were there too, but I believe they were. Sitting outside a closed meeting with a man who has a family waiting to see if the school board agrees to his hiring is a rare experience and one that makes you very cognizant of their situation. The outcome is history.

So many things have been said about this win – the first ever for the football program. The only other state championship won by a MHS sports team was by a track relay team. It is huge for those boys, coaches, cheerleaders, band, school and everyone in town. Last year retiring teacher Bruce Armstrong told me he’d enjoyed his career, adding that in the last few years things had gotten even better. “Everybody gets better looking when you’re winning,” he said off-the-cuff with a grin. The remark kind of took me aback, but as time has transpired and I’ve watched, in reality it appears to be true. Maybe it’s the smiles.

During my years here, I’ve seen some dismal decades of football in Mineola. But that’s what makes this year’s team’s win, if front of more than 20,000 people, so much sweeter. That trophy is for all of our Yellowjackets. And Edwards made another point about that for the teams in our district who had “a perfectly terrible season.” For all their lives they can say they played and lost to the state champions. It’s a win for all of us.