It’s been a strange week in the world of Calhoun County sports.
I told Celia Hillhouse at the CCJ office on Monday, “I get to write one football story this week.” The rest were primarily focused on big picture issues affecting programs in the county.
Rebuilding Vardaman had a winless season, its third since 2013. Calhoun Academy was forced to forfeit its first-round playoff game due to low roster numbers, an issue that, ironically, almost cost the Cougars a chance at playing at all this season back in the summer.
In Bruce, head coach Clint Faust wasn’t on the sidelines for his team’s first-round playoff game against East Union and questions remain who will be leading the Trojan football program going forward.
A lot happened in the world of football this week, but very little of it had to do with the actual sport.
Let’s start with Vardaman. Injuries likely cost the Rams one game (Hamilton) if not more. It wasn’t the easiest of entrances for Brennan Pugh into the head coaching world, but this season was always going to be a learning process with a rebuilding team.
You don’t replace talent like Patrick Pratt and Michael Williams overnight, and Pugh was gaining experience at the same time as his young team. There appears to be talent waiting in the jr. high wings for the Vardaman football program, and as the team continues to gain experience, the on-field product will only get better. It will just take time.
Calhoun Academy’s situation wasn’t fair to its coaches or players, but it was unavoidable. Kudos to the MAIS offices for not penalizing the Academy for something completely outside of its control.
For an 8-man football team, roster numbers are almost always an issue, and that has been a theme for the Cougars throughout the season. As injuries piled up and some players succumbed to the flu, CA had no choice but to forfeit last week.
For its four seniors, frankly, it’s disappointing that they couldn’t finish their careers with a playoff game, but they should hold their heads high that they fought through adversity all season long.
Now, to Bruce. I have no idea how the Trojans managed to fight through the turmoil with their coaching situation on Friday night, but they did. It’s not my place to get into details surrounding Faust’s future, and I probably wouldn’t anyway if it was. Faust was always nothing but hospitable to me, and I hope things work out for him the best.
Still, the Trojans faced a tough test in playing a playoff game without their head coach on Friday, and Coach Kiihnl and company did a great job ensuring that Bruce was ready to go against East Union, and they almost managed to pull off the win.
Now, the Trojans have to turn their attention to the future. The Bruce program is obviously in a better and more competitive situation today than it was when Faust took over, but can Trojan football make more progress moving forward and who will be leading the way?
It’s definitely been an odd week in our county, and your local sports desk is ready for a return to normalcy.
You can email John Macon at
jmake2016@gmail.com