Yvonne Hairston has waited a long time for this.
In March — at the end of Hairston’s 13th year as the head girls basketball coach at Columbus High School — the Falcons won an MHSAA championship for the first time ever.
“To wait 12 years to get it, it’s a great thing to finally get it,” Hairston said. “So many coaches have been coaching a lot longer than me and have never won it, so it’s a feeling that I think, being a high school coach, is something that you always want.”
She and the Falcons showed their excitement at halftime of Friday’s football game between Columbus and New Hope, when Columbus’ coaches, managers and players at long last received their Class 5A championship rings.
“It was the greatest feeling,” Hairston said. “We’re just taking it all in and just being excited about it. … It’s still kind of surreal for us.”
The Falcons had to wait more than six months to receive the honor after beating Brookhaven 55-51 on March 6 in Oxford for the state title. The COVID-19 pandemic delayed things, and the rings were slow getting in.
Since the team couldn’t hold a parade, Columbus decided to hold the ring ceremony at the first home football game of the season. The Falcons were cheered loudly by the 25 percent capacity crowd, the cheers perhaps exacerbated by the fact that the football team was up 16-0 and ended up beating New Hope 23-7 — a “win-win situation,” according to Hairston.
Hairston said the team also picked a Friday evening for its ceremony so its graduated seniors could attend. Team MVP Aniya Saddler plays basketball at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Nitirah Barry plays at Northeast Mississippi Community College, and Sercora Tate plays for Judson University. (The Falcons’ other senior, Bri Smith, is in nursing school at East Mississippi Community College.)
“They had to break away from their practices and stuff, and I really appreciate their college coaches for letting them come down to celebrate with us,” Hairston said.
The Falcons’ championship was the first state title in girls basketball in school history, and Hairston said it instills a sense of pride in the Columbus community.
“We’ve got some great kids,” Hairston said.
Those great kids, led by senior DJ Jackson, have their sights set on repeating as Class 5A champions, but it won’t be easy, Hairston said.
“Of course, we would love to do that, but there’s a whole lot of other schools out there that feel the same way,” Hairston said.
She said it will be hard to “pinpoint” things this year for Columbus. Because of the pandemic, the Falcons won’t be able to bring everybody back, but their work ethic should be able to carry them through.
“We’re just getting in there and working hard every day, and (we’ll) hopefully take one game at a time and do what we need to do to win and be successful,” Hairston said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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