Let’s see more togetherness

The past two weeks, through some good and some tragic, we have seen the really good that Middle Georgia has to offer as it came together as a community through high school football.

Can we have more of that, please?

The stretch was bookended by two outstanding football doubleheaders that were good for everyone involved.

It began with the Corky Kell Classic and the programs with probably the three best fan bases in Middle Georgia on showcase at Mercer’s Five Star Stadium. Houston County, Mary Persons and Jones County, along with their fans, lived up to the stage and put on a good show for everyone to watch.

It was a terrific event and a chance for us to show off Middle Georgia to the rest of the state and even folks outside of the state who have access to Fox Sports South. Hopefully, it won’t be the final year that these games are played in our back yard.

This past weekend, our time to come together wrapped up with the kind of doubleheader that a lot of people in Bibb County probably thought they would never see: public school vs. private school as Central beat Mount de Sales and FPD beat Howard. Those kinds of games have been long overdue, and it was a wonderful first year for an event that hopefully will continue ... and grow.

Think about it. Imagine this event growing to two or even three nights and including all 10 Bibb County GHSA programs. Now that would be a show.

In the middle of all this good, we had some bad in our area, the kind of bad that no high school program should ever have to face as Peach County football player Raekwon Smith was killed in a car accident, which included three of his teammates. But the Peach County family (and that includes Smith’s family, the families of the other players in the accident and the school’s administrators, teachers, coaches, students and athletes) showed its strength in how it handled everything it has gone through.

Chad Campbell has long been one of my favorite coaches I have ever covered, and this was just another example why. Campbell’s focus during such a tough time showed just what Peach County is made of as the community tried to move forward while not forgetting what’s important, and his team put on a heck of a show Friday night in a loss — on the scoreboard — to Houston County.

It’s that kind of resilience that leaves no doubt that the Peach County football team, and the community as a whole, eventually will recover from such a difficult time. That community came together and took care of its own, and that was great to see.

But another part of it that was so refreshing and inspiring was seeing how the other communities and student bases put their arms around Peach County and gave its players, fans, students and coaches one big hug. The scene Friday night before the Houston County-Peach County game was tear-jerking, but there were other communities that showed their support, as well, and we all had to realize a game on a Friday night isn’t the most important thing in our lives.

It shouldn’t take such a tragedy to remind us of that, but that’s the world we live in.

But the past two weeks, the community we live in — and yes, we’re all Middle Georgians — made me proud to say that I do live here. Can we have that more often, please?

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Let’s see more togetherness."