It’s safe to say the West Point Green Wave football program knows how to win. The school has eight state championships and two more runners-up in its history, as they try to win championship No. 9 Saturday against Hattiesburg in the 5A State Championship at 7 p.m. in Oxford.
In total, West Point (14-0) has made 17 straight playoff appearances, advancing to the state title game in six of those seasons, and head coach Chris Chambless has been a part of every single one of those years. The Hamilton, Alabama native followed his now wife to West Point 18 years, and he served as an assistant for six seasons before being named head coach.
“It’s home,” Chambless said. “It’s a special place. For the fans and the community to accept me, even through the good times and the bad times, you know, that’s what makes it special. To be able to do it at a place I call home.”
Contrary to what Chambless alluded to, West Point hasn’t had too many “bad times” in his tenure. Since he took over, West Point has won three of its eight state championships, going 3-0 in those games, won six region titles and have made the playoffs in all 12 seasons. In his 18 years on the staff, the only year he missed the postseason was his first season, 2000.
Compare those accomplishments to Hattiesburg, since 2000, it has no state championship appearances and one region title, but the Tigers have made the playoffs in 16 of the last 18 seasons.
So, what’s in the water in West Point? It’s pretty simple actually. It’s like a rock rolling down a hill, it’ll gain momentum with each rotation, and the West Point football program has done that each season.
“It’s tradition,” Chambless said. “Once you have it as a tradition, the kids want it just as bad as any coach or any fan. There’s a lot of community pressure. There are a lot of former players who have sons and a lot of players’ dads and uncles. If people graduate from West Point, there’s a good chance a lot of people are going to stay and work in West Point, so there’s a lot of pride.”
Entering this past offseason, the Green Wave were the defending 5A State Champions after handing Laurel a relatively easy loss in Starkville last December. They didn’t use the offseason to celebrate the title, but instead, it added more fuel to their fire. It made the coaches and players work even harder to try and win the school’s ninth State Championship.
West Point has won every game this season by at least 20 points, and that includes two wins over teams in other State Championship games. It took down Starkville, which is playing for the 6A title Friday night, 28-3, then handed Noxubee County, the 4A North half champion that’s playing East Central Saturday afternoon, a 47-14 defeat.
“No. 1, (the players are) very mature about it,” Chambless said. “They knew what was at stake. They wanted every game they played to be a statement game, so they come out and prepare very well. They came out and worked very hard in the offseason, and that’s why we got to this point.”
So, how would Chambless compare the 2017 West Point Green Wave to the other State Championship teams? Really, he couldn’t compare the different teams but said this season’s squad has what the other teams had in order to see the success they’re seeing.
“Every team has a different personality and different sets of traits, I guess you can say,” he said. “They’ve all had the great attitude, the great willingness to do what it takes and their refuse-to-lose attitude. Our kids play hard and they’re realists. They know the outcome could be good or bad, but they’re going to put everything they have into it.”
(PHOTO: The Commerical Dispatch)
