With the release of the All-Metro football team in Saturday’s newspaper, the 2010 high school football season in the Miss-Lou officially came to a close.

This is the fourth time I’ve been a part of picking the football All-Metro team and coach and player of the year, and it was probably the toughest team to pick of the four.

There were so many deserving athletes across the Miss-Lou this year that it was hard to decide which team to put them on.

Each football coach nominated players for the team, and because of the great talent in the area this year, a great many of the coaches nominated what seemed like their entire teams.

It took a while to cull through the nominations and pick the first, second and third team and honorable mentions, but it was a fun and rewarding thing to do.

The sheer number of the players who were nominated and the difficulty of the selection process is a testament to how great a football season it was in the Miss-Lou this year.

There were so many players who were deserving of being selected to the first team or even player of the year, but there’s only so many spots on the team.

There certainly was more talent in the area this year than in any other year I have spent in Natchez, and I’m sure there was more talent this year than there has been in quite a while.

Three local high school players have committed to play at Mississippi State, and another former Natchez High player who spent the past two years at Copiah-Lincoln Community College who signed to play football at Ole Miss next season.

There were also several players who were named to the All-MAIS team, the MAIS All-Star Game, and MHSAA All-State teams, and the Mississippi-Alabama All-Star Classic and Bernard Blackwell All-Star Game.

With all that talent in the area, it’s no surprise that several area teams enjoyed great seasons. The four Natchez teams all made the playoffs, with Cathedral advancing past the first round for the first time since 1997 and Trinity Episcopal winning its second consecutive MAIS Class A state championship.

All of the great players and great teams made the 2010 season the my favorite to cover.

From watching Cathedral win its first region championship and playoff game in 13 years and Natchez High win several close game en route to its third consecutive playoff appearance to seeing Adams County Christian advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2006 and Trinity dominating almost every opponant in winning the state title, it was fun from start to finish.

So congratulations and a thank you to all the area players and coaches who made the 2010 season one of the best in a long time.

You deserve all the accolades you’ve received and then some.

Jeff Edwards is the sports editor for The Democrat. He can be reached at sports@natchezdemocrat.com, or by phone at 601-445-3632.