WOODVILLE — Just a few years ago, all eyes were on Wilkinson County Christian Academy as they advanced to a state championship game.

However, the attention quickly faded as the Rams won just five games the next two seasons. First- year head coach Chris McGraw brought that attention back.

McGraw, who just finished his first season as the Rams head man, led WCCA to a 12-2 record, but more importantly, a Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class A-AA state championship.

While others saw a program and a team that could barely win a game, McGraw saw something special.

“I knew we had a lot of potential,” McGraw said. “We had a lot of good pieces, we just needed to find the right fit for them. I knew coming in, this senior class was hard working, and they just hadn’t been pushed like they needed to be.”

But the push McGraw brought was automatically accepted.

“We hated him at first,” quarterback Caleb Poole said. “I didn’t want him to be here, but I love him now. He is like a father figure to us. He came in here and made us do what we needed to do.”

It only took McGraw five weeks to become a believer that his team had a shot at the title.

“I knew we could make a run, but didn’t know we could go all the way,” he said. “But when we beat Prairie View at Prairie View, I knew we had a chance.”

After starting the season 2-2, the Rams reeled off 10 straight wins, but McGraw credits a lot of the team’s success to much earlier.

“The kids bought in to what I thought we needed to do and we started in May,” he said. “We took a week off after exams, and then June 1 we were rolling, four days a week from there on.”

McGraw’s journey to the top was made even sweeter because he was able to do it at the school that had given so much to him — his alma mater.

“I was born and raised here, graduated from here and coached as an assistant here fro years,” he said. “Our school needed this. I just feel like this is something that will be a great thing for the school overall. Having the kids excited for something is everything. I coached it, but they played it. It is their championship and I’m more proud of them than anything.”