Last week when I wrote about the young Steve McNair Jr., and his transfer from Mt. Olive to Oak Grove High School, I did not have any information about his participation in Oak Grove’s game that week.

Friday night, Oak Grove beat a very good Picayune team, and young McNair caught a long pass which set up one of his team’s scores. Meanwhile Mount Olive did not miss a beat without McNair. They easily handled Pisgah 34-0, and not a single McNair was listed in the scoring summary.

It seems that Duckworths have filled that gap. Cathedral, despite boasting a stellar 3-0 record in this early part of the season, must still face strong St. Aloysius and then Mount Olive, and later must play a resurgent Bogue Chitto.

Trinity stands at 4-0, and will be shooting to add a AA crown to the A State title they won two years ago. Natchez High seems to be on the comeback trail, winning twice so far. I hope the Bulldogs can keep their success going when they get into regional play.

I have been an admirer of Sylvester Croom since his playing days as a star center on some of Coach Bryant’s great Alabama teams. In my opinion he has done a masterful job coaching at Mississippi State.

However, in my humble opinion, his decision to go for a first down in Saturday’s game with Auburn cost his team any chance for victory. Trailing only 3 -2, State tried to gain a first down at midfield. They had about 14 yards to gain, and had not converted a single third or fourth down the entire game.

The Bulldog defense had kept the team in the game, and State’s only points came from the defense, set up by their punter. The only opportunity State had to win the game was to pin Auburn deep and work for another turnover. Coach Croom said he did not think they would get the ball back, but when they did, the offense gave it right back to Auburn.

Common sense has always played a big part in officiating, whatever the game. I witnessed an incident last Friday night when a veteran official failed to exercise that common sense, which is the same as judgement.

A team was trailing the opponent by over 40 points, with the game in its final minute or so. Both coaches were emptying their benches, With many kids seeing their first action, the referee chose that time to penalize the losing team for an illegal substitution. Though he might have been technically correct, ‘flag in pocket’ would have been a far better choice.

Two weeks ago Tennessee lost a close, overtime game to UCLA. The television announcers were absolutely jubilant that the big market team won over a Southern team. They chortled about the resurgence of UCLA as a challenge to Southern Cal.

What happened next? BYU 59, UCLA 0; Southern Cal 35, Ohio State 3. Ohio State seems to fold in the big game, don’t they? In the last two National Championship games SEC teams have handled the Buckeyes easily. If Ohio State makes it back to the National Championship game, it will be a horrible miscarriage of justice.

And, That’s Official.

Al Graning writes a weekly column for The Democrat.