NATCHEZ — At halftime of the 1981 Mississippi state high school football championship game, the No. 1 team in the state sat in the locker room facing the first halftime deficit it had faced all season.

It was the first state championship game played in Mississippi, and South Natchez-Adams High School was 13-0 and the defending champions. They were ranked preseason No. 1 in the state by the sports writers of Mississippi and had stayed number one the entire season.

Now, however, they found themselves down 6-0 to Starkville in Jackson in the biggest game of the season.

Head coach Ed Reed and his staff had not said anything to the players when a few of the senior captains — Flinn James, Bubba Griffey and Dean Brown — went up to Reed and told him they were not going to let Starkville control the game anymore.

“There was nothing said by the coaches at the time,” Reed said. “The youngsters walked up to me and said, ‘Coach Reed, don’t worry, when we leave here tonight, we’re going to leave with the gold.’”

The Colonels took the kickoff to open the second half and scored to take the lead. They would tack on a couple more scores to win 21-6 and take home the first Mississippi High School Athletic Association Class 2A state championship.

“That was a fine group of youngsters there. I couldn’t speak highly enough of that group. (They were) a once in a million group of youngsters,” Reed said.

The South Natchez teams of 1980 and 1981 both won championships and finished the season ranked no. 1 in the state. The 1980 squad won the Big 8 Championship, a conference that featured the eight largest schools in the state. The 1981 team ran the table as the top team and took home a title.

Although Reed said talent and character were the reasons his South Natchez teams did so well, his players and coaches said he was the main reason for their success.

“Coach Reed was just a special guy,” Griffey, a tailback on the ’80 and ’81 teams, said. “He was just such a motivator, and he knew the game, especially with high school kids. He kind of let you do your thing, but he also guided you the whole way. He was just a super, super coach and a great man.”

Reed was also an innovator. He ran the Notre Dame Box offense, which today would look like the Wildcat offense that college teams run. It was the offense that Reed ran in his playing days at Booneville High School, but by the late ’70s and early ’80s many coaches thought that offense was out-of-date.

“We ran a single wing, but if you look at it, it looks like the spread that you (see) ran today,” Glynn Long, a tight end on the South Natchez squad, said. “We hardly ever got under center. It was a very old offense, but if you look at football today (you see it run a lot). Maybe (Reed) was ahead of his time.”

Reed’s 280-80-3 coaching record in 36 years comes with a laundry list of other accomplishments. He was Big 8 coach of the year two times, Mississippi state coach of the year in ’81 and the Mississippi Association of Coaches coach of the year in ’67, ’80 and ’81. In 1983, Reed was inducted into the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame.

Reed also saw success in Tuscaloosa, Ala., after he left South Natchez. In Alabama, he was coach of the year in ‘82, ‘86 and ‘91. He advanced to the state title game with Central High School in Tuscaloosa in 1991. In 2007 he was inducted into the Delta State University Coaches’ Hall of Fame.

“I cannot say enough about how much I enjoyed my stay in Natchez and Tuscaloosa,” Reed said. “The good Lord directed me to two fine schools and two fine towns.”

Reed attended Booneville High School, where he played football, baseball and basketball. His success there led him to Delta State University, where he played football and baseball. His first coaching job came in 1952 for West Point City Schools. After stops at four more schools, Reed ended up in Natchez in 1969 and coached 13 successful years for the Colonels. He also served as principal for four of those years. He then coached at Central High School for 10 years before retiring after the 1991 runners-up season.

Reed now lives back in Booneville with his wife, Gloria, but he has great affection for the city of Natchez, he said.

“Natchez has always had a real spot in my heart, I love Natchez,” Reed said. “We have said several different times that we’ve thought about going back and actually thought about retiring and going to Natchez, but things just didn’t work out, and we just didn’t make it. Natchez has always been a real love for me, my wife and family.”

Reed finished his career at Natchez with four Central Big 8 Championships, one Big 8 overall championship and the ’81 state title. The 1980 and 1981 titles are the only ones in Natchez High history.