The change from Standard Time to Daylight Saving Time marks two for me.

Firstly, springing forward an hour means a week ago this morning, I lost an hour of sleep and had a groggy day all day as my body attempted to adjust to it all of a sudden being 10 a.m. when it’s usually only 9 a.m.

The switch to Daylight Saving Time is always bittersweet for me, because as much as I hate what it does to my sleep schedule in the short-term, I absolutely love having an extra hour of daylight. Several years ago, I was in Alpharetta, Georgia, meeting a friend, and I will never forget the early July evening where the clock said 10 p.m. and it was still ever so slightly daylight outside.

The other thing the time change marked in my life was the end of winter sports and the time of the year where the spring sports get our full attention. Even though spring sports technically began several weeks back, it’s difficult to balance time between the two with a two-person staff and playoff basketball games going on, sometimes on the same days as a baseball or softball game.

In fact, it almost feels like the end of our winter sports period flew by before we even knew it.

While most soccer area soccer teams were done with their season no later than mid-February, the Lamar boys soccer team was sort of in a unique position, schedule-wise, in our coverage area. The only local MAIS school that fields a soccer team, Lamar’s boys don’t begin their season until late November, whereas local public school teams (boys and girls) start their season toward the end of October/early November. This means while most soccer teams are done in the middle of February, Lamar played until the last day of February, thanks to both a later start date to the season and weather that kept postponing playoff games.

If you’ve been following Lamar soccer recently, you know the girls have now won the AAAA, Division II crown each of head coach Leon Powell’s three years heading up the school’s soccer program. Prior to this year, the boys had made the title game twice only to lose in the championship round, and this year’s seniors made it a mission to end that trend.

Davis Thames and Cameron Munn convinced J.D. Lee and Parker Neal to play soccer during their senior year, telling the latter two they planned on winning a state championship. Against Pillow Academy, they did just that, topping the Mustangs 3-1 in Jackson to win the school’s first boys soccer championship since 2013. 

Lamar sports fans didn’t have to travel far if they wanted to see another team representing their school on the state level. The same day the Lamar boys won state, the Lamar girls basketball was also in Jackson for round two of the MAIS’ overall tournament, which pits the tops teams from each classification in a winner-take-all competition over several days. Though the Lady Raiders fell to Jackson Academy 30-21, it capped off a year in which Lamar finished with a 28-5 record and came one win short of a AAAA, Division II state championship. When you consider the team didn’t have one senior on its squad, and you assume they’ll all come back and show improvement next winter, it’s difficult not to get excited for what Josh Sherer’s squad could accomplish during the 2018-19 school year.

Then, of course, there’s MHSAA basketball playoffs, or as I often call it, my favorite part of the job. Covering teams in the postseason, even if it’s the early rounds, means fans are going to show up to support their squad. I covered the Northeast Lauderdale girls, for example, in the playoff opener against East Central, and the school’s crowd was so into the game I couldn’t help but ask the players how much they fed off the energy following their 65-41 win that night.

The farther you make it in the playoffs, the better the competition, obviously — unless you were the Choctaw Central girls basketball team, when the best competition you faced was in a 56-52 overtime win against Starkville (the Class 6A state champions) and a 70-69 loss against Memphis Central for their only defeat of the season. That’s not to say neither of the teams the Lady Warriors faced when they got to the Big House were good teams, but it always seemed like Choctaw Central was just a class above everyone else in 3A as they went on to win their second-consecutive state title.

Finally, sitting courtside for the Meridian boys’ state semifinal and tweeting live updates was definitely a highlight of the year for me. It was my last chance to see the Miles Miller-Tyron Brewer led Wildcats this season, as I wasn’t on-hand for their championship game loss against Columbus, but it was the same treat it always was to see the team’s athleticism in action. Losing a title game is obviously frustrating, and for those players, who won a championship the previous year, getting there will never be enough. Still, if the Meridian program can keep putting out athletes like Brewer and Miller and keep getting to the Mississippi Coliseum, it will come away with a crown plenty of times.

I mentioned before my disdain for the time change’s effect on my sleep schedule. I’m generally not someone who likes to wake up early, but both of my playoff trips to Jackson (one for the Neshoba Central girls’ quarterfinals and one for Choctaw Central and Meridian’s semifinals) required me to get up at 6 a.m. in order to be in Jackson for 9 a.m. tipoffs. Nine times out of 10, I will hate getting up that early, but I loved every second of getting to cover those games, even if it meant inconveniencing my sleep schedule.

I’m ready for spring sports to get our full attention, but I’m definitely sad the winter season is over. If getting up early would allow me to cover one more Big House game, I’d set my alarm for 6 a.m. every time.

Drew Kerekes is the sports editor at The Meridian Star. He can be reached at dkerekes@themeridianstar.com.