Drew Kerekes

With this being my final column of 2019, I decided to take the time to look back on some sports stories that stood out to me from this past year. 

In the past, I’ve mostly highlighted area teams that had much success, up to and including state championship runs. This set of editor’s picks will be a little different, as I’m highlighting individual stories for more unique reasons.

•Sarah Pasha helping hand — It’s easy to highlight star players, and they’re certainly worth highlighting. Lamar alumna Sarah Pasha, though, is someone I chose to feature for a different reason. A May 2019 graduate, Pasha was a member of the Lady Raiders basketball team during the 2018-19 school year, and I first noticed her getting water for her teammates during a timeout, a task that is typically reserved for younger members of the team. 

I simply assumed Pasha was an underclassmen until I saw her senior poster hanging on the wall in that same game. “Why isn’t she making one of the younger girls do that?” I wondered, and I later asked then-head coach Josh Sherer about her.

Sherer told me about Pasha’s servant heart, and how despite not being a starter and only coming into games when the contest has been decided, Pasha would do whatever it took to help her team, whether it’s get water for the starters during a time out or go hard against them in practice. 

“I think it shows high character and good leadership, where she’s understanding the needs of those around her and doing what she can to meet them,” Sherer said to me when I followed up and did a feature story on Pasha. It didn’t matter what her role was, Pasha seemed genuinely happy to help her teammates. After it was published, several people remarked to me that Pasha set a good example for other student-athletes, and I agree, which is why I enjoyed doing the story so much.

•Meridian boys basketball vs. Biloxi — Back in February, our former sports reporter, Elton Hayes, and our staff photographer, Paula Merritt, pitched the idea of sending them to Biloxi to cover the Wildcats’ Class 6A state quarterfinal game against Biloxi. While it wasn’t a Final Four matchup at the Mississippi Coliseum, it was a big game, and the two made their way to the coast to see if Meridian could make it back to the Big House.

It was a good call on their part, as this one game became an instant favorite after reading about what happened. Wildcat Kyler Yarbrough texted head coach Ron Norman the night before and told Norman he planned to win his coach the game. Meridian led 36-33 going into the final period, and Yarbrough scored his team’s final four points — and scored nine of his 12 points — in the fourth quarter to give Meridian a 55-51 win and punch its ticket to Jackson.

It wasn’t just the fact that Biloxi entered the game with one loss, it’s that one of its 30 wins came against Meridian in the regular season, as the Wildcats fell 52-34 in its season opener to the Indians. I wasn’t at the game, but Paula’s photos captured perfectly the two biggest postgame moments: Yarbrough embracing his coach after the win, and Norman subsequently sitting down on the bench and using his tie to wipe away the tears and sweat after such an emotional win.

“I can’t be more proud of these kids,” Norman told Elton after the game. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m so proud of those guys coming in here and getting a win. (Biloxi) was ranked No. 1 in the state… I’m just proud of my kids. All credit to my kids. They battled, they believed in the game plan.”

Meridian would go on to make the state title game before falling to Starkville in the championship, 61-46. Still, based on the story Elton wrote and the way it was described to me, this game had a state championship feel, and Yarbrough following through on his called shot made it all the more magical.

•Safety questions after jockey’s death — the sports department runs hard news stories far less than our counterparts in the news department, but every so often something in the athletic arena requires a closer look. The story our sports reporter Matt Case did as a follow-up to jockey Kerry “Joe” Jernigan’s tragic death is one I wish we didn’t have to pursue, but it was excellent work by Matt to raise some important questions.

In early August, Jernigan was tossed from his horse during a race at the Neshoba County Fair. Rain had fallen on the track before the race, and video of the accident showed the horse’s feet slipping out from under it. Jernigan suffered multiple injuries and was later airlifted to University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson before dying six days later.

With the rain having fallen on the track, should the jockeys have been allowed to mount their horses and race? Was Jernigan’s accident a freak occurrence, or could it have been prevented with better oversight? How safe is the fair’s course for quarter horses, which Jernigan rode, since its design is more geared toward buggy racing? These are just a few questions the raised in the article, and given that a man lost his life, they were questions that needed asking.

•East Mississippi dominates fast-pitch scene — This isn’t highlighting one particular story, but rather, a series of stories we did in May when covering the MHSAA fast-pitch championship rounds. Our coverage area had five teams make it to the state finals: Philadelphia and Enterprise in Class 2A, Choctaw Central in Class 3A, Newton County in Class 4A and Neshoba Central in Class 5A.

I had the pleasure of covering Choctaw Central vs. South Pontotoc in the Class 3A series, as well as Neshoba Central in the Class 5A series. The Lady Warriors took South Pontotoc to three games before falling 3-1 in the rubber match of the 3A title series, while Neshoba Central swept Wayne County to win their seventh-straight title in fast-pitch.

Newton County, meanwhile, swept Tishomingo County to win its first fast-pitch championship since 2015 and its 10th in program history. Enterprise and Philadelphia played an intense series of games, with the Lady Bulldogs winning Game 1 and the Lady Tornadoes taking Game 2 and 3 to capture the 2A championship.

I’ve always been impressed with the level of softball in East Mississippi, and having five local teams make it to state this past spring further cemented those feelings. There are six classes in the MHSAA, and East Mississippi took home three of those championships. The Class 2A series featured two teams from our area, and Choctaw Central was just a bounce here or there from making it four out of six. 

I’m sure there are others I’m forgetting, but these stories are the ones that stayed with me when I looked back on 2019. We at the Star hope y’all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and here’s to hoping 2020 is another year full of interesting things to highlight. 

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