While some local high school football teams are currently navigating their own treacherous path to state titles, one area squad has already wrapped up an undefeated championship season. 

Last Saturday, Jerry Lee’s Northeast Trojans won their second-consecutive Central Mississippi Youth Football League Super Bowl after defeating Southeast Lauderdale 40-14 at Enterprise High School. 

Lee said the formula for his success is quite simple.

“Honestly, at this age group, it’s just about keeping the kids focused and making sure that they’re having fun,” Lee, 40, said. “I think that’s the key to it; just making sure the kids are having a good time and keeping their interest. They have to have fun at practice, and then love the game.”

Lee and his wife, Emily, live in Meridian with their children Braxton, Jake and Kayde. Coaching isn’t new to him, as he’s been involved in teaching football for a decade, but he joined Northeast Lauderdale’s Rookies team two years ago. 

“With my oldest, who is 16 now, I started coaching him when he was 7, and I coached him all the way until he was 12,” Lee explained. “After that, he went to junior high and I waited it out — I didn’t really coach that much after that. When my little one got old enough to play again at 6, I started back and have been doing it ever since.”

In those two years he’s coach the Trojans, Lee’s teams have yet to lose a game. He guided them to a 33-8 victory over Union in last year’s Youth Football Super Bowl. Lee, however, said the team’s success hardly has to do with his influence from the sidelines.

“The kids just love the game. They’re good kids, and everybody wants to play — they don’t want to quit,” Lee said. “I try to get all of them into the games, play and have fun. They love the game. Everybody participates and listens well. I’ve never coached a group of kids like this who love to play.”

Twenty-two players fill Lee’s roster, and home games are played at Northeast Lauderdale High School. Despite his success at the youth football level, Lee said he isn’t too worried about making the jump to the high school coaching ranks any time soon.

“At this point, it’s probably too late,” Lee said with a laugh. “I’d love to, but I have my own business now and stuff like that. I love the kids, I love watching them be successful and watching them grow up. I’ll see some of them later when they get to high school, and they’ll come by and say, ‘Hey, coach, how are you doing?’ I just enjoy watching the kids grow up.”

Lee and the Trojans will begin their quest for a third consecutive youth football Super Bowl championship when the new season begins next September.