Saraland coach Jeff Kelly and his players celebrate in the final seconds of the Spartans’ 38-17 win over Mountain Brook to win the 2022 Class 6A state title at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. (Call News file photo)
A year later, Kelly and his players react to a 31-28 loss to Clay-Chalkville in the Class 6A state championship game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Kelly said it took a couple of months for him to recover from the defeat. (Call News file photo)
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“The end of the season felt like a letdown and it shouldn’t have been. It’s so hard to get there. We didn’t enjoy and appreciate the work everybody had done and I don’t want to do that anymore.”
Saraland coach Jeff Kelly
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SARALAND — Jeff Kelly doesn’t want anyone in Saraland’s football program, especially not the boss, to unwrap victories and then discard them the way Christmas ribbons are tossed aside while reaching for the next gift.
And that is one colossal regret Kelly has had during the last four years, which is saying something for a coach and a team that has lost only eight games in those 1,461 days and came within a yard of marshalling two Blue Maps next to each other.
It’s not about wanting more wins, which have been abundant, nor a loss, not even the excruciating defeat to Clay-Chalkville in last year’s state championship game.
Instead, it pained Kelly to realize that he, his coaches and players had not taken enough time to delight in ascending to the pinnacle of Class 6A football because of the all-consuming effort required to make it happen, something he has vowed to change heading into his 21st season as a head coach.
“Many times, the wins are followed by relief instead of appreciation and joy,” Kelly said. “The constant expectation of success and perfection can be both good and bad.”
The Spartans have the best record (49-8) among all Class 6A teams in the last four years and will be favored to reach their third straight Super 7 this season, which has never been done in that classification. In fact, it’s been done only five other times in state history.
“The kind of success we’ve had around here, it’s easy to take it for granted as a coach,” said Kelly, whose team won the 2022 state championship and lost last year’s classic final against the Cougars by a yard on the final play. “I haven’t had the time the last four or five years to enjoy it or appreciate it like I should because you’re so caught up in the next game, the next game, the next game, to always perform to that certain level. We have not been able to enjoy the great successes we’ve had.”
Many other teams would gladly trade places with Saraland but that’s not the point. When you have Ryan Williams — the best high school player to ever pull on a helmet in this state — plus K.J. Lacey, Santae McWilliams, C.D. Gill, Dillon Alfred, Antonio Coleman, Jameson Curtis, Trevon McAlpine and Jarel Williams, among others, it’s easy to take the triumphs for granted, to flip on a light switch instead of marveling at how such a thing was made possible. It is easier still for many of those who buy tickets to expect flawless obliteration.
Even when it happened — and it occurred a lot last year, when the Spartans scored 70 points twice and nailed up 54, 66, 59, 56, 54 and 51 points six other times with the starters playing barely more than a half — the floggings were treated as routine, compelling then-superintendent Aaron Milner to publicly chide those who sat on their hands and yawned their way through them.
“We don’t need spectators, we need fans,” Milner said.
After the 31-28 loss to Clay-Chalkville, it took Kelly a long time to put the melancholy feelings in a box, leading to a long winter of introspection. Had he — in a different, inadvertent way — brushed too quickly over all that had been achieved?
The loss to the Cougars — when Lacey got stopped at the 1-yard line as time slipped away — couldn’t be tossed in the back of a cluttered closet and forgotten. Kelly even found it easier to accept getting booed out of 100,000-seat stadiums when he was Southern Miss’ quarterback.
“To be honest, when you have a loss, I’m ready to flush it pretty quick,” Kelly said. “But I’d be lying if I said I did that after that game. It took a month or two for me to get to a good spot. We had such a great group of kids who had been perfect up to that point. I love my players and I want to put them in the best position to win. That’s what I worked to do that night. If we get another yard, we’re back-to-back. It was tough for everybody. Nobody puts more into a game than our coaches and players. Those were two amazing teams people will remember for a long time.”
Kelly may long be remembered as much for that loss as he will be for all the victories and championships — those already in the trophy case and those to come.
“When you choose to do what you do, you’ve got to be ready to live your life with extreme highs and also some challenging and tough lows,” he said. “I’ve been in those kind of games my whole life and I haven’t had very many losses. I’ll put our kids and coaches up against anyone around.”
After some reflection — “My seat can be a lonely seat,” he said — Kelly pondered all he has to be grateful for.
“Getting back here in the offseason has a way of getting you back to where you want to be,” he said.
Saraland is again capable of winning the Blue Map, something that has become as accepted as the turning of the leaves in the autumn. But Kelly is more intent on rejoicing in each step of the long climb, in jumping into the pile of leaves and bounding about.
“We’re 28-2 the last two years,” he said. “We’re 14-1 and won a championship and we’re 14-1 and runner-up by a yard. Some people don’t win 14 games their whole high school career. We scored 700 points last year. It was an historic year. But the end of the season felt like a letdown and it shouldn’t have been. It’s so hard to get there. We didn’t enjoy and appreciate the work everybody had done and I don’t want to do that anymore. I want to enjoy the journey.”
This is a juncture many veteran coaches reach when they’re sitting atop a stack of victories and beginning to wonder how good is good enough.
“I’m closer to the end of my coaching days now than the beginning,” Kelly said — but the coach who will celebrate his 45th birthday two weeks into the coming season is recharging, not retiring.
“I’ve had more fun coaching this group of guys and coaches than any group before,” Kelly said before firing a warning shot across the bow, lest anyone think he has lost his intensity or desire to win football games.
“I don’t want our players to get comfortable,” he said. “I don’t want our coaches to get comfortable. And I sure don’t want the other team to get comfortable.”
congratulations to Coach Kelly football team was a great team. I was at Auburn Jamison Curtis was the star of that game. was a wonderful game. I enjoyed every minute.