Tuesday was busy in the office. But in the midst of my hectic schedule, I met some very cool guys from Southwest Georgia who play football for Southern University in Louisiana.
By the way, their team is the Southwestern Atlantic Conference champion, defeating Jackson State 34-27 on Dec. 7.
Freshman punter Paul Soden of Bainbridge and sophomore offensive linemen Anthony Mosley of Cairo stopped by the office to say hello and talk about how it feels to win a conference championship, not to mention the hardware that comes with it.
“It’s crazy to think it’s my first year going to college and I’m getting a ring,” Soden, a former Bearcat, said with a laugh. “I’m so ready to get that ring.”
Soden was all nerves when he first reached Southern. He recalled the first punt he ever kicked in his college career, backed into the end zone with the opponent Houston’s fans screaming and yelling behind him.
“I remember when I caught the snap, I was thinking, ‘What am I doing right now?’” he said. “It wasn’t a good punt, but it rolled for forever.”
The punt ended up being a 53-yarder, Soden’s third longest of the year. His record is a 56-yarder against Alabama State.
The amount of hard work and determination Soden and Mosley put in to get to this point in their careers are immeasurable, I’m sure. But I’m also sure a conference championship is a brilliant reward. Soden and Mosley made that very clear from their ear-to-ear grins as they talked about the rush of emotions when the game clock ticked away its final seconds.
“After the game it was the best feeling of my life,” Soden said. “I was running on the field with my team, giving out hugs and screaming. I was running around trying to find someone to hug and Detrane (Lindsey) was on the ground doing grass angels.” Soden and Mosley laughed at the memory of the 6-foot, 210-pound linebacker rolling around the on ground in glee.
I asked them if they wanted to play at Southern for the rest of college, and their answers were immediate: of course, that’s a no-brainer.
“The love is there,” Mosley said. “We have one of the best fan bases in the HBCU, so our fans have our backs, regardless. We have a nice stadium and the school is decent.”
I send my congratulations to Mosley, who was awarded SWAC second team All-Conference earlier in the month.
And to Soden: keep it up. It’s great to see a former Bearcat getting out there and helping teams win championships. Maybe one day it can be a Super Bowl.