Charleston head football coach Ricky May was named last week to the 2021 Arkansas high school all star west team coaching staff. May, finishing his second year at Charleston as head football coach, led the Tigers to an undefeated conference championship in 3A-1 last fall.
In the 2019 season, May coached a Charleston team that was decimated by injury and lost its first three non-conference games of the season against a very tough Class 4A schedule. He and his staff were able to hold the team together in conference play and qualify for the playoffs. In 2020, May’s team defeated Class 4A Pottsville and proceeded to go undefeated in Class 3A-1 during the COVID season of uncertainty that saw players lose playing time due to contact tracing and illness. The Tigers finished first in their conference and defeated Mayflower in the first round of the state tournament. Charleston was eliminated from the playoffs by losing at home to eventual quarterfinalist Glen Rose. Charleston played with a very young roster in 2020, and the Tigers will return several players from the conference championship team and should be the preseason pick to win the conference again in 2021.
I asked Coach May what being selected to the all-star staff meant to him and the Charleston program. Coach May responded by saying, “It is a great privilege, honor, and blessing to be voted by my peers to be on the all star staff. I feel like this is a staff / community award because it takes all of us pulling together and that’s why we had a good year and won the conference. It’s even more special because we had a player, Dalton Curtis, voted onto the team along with my wife, who coaches cheer at Booneville, was voted on the all star staff, as well.”
Congratulations to coach Ricky May and the Charleston football program. Tigers fans should have a great season in 2021 to look forward to as Charleston will again be in the conversation for yet another championship.
