Without question, a state championship, in any sport…is special. Most players never get close to being in a state championship game or match, much less win one. Being in the state title game is something that can never be taken for granted. It is truly special. Reaching the pinnacle of high school sports at the championship level is the nexus of talent, experience, tradition, hard work, sacrifice, and yes, sometimes the ball has to bounce your way. In the rare times in an athlete’s career that all of this may come together, and often it does not, the result is a truly magical moment that cannot be artificially created in the movies or on television. And so it is for the players and coaches for the Charleston Tigers and the Booneville Bearcats.
At press time for this story, Charleston and Booneville were making final preparations for their historic date in Little Rock where they will play for the Class 3A state football championship at War Memorial Stadium. And for one Charleston family, the third generation of high school football players in their family will be on the turf Saturday playing for a state title. The Merechka family, who have played in two previous state title games, will be cheering for Charleston’s Reese Merechka who will be playing in the third state title game in his family’s history.
Reese is a junior football player at Charleston who plays offense, defense, and special teams for the Tigers. In other words, he rarely comes out of a game. In 3A football, playing at least two ways (offense and defense) is very common place across the state. It has always amazed me at the players’ conditioning and their ability to play all night with very little rest and be as effective as they are.
Earlier in the week, RNN Sports had the pleasure of sitting down with Reese’s grandparents, Lynn and Mary Merechka. Lynn played for the Van Buren Pointers in the 1974 state title game vs. Magnolia. Later that school year, Merechka was named to the state All-Star game in the summer of 1975.
I had the pleasure of recording approximately 90 minutes of an interview with the Merechkas at a local restaurant in Charleston, and I greatly enjoyed my visit with both Lynn and his wonderful wife, Mary. They were both beaming about their grandson Reese having the opportunity to play on Saturday, and in the words of his son, Matt, who also played in a state championship game for Van Buren, Lynn “has not been this excited in a long time.”
Lynn began by saying, “I played for Van Buren in the state title game against Magnolia in 1974. And then, Matt, played in the state championship against Fort Smith Northside in 1996. And now, we have Reese. So, we have three generations (who have or will play in a state championship football game). But Ransom, his team last year (played for Charleston), they got beat in the first round ( a loss to Centerpoint in the second round of the state playoffs after having received a bye in the first round.)
I asked Lynn what is has been like watching Reese play this year. He responded by saying, “It has been great. I don’t see how he plays the whole game with the intensity that he does. With me playing ball and coaching Little League, I coached Matt and I coached Reese, also. They kind of learned my kind of ball. You know how Rison controlled the ball? That was my idea. I was thinking that was no different than what I used to do. I know Reese didn’t get his athletic ability from my side. He had to have gotten it from Brandy (Reese’s mother). I have seen him do some things on the field and I was like where did he learn that from? I saw him laying flat on his back once after a play was over, and all of the sudden he just jump up right to his feet. I wondered, how did he do that?”
The competitive spirit and the way the game should be played is something that Lynn instilled in his son Matt as a young player, and now Matt has passed it along to Reese. Mr. Merechka continued by saying, “What I instilled in Matt and he instilled it in Reese and Ransom is play the game like it is your last game. We used to have a championship game between Alma and Van Buren every year. We would come around to who got to go to Alma to play in this game. We were tied for first place with another team, so, we had to play Friday night. While we were waiting to play, one of my best players showed up and he wasn’t dressed. I asked him why he wasn’t dressed, and he said “Well, I have some bad news Coach. I can’t play. Doctor says that I have diabetes and can’t play. Can I talk to the team?” I said, “sure”, so he goes over to the team and talks to them. And I could tell the team was pumped up. We later went out and beat that team like 40-0. Before, it had been a 7-7 game in the past. So, we won the game, and I went home, and it was getting late, and I asked a player what had been said to him to get them so pumped up. The player said, “He told us that he couldn’t play anymore, and he started crying. We all got a little choked up about it, and then he told us to play like it would be their last game.” That was at about 9 p.m. that evening, and “I said, you just need to go to bed because we have to play early in the morning. So, he went to bed, and about midnight, he woke up and the house was on fire. He died in the fire.” This was in 1992, and a wife and two children were lost in the fire.
Since that time, as he continued, “That is what we always said from that time on was, “Play like it is your last game.” So, the saying by the Merechkas, “Play like it is your last”, is more than a saying. It is a belief and a motivational philosophy that is based on reality and human tragedy. It is also a legacy piece of the player and his family who died tragically, and on Saturday night, that legacy will be in play again when Reese takes the field. Thirty years later, Reese and the Tigers will play like it is their last time to have the privilege to take the field for their school and community, and the legacy will live on.
Lynn, “instilled this into Matt (his son) and it went from him to his sons. And my youngest son, Maverick, he has two kids and they are ball players, too. And that is what he (Maverick) is instilling in his children, too. It’s a real deal; it is much more than a saying or a cliche. Maybe that is why we have always won over all of these years. I would like to think that my teams have passed down all of these great athletes, and I think it is just because they were taught the right things; not to quit. I think Reese is a 4.00 point student, as well.”
Lynn has great respect for the Tigers’ coach, Ricky May. Talking about last week’s semifinal win at Rison, Merechka talked about Charleston having a 27-0 lead late in the game. The Tigers were in scoring position late with less than a minute to go in the game, and could have scored to make it a 33 or 34 -0 win. But Coach May elected to call a conservative play that was intended to run the clock out. Lynn said, “He could have easily scored to run the score up, but he didn’t. He had the game won, and he didn’t run the score up.” That is, in my opinion, what the Charleston program under Ricky May is all about: win the game, that is the objective…nothing else.”
Saturday’s state championship match-up has all of the trademarks of a high school classic. It could be one that people will talk about for years. In fact, of all of the classifications, the 3A championship with Booneville and Charleston may be the best game. We will see.
But one thing is for sure….the chance to play in a state championship game is truly special, and RNN Sports congratulates all of the players and coaches from all schools across every classification who has earned the right to play for the state championship. One day, we may be writing a story on you, perhaps twenty or more years later, reflecting back on this special moment. Enjoy it, and soak in every second of it. You have earned that right.
Good luck, and RNN Sports will see you there!
