MEADVILLE &045; At Franklin County, football isn’t the top priority for the football team.

Head coach Anthony Hart stresses that to his players constantly.

&uot;God, family, football are our priorities in that order,&uot; Hart said.

There’s also another priority: education.

&uot;The coaches always stress education. They know there’s a good chance none of us will play pro ball, so there has to be something to fall back on,&uot; quarterback Jasper O’Quinn said.

Those priorities are an important part of the Franklin County football program, a team that has been very successful. The Bulldogs fell just one game short of playing for a state title this season.

Their success on the field is the reason Hart is The Natchez Democrat All-Metro Coach of the Year and star quarterback O’Quinn is the Player of the Year. Hart coached his team to a 12-2 record and the state semifinal game, where the Bulldogs lost 7-0 to West Lauderdale.

O’Quinn was the quarterback and the emotional leader of the team.

Of course, to talk to Hart or the Franklin County players, they had only8 one goal to start the season &045; a state title.

They fell two games short of that.

&uot;It was a good year, but a lot of the kids are still down because we didn’t make the final game.&uot;

The team may be unhappy their season ended one game short of the final destination, but they have much of which to be proud.

O’Quinn, a senior quarterback for the team, was the centerpiece of one of the area’s most explosive offenses.

But don’t look at his statistics. Though they’re impressive &045; 1,257 rushing yards, 17 rushing touchdowns and five touchdown passes &045; they don’t tell the story.

Instead, look at Franklin County’s record: 12-2. O’Quinn was the engine that made the Bulldog offense move, and move it did, averaging more than 40 points a game during the regular season.

Hart is aware few, if any, of his players will play professional football. For many of them, their careers as players will end on the Franklin County football field. That’s why Hart and the rest of the coaching staff stress education constantly.

For O’Quinn, those messages have sunk home.

The senior quarterback still dreams of playing professional football, but he’s getting ready for life after football, just in case that doesn’t happen.

&uot;I still want to play pro football, but if that doesn’t work out I want to be a sports agent,&uot; O’Quinn said.

O’Quinn said he may major in English or business, two areas that interest him. O’Quinn said he doesn’t always like his classes, but he knows they are crucial to his future.

On the field, O’Quinn is one of the area’s best athletes. He also stars for the Franklin County basketball team and baseball team, leaving precious little time for anything else.

O’Quinn made the football team work, but going into spring practice he wasn’t even slated as the quarterback. That’s because he was so valuable at running back, where he had more than 1,400 rushing yards last year.

&uot;We went to the field the first day not intending to put him at quarterback, but we looked at the team and then we did it,&uot; Hart said. &uot;We just needed the best person there.&uot;

O’Quinn was still the team’s primary runner, though running back DeAndrea Cameron ended up with more rushing yards. But when the Bulldogs needed a big play, it was usually O’Quinn that provided it, like the two-point conversion to send the Bulldogs to overtime against Tylertown in the playoffs and then the touchdown that won that game for Franklin County.

More than that, O’Quinn was the emotional leader of the team. Hart said this team was great because of the team’s chemistry and O’Quinn was certainly a big part of that as the team’s coach on the field.

The future is still uncertain for O’Quinn. He plans to play college football, possibly at Delta State. He won’t play quarterback at the next level and college coaches have discussed playing him at safety, a position he played some at Franklin County.

One look at his office makes it obvious that football is a secondary passion in Hart’s life. First and foremost are his relationships with God, with his wife and his three children. Pictures of the kids have a prominent spot, especially little Betsy, born a year ago. Betsy was a &uot;surprise,&uot; as Hart puts it, but a welcome one.

Hart spends long hours at the fieldhouse, but his family comes first, even when he doesn’t see much of them during the football season.

His oldest son Daniel, 12, is playing junior high football.

&uot;I think he just plays to make me happy,&uot; Hart said.

As for the team’s success on the field, he gives most of the credit to his players and assistant coaches.

&uot;Without the coaching staff we wouldn’t be as good. It’s that simple,&uot; Hart said.

Hart decided to become a football coach when he was in college. At first, he didn’t tell his parents because he was knew they wanted him to do something else, something he would make more money at and have less stress doing.

Hart didn’t let them dissuade him and he’s gone on to have a successful coaching career.

The Bulldogs will lose 10 seniors, including O’Quinn and some other key players. But if there’s one thing you can count on, it’s success from Franklin County. That starts with the team’s fans.

&uot;We have the best fans,&uot; O’Quinn said. &uot;They follow us everywhere.&uot;

Indeed, Franklin County’s fans outnumbered the home crowds when the Bulldogs went on the road to Forest and Tylertown during the playoffs.

It also comes from the support the football team gets from the school. Franklin County recently built a new weight room for the athletic program that more than triples the amount of space of the old one.

A new track is being put in around the stadium and the drainage for the football field is also being redone.

With that kind of support and the great football players Meadville and Bude seem to produce every year, Hart and the Bulldogs should be a fixture in the playoffs in the future.

And look for a guy named Jasper O’Quinn to make a name for himself in the college ranks next season.