Since John Madden is no longer doing Thanksgiving Day games on TV, someone might as well give out a few turkey legs today, and I have decided to step up to the plate.

In what will surely become a yearly favorite, I present to you the inaugural Tim&8217;s Turkey Leg winners.

The criteria for these awards is entirely subjective, and not based on anything more than people or teams I feel deserve some measure of praise for events that have transpired in recent weeks or months.

You often find out a lot about a person when things aren&8217;t going well, and that was certainly the case Friday night during the Cathedral Lady Waves&8217; 13-0 loss to the Vicksburg Missy Gators soccer team. While giving up 13 goals sounds bad, Cathedral goalie Abby Brown put up a monumental effort. In a game in which she received virtually no help from her defenders, she made 15 saves, at least five of which were of the spectacular variety. Without her efforts, the Lady Waves could have easily lost 30-0. Abby is certainly deserving of a turkey leg.

The next turkey leg goes to Alcorn wide receiver/kick returner Nate Hughes. Over the course of this season, Hughes has taken the Braves on his back numerous times by making big returns or key catches when they needed it most, and that was certainly the case Saturday during the Capital City Classic win over Jackson State. Hughes caught two touchdown passes, including the game winner, and returned a punt 71 yards for another score to completely shift the momentum in the third quarter.

My third turkey leg will have to be shared, as it goes to Cathedral head football coach Ken Beesley and the entire Green Wave football team. While their season ended on a sour note, with two straight losses to close things out, the Green Wave put on an inspiring performance all season long, as a team that was short on talent won on heart and quality coaching. While Beesley may have been at it 29 years, he may have done some of his best work this season.

The fourth turkey leg must also be shared, although I&8217;m not sure these two would be too happy about the grouping. Vidalia&8217;s Demack Bates and Ferriday&8217;s Montario Tennessee put on quite the show at running back all season long, each carrying his team on his back at various points during the season. Watching the two go at it during the Trojans-Vikings grudge match was a sight to behold, as each one fought to top the other. Sadly, with both graduating this year, we won&8217;t get to see another match-up of the two great backs.

Lastly, my fifth turkey leg goes to the Trinity Saints and Franklin County Bulldogs. The final remaining Miss-Lou football teams have put on a show all year, with the Saints running roughshod over the competition, while the Bulldogs have eked out six wins by seven points or less. Here&8217;s to hoping we get to see one more week of football, this time in Jackson.

Tim Cottrell is sports editor of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached by phone at 601-445-3632 or by e-mail at

tim.cottrell@natchezdemocrat.com

.