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Scott City nostalgia running wild with No. 34 Jimmy May
It was 31 years ago, 1988, when Jim May helped the Scott City Rams reach the state football playoffs.
The running back/linebacker wore the No. 34.
Ronald Reagan was president and Donald Trump was a businessman.
Fast-forward to 2019, and a lot has changed -- smartphones, electric cars, social media and President Trump.
Oh, and it's coach Jim May, now in his 11th season at his alma mater, where he has led the Rams to a 9-1 record this season.
Scott City's Jimmy May (34) eludes defenders on his way to the endzone for the night's opening touchdown during a game against the St. Vincent Indians Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, at Scott City High School in Scott City.
But amid the sweeping changes, there is still a Scott City running back by the name of Jimmy May who wears No. 34.
It's Coach May's son, now a senior, one of 17 on the team who are looking to lead the Rams to their first district title since 1999 -- the first in their lifetimes.
The Rams, the top-seeded team in Class 2 District 1, hope to stay on course tonight when they host No. 4 seed New Madrid County Central in the district semifinals at 7 p.m.
"I want our football team and all of our names to be remembered at this school when we leave," Jimmy May said. "I want to accomplish something no one else has when we leave this school."
That may be code for playing for a state football title, something the Rams have never done despite a history dotted with winning seasons.
But a winning record was something eluding Coach May over his first nine seasons at the helm, and which finally was achieved when the current crop of seniors helped post an 8-3 record last season.
The Ram family
Coach May can be an intimidating figure to some with his burly stature and flat-top hair, but he can quickly disarm with a wide grin and warm manner. He's big on building bonds with his players and making sure they have a memorable experience in his program.
He annually takes his senior-to-be on a two-night camping trip to his aunt and uncle's farm on the Huzzah River, as well as other activities.
"We talk a lot of leadership, we talk about goals, but most of all we just have fun, and just try to enjoy it, because high school football is fleeting," May said of the annual trip. "You can always go play rec league basketball when you're older or go play slow-pitch softball, but there's not a whole lot of football leagues where you can go and put on pads and play football anymore. I want them to remember this fondly. And what I tell them is, 'Whenever you're 40, I want you to look back on it. I know football is a hard game, but I want you to look back and go, 'Man, we had a lot of fun.'"
With such a way, he's adopted many sons over the years.
But having his own son, who has been around his teams for years including serving as a ball boy and water boy, has helped build a unique relationship with the current group of seniors.
They've been a special group to him, and not for weathering a 3-8 season as sophomores to later earn the program's first winning season since 2007.
"This group is a little more (special) probably, just because some of these guys have been spending the night at my house for years," Coach May said. "Even though I always have a great relationship with all the kids I coach, I've been to summer baseball games with these guys because we've all been on the same team. We've been through a lot together, their parents and the kids. I've watched them grow up instead of just being their coach in high school. I've seen them since they've been little. It's kind of bittersweet."
The senior group includes all-time school record holders in quarterback Spencer Stratman (passing yardage) and receiver Joe Panagos (receiving).
Top of the list
And then there's Jimmy May, who has made a four-year climb to the top of the school's career scoring list with 251 points and counting.
The 5-foot-5, 150-pound May surpassed a more hulking figure in former standout Braden Cox, who had 214 career points, in a Week 9 win against Doniphan.
May began chipping away at the record one point at a time as a freshman, serving as the team's kicker during Cox's final season. A soccer player throughout his youth, he has become a weapon on special teams, making good on 57 of 59 PATs this season and sending 36 kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.
As far as running the ball, he started getting carries as a sophomore despite being 5-3 and 130 pounds.
Through work in the weight room he's added weight, strength and speed. He's benched 245 pounds, squatted 355 and power-cleaned 225. He's grown only two inches taller since his sophomore season, but has learned to work to his strengths. Coach May said he was a big back with speed during his own playing days, but lacked the shiftiness and eyes of his son.
"He's strong for his size, and his real gift is his vision because he can see and make cuts and feel his way through traffic, which makes him hard to defend because he's hard to find in traffic," Coach May said. "He can get lost behind that big offensive line, and he can see his way through it really well, and then he has the explosiveness and the speed to outrun you."
The Rams also utilize his speed on defense, where he lines up at safety. He prefers shutting down opponents even more than scoring six touchdowns in a game, which he did this year against Portageville and Kelly.
"A perfect game for me is when we come out and do what we're supposed to do," Jimmy May said. "We've held a team to zero points a couple times, and that's the perfect game for me. It doesn't matter who scores, or whatever, as long as we are as a team and execute when we need to execute and do right, because it just gets us better for better teams we're going to play."
But his individual numbers are robust.
As a junior, May rushed for 1,431 yards.
During his senior season, May has rushed for 1,462 yards -- 9.4 yards per carry -- and scored 32 touchdowns in a variety of manners despite playing half of a game or slightly more in seven of the Rams' lopsided games. He's rushed for 25 touchdowns, has four receiving, two more on punt returns and one on a kickoff return.
Spreading the wealth
He's thrived in the Rams' spread offense and behind a veteran line.
"We have weapons that make us very difficult to defend, because whatever you try to take away, we have a pretty good alternative," Coach May said.
The Rams try to play a numbers game against defenders, choosing not to block some and forcing others, strategically outnumbered, to make choices that can be confounding. Stratman and Jimmy May will both read the defenders and make split decisions on who carries and where.
Stratman has over 500 yards rushing and scored 13 touchdowns.
"He's done a fantastic job of running our offense, and then Coach (Charlie) Vick(ery) does a really good job of getting us in positions where we can get him matched up in a favorable matchup," Coach May said.
The points have been piling up this season, with the Rams averaging 48.8 per game. Long gone are the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust days; Scott City averaged 19.8 points per game in going 7-3 in Coach May's senior year.
"The game of football is played the length and width of the field now," Coach May said. "It used to be played between the tackles, so you had to have big, bruising backs and you just slammed it into the line, and now the game is played in space. So a smaller guy, if he's quick and shifty, that opens the game up for a guy who probably wouldn't have gotten a chance in the 80s. Everyone was in a T or a Wishbone, something like that. But in a spread offense, where you get guys one on one in space, a guy that is really quick and has great vision is tough to tackle one on one, so that makes [Jimmy] very dangerous."
Father and son
But there are those things that never seem to change.
The coach and player also have to co-exist as father and teen son.
Sometimes its pleasantly spent watching film or football games together.
Other times it can get contentious.
"It has some really good things and it has some really bad things," Coach May said with a hearty laugh about the added complexity of coaching Jimmy. "If something happens at practice, it's always going home. There's not that distance in between. It's hard to separate the two roles."
The current wearer of No. 34 does have some of the same attributes of the former wearer, most notably the stubborn nature of the Scott City mascot.
"We both think that we're right all the time," Jimmy May said of the occasional head-butting.
But he readily acknowledges the benefits.
"If I have questions about anything, he can help me answer anything," Jimmy May said. "We watch film together and we study stuff together all the time, and it just helps me be a better player."
Father is on the same page as his son in that department.
"I'm probably harder on him than I am on other people because, you know, I expect more out of him, I guess, even though I don't. I can talk to him like a dad and not just like a coach.
"But there are a lot of benefits, and I've gotten a lot of enjoyment. It's so much fun to be with him through all of it. Most parents don't get to experience all that."