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Jared Edwards wanted to add another sports athlete on his resume at Keith High School.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced Gov. Kay Ivey to close K-12 schools statewide on March 13, followed with the AHSAA ending spring sports at the same time.

Edwards was a member of Keith’s baseball team whose 2020 season closed after one game due to the coronavirus.

“It’s frustrating, I wanted to play baseball my senior year,” Edwards said. “I thought that they rushed the decision and give us enough time to think about it. I was looking forward to playing baseball.”

Edwards, The Selma Times-Journal football player of the year, also wanted an opportunity to possibly extend his gridiron career beyond high school.

As a senior, Edwards played quarterback and linebacker. At quarterback, Edwards had over 1,700 yards of total offense and 10 touchdowns. He passed for over 1,000 yards and ran for over 700 yards. At outside linebacker, Edwards made 85 total tackles.

“I planned to try out for some college teams,” Edwards said.

Edwards said he enjoyed the everyday grinding of attending school and playing sports at Orrville’s only high school.

“I miss everything, the classroom, playing high school sports,” Edwards said. “I miss football coach Anthony Lumpkin telling us life stories. I hate that school ended so short.”

Edwards, who has a 3.1 GPA, said he plans to attend the University of West Georgia and major in Computer Science.

One of Edwards’ favorite memories at Keith is  joining classmate and friend Arayvion Jones as a player of the year. Jones is The Selma Times-Journal’s basketball player of the year.

“Arayvion and I go back to the fifth grade,” Edwards said. “We supported each other and I’m proud of what we did at Keith High.”

Edwards had a solid athletic career at Keith High and should be proud of his accolades.

Jared Edwards disappointed not to play baseball again at Keith High