There is a saying amongst Facebook users that if you are not friends with someone on Facebook — then lets face it — you are probably not friends with them in everyday, real-life.

With that said, The Selma Times-Journal has close to 1,000 new friends in real life based on the recent participation from the community in an online vote to determine the football player who would appear on the cover of Gridiron magazine this year. One football start from each local high school football team — from public and private schools — came to the STJ for portraits, which were placed, on mock covers of our annual Gridiron magazine. The portraits featured young high school boys posing with their fiercest game faces of intimidation and modeling their uniforms — sweat and dirt included.

Those photos were posted on Facebook and the results had members of the community and those in the newsroom glued to the pictures as the number of “likes” ticked upwards.

It is never fun to host contests if no one will participate — but the amount of votes, likes and positive comments posted shows the level of enthusiasm and positivity among individuals in the community. The community is one of unity shown in this contest, despite this being a competition of school rivalries. Dallas County’s Xavier Knight won the competition with overwhelming support from those in Dallas County and Valley Grande with1,398 votes. More than 4,219 votes were cast in the Facebook face-off overall.

We would like to thank the community for their support, their enthusiasm and interest in local high school sports.

Our football players should be treated and cheered on as the stars they truly are both on and off the field.