CARRIERE — Pearl River Central Head Football Coach Eric Collins, speaking to the Pearl River County school board on Monday night, credited the enthusiastic support by Blue Devil fans as one of the major factors for the team’s success in the just-ended 2012 football season.

Collins also told the board that another major factor was the “character of the players.”

Said Collins, “Coaching is a factor, too, but without these two important ingredients you cannot field a winning team.”

Collins, who was invited by Supt. Alan Lumpkin to speak to the board concerning the season, added, “This is the best group of guys I have ever coached.”

On-hand with Collins were team captains Fullback Steven Kubicki, No. 13; running back Desmond Michel, No. 4, and linebacker Adam Peronne, No. 43. All three are seniors.

The Blue Devils for the second year in a row made the South State playoff and were only one game away from playing for the State 5A championship.

PRC ended the season 11-2.

“It was a wonderful season,” said Collins, “and I didn’t realize how close we came. . .we lost two games by a total of eight points. That’s how close it was.”

“The support was community wide and school wide,” he said. He added, “One thing I want to say is that another one of the keys to our success during such a short time is that we took no shortcuts. We did what we had to do.”

Said Kubicki, speaking to the board after Collins, “It’s not just the players and coaches, but it takes the backing of the community and the administration to have a great season like we did. Coach Collins and his staff have taught us to give it 100 percent no matter where you are: in the classroom, in your local church or on the playing field.”

In another matter, the school board adopted a new cafeteria “charging policy” for meals, following a 15-minute discussion, during which Lumpkin told the board that some parents, who are able to pay their student cafeteria charges, weren’t doing so.

He told the board that some had “high balances” and that the payment delinquencies were impacting the cafeteria budget.

One of the alternatives discussed, and later adopted was, as a last resort, filing in small claims court charges against parents, which would only be done as a last resort to collect the delinquent balances.

School board attorney Jim Keith told board members that the new policy would go into effect as soon as they adopted the measure. The vote was 4-0. Board member Michelle Boyd was absent. Lumpkin said parents would be notified of the policy changes.

In other matters, the board:

— Approved the Nov. 5 and Nov. 30 minutes.

— Approved the annual inspection of schools report for inspections held on Nov. 30.

— Approved the Schneider Electric contract to proceed with construction. The vote was 4-0.

— Approved the following resignations: Pamela Hayes, lower elementary school assistant teacher reading instructor, effective Jan. 4; Melissa Kim Anderson, high school career technology department student services coordinator, effective Dec. 21; Megan Kirkland, school bus aide, effective Dec. 7; Creasa Bounds, regular school bus driver, effective Dec. 31, and Laura Keener, middle school teacher, effective Jan. 3.

— Approved the following recommendations: Clayton Foster from a part-time network administrator to a full-time network administrator, effective Nov. 12; Carolyn Beech as a certified teacher to provide homebound services for the 2012-13 school year; Leta Lazarus as cafeteria worker, effective Nov. 26; Miranda Loveless as high school special education teacher, effective Nov. 26; Kristen Lee to move from a part-time position to a full-time position as lower elementary teacher assistant reading tutor, effective Jan. 7; Dawn Smith as part-time reading tutor, funded by Title I, effective Jan. 7; Joy Hartley as regular school bus driver, effective Jan. 7; Mary Nelson as regular school bus aide, effective Dec. 10; Summer Bauer, R.N. as a substitute nurse, effective Dec. 11; and Elizabeth Hadley to provide homebound services for the 2012-13 school year.

— Went into an executive session to discuss six student matters and a personnel matter.

— Adjourned.