I'm tired of hearing from people who want to discredit athletes for their accomplishments by making comments designed to diminish their tremendous feats.

How many times has someone said that Westville's Caleb Pratt would never have set the state rushing record had he played at a larger school?

Of course, we'll never know because that opportunity wasn't available to him. Here's what we do know.

High school football in Illinois has gone on for more than 100 years. How many thousands of athletes have played at schools the size of Westville -- or even smaller -- and been unable to match Pratt's achievements?

If we buy into the argument that Pratt gained so many yards (finishing with 8,477) by playing at a Class 2A school, why haven't the thousands of other backs who've played at 2A schools not recorded such impressive numbers? Could it be because he is a special player?

The fact is, Pratt is one of those backs you may see only once in a lifetime at the high school level, at least around Central Illinois. My guess is that his records will outlive me.

He should be commended for his performance over the past four years, not subjected to criticism because he didn't play at a 7A or 8A school. He did what he could against the competition he faced.

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