In a time when folks are carrying out traditions of baking cookies, singing carols, trimming the tree and spending time with loved ones, southwest Michigan has one more reason to celebrate this holiday season.

When the Edwardsburg Eddies took home the state football championship just after Thanksgiving, people all over the region — not just in Edwardsburg — watched from their living rooms as the Eddies won the game.

As Edwardsburg fans know, the journey to the state championship was a long-fought battle — one that lasted much longer than one football season. For years, the Eddies have pushed hard to reach Ford Field, taking home district and regional championships multiple times, but not quite making it to the title game.

I will admit I am not the most well-versed football fanatic (I’m a literal fair-weather sports fan, as in I like sports I can enjoy in the warmth of a gymnasium), but even I could tell that when the Eddies took the field at the state semifinals, this year was the year they would make it, and I think most who were paying attention to high school football this year felt the same buzz.

As a lifelong Brandywine Bobcat who grew up on the opposite side of the field as the Eddies, I found it heartwarming to see how many southwest Michiganders were in these athletes’ corner that Friday night.

The last time one of the schools in our coverage area took home the state championship was the year I was born. Twenty-eight years ago, Dowagiac took home the title, and all this time later sports fans still revel in the memory. And they should!

Edwardsburg’s state championship is one southwest Michigan will celebrate for decades to come. To help document the occasion, Leader Publications is producing a commemorative magazine highlighting each game of the season, the players and coaches who fought hard to win, and the community that rallied behind them.

Just in time for Christmas, sports fans will have the opportunity to obtain a collector’s magazine full of photos, statistics, interviews with players, coaches, and community members, and more.

Our sports and news teams are hard at work collecting information, perusing photos and taking new ones, all of which will be included in the commemorative magazine, which publishes Thursday, Dec. 20.

We hope this keepsake is one that helps the Edwardsburg Public Schools community commemorate the occasion for years to come.

Twenty years from now, when these players are huddled around the fire reminiscing about the good old days with their families as they celebrate the holidays, they will be able to pull out this magazine and show their loved ones what it felt like to be a state champion.