At most smaller schools, success within athletic programs usually comes in waves.

For some odd reason, talent seems to always come in cycles, with some good years followed by a few years of rebuilding.

Here in Limestone County, a few local football programs have been in the rebuilding cycle for a few years, but it appears the cycle is starting to turn.

The odd thing about the cycle starting to shift to the positive side is that it’s not just happening in one place. In fact, it looks as if four local programs have a chance to make the turn and shift from rebuilding to competing.

Last year Elkmont and Clements took their first steps toward becoming competitive programs, and both programs did it in similar fashion – behind the leadership of juniors and seniors.

While Clements and Elkmont were making the jump, West Limestone and Ardmore suffered two of the worst seasons in their programs’ history.

But while both West Limestone and Ardmore where taking their licks last year, they were doing it with younger players.

This year those younger players are a year older, and becoming juniors and seniors.

If you take a close look at both Ardmore and West Limestone’s rosters you will notice a similarity – the key players on both teams are all juniors.

These juniors have been working hard during the off-season under the guidance of coaches who are devoted to their programs – both Jeff Prince and Tracy Malone give their players every moment of spare time they have – and getting stronger.

And don’t think for one minute that any of those kids have forgotten about last year.

When you’ve been on the losing end of things it makes you a different person. Once you’ve been through that kind of embarrassment, the first thing you do is start working to ensure it doesn’t happen again, and that’s what the players at both of these programs have been doing.

On the other end, the juniors at Elkmont and Clements who started to find success last year got a taste of what it’s like to be on the winning side, and now that they are seniors, they don’t plan on going back.

One bright spot for all four programs is that it doesn’t look like the talent cycle is going to last only one year. All four programs have very large freshman and sophomore classes, with several of these players getting valuable playing time this year.

With the help of some of the best head coaches around, it looks as if some local programs who have been down for a while have finally got back on track.

With the cycle of success starting to shift back in favor of the county schools, it could create some interesting games this season, with lots of surprises and upsets all season long.