Washington, Northside and Southside high schools’ athletic programs join Columbia, Mattamuskeet, Ocracoke, Plymouth, Pamlico County and a 127 other NCHSAA schools being recognized as ejection-free for the 2013-14 academic school year.

All honorable intuitions were recognized at the NCHSAA’s regional meetings across the state this week — 31.8 percent of the member schools, according a press release by the NCHSAA.

Most impressively, Southside and Ocracoke are the only schools to notch 10-consecutive ejection-free years. That means, for 10 of the 14 years the Seahawks’ athletic program has been in existence, all 10 sports teams and their coaches have avoided unsportsmanlike acts such as fighting, taunting, profanity, obscene gestures and disrespecting officials, setting an excellent and righteous precedent for years to come.

Not one athlete in 32 athletic seasons over 14 years has laid a hand on or lifted a middle finger towards an opposing team or official.

For head football coach Jeff Carrow, who prides himself on preparing his student-athletes for the real world, there’s likely no bigger honor. And it’s not just Carrow, but volleyball coach Rosalyn Grimes, soccer and softball coach John Lohman, girls basketball coach Bill Lake, boys basketball coach, athletic director Sean White and the rest of the Southside coaches all deserve their very own standing ovation.

Heat-of-the-moment passion drives high-school sports, and in this area, where professional sports teams are limited, coaches are known for their intensity. Sometimes, it can be hard to contain emotion.

But last season, all three Beaufort County public schools notched clean sheets with regard to sportsmanship. And in the end, that’s arguably more important than the win column.