In some states across the country, football is a way of life.

Fans have been raised with a die-hard loyalty to a football team and when Friday or Saturday rolls around, that team has all of their focus.

In some of these states, such as Alabama and Oklahoma, where football is king, communities are showing that there is still room to love a second sport: basketball.

Just this month people from across Alabama packed BJCC’s Legacy Arena. This gathering was not for a football sponsored event however; it was for the AHSAA  state basketball tournament.

Communities rallied around their local team, leading to record attendance. These fans witnessed drama in the form of game-winning shots and overtime-forcing-free throws. They cheered for victory and endured the pain of defeat.

This excitement proves that while these communities love football, basketball still has the ability to generate community support centered on the shared values of team work, hard work and school spirit.

The same is true in Oklahoma, a state long renowned for its love of the gridiron.

Frontier High School (Tulsa, Okla.) doesn’t field a football team, but the community rallies around its basketball program, which has won nine state championships between the men’s and women’s teams.

Pep rallies that feature every student in the surrounding district and almost every citizen traveling to state playoff games are just a few ways the community shows it support, a support that senior guard Kristan Molina sees as a major difference maker.

“I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else,” Molina said. “I’d rather be here than play anywhere else.”

Perhaps the sports can coexist so well because often, they involve the same players.

A.J. Epenesa, a blue-chip defensive end at Edwardsville (Ill.), has been a fixture on the team’s basketball program for four years.

He’s taken the same approach to the hardwood that has allowed him to thrive on the football field.

"I hope my team continues to stay together and work hard in everything we do, and if we do that, we can be successful in any sport we have here in Edwardsville,” Epenesa said in January.

Now, his school is in the Illinois Class 4A quarterfinals, where it faces off against another school that has enjoyed flourishing basketball and football programs: Simeon.

With March Madness taking place this week, basketball will be at the center of the sports universe. However, no matter the time of year, in high schools around the country, there should always be room to support football, basketball and other team sports that are so vital to communities everywhere.