A Night to Remember
My family and I were sitting at what we thought was going to be our last football game of the season. Somehow we ended up winning that game and that meant we were going to the championship against Dougherty County. Everyone in the stands was cheering and air-horns were blowing, and I hadn’t realized what had happened at the moment.
The next week at school there was a change in how people acted about how they did their school work. All the football players were trying their hardest in all their classes to make good so that they would have a chance to play in the game. The halls were covered with black and gold ribbons hanging from the ceiling tiles. Large paper banners covered the walls, some saying “Let’s go Trojans”, and “We can do it, bring it home Trojans”.
That day at school I saw the biggest pep rally ever for a football game. The band was wearing their uniforms which were gold and black; their hats were black and had a feather on top. I could barely hear what my friend was telling me because the band was playing so loud. After the pep rally everyone went their ways home to get ready to travel down to Dougherty County High School for the big game.
When I got home my parents had already started to pack up the car to get ready to leave. My mom had a big smile on her face, and dad was covered in sweat from packing the car. I went inside and could smell the Krystal sandwiches on the table. After everyone had finished eating we met up with my aunt and started our way there. I remember looking out the window as we passed someone’s land that had just been burned to clear out the old crops. The soil was black and every few spaces you would see bright green leaves poking through the soil.
The whole day had been cold and wet as rain showers had moved through. By the time we had gotten to Dougherty County High School it was already dark outside and I can remember my aunt saying to my dad “Jim try to find the closest parking spot you can, this area doesn’t really look to safe”. We found a spot on an overcrowded street filled with every type of car. When I stepped outside the vehicle the cool crisp wind greeted my face and started to make my ears cold.
When we reached the gates going into the stadium my mom said “I hope we will be able to find some seats”. There were people everywhere and since I was just a freshman in high school I had never seen so many people at a high school football game. We finally got our tickets and made our way to the gates. When we were standing outside the gates I couldn’t fully imagine the size of the stadium.
My dad returned to us and said “I have some seats down near the field. When we finally squeezed through the crowd and got to our seat that was when I could finally see what I have come to. The stadium was built into a bowl made of rock. On either end of the field there were rock walls about 60 feet tall. The stands were filled to capacity and there were still people coming in. I told my mom that there had to be over five thousand people here. It almost felt like I was at a University of Georgia football game. The noise of the crowd never really did settle down. You could feel the spirit in the air when our football team stormed the field. The smell of hotdogs coming from the grills and the smell of apple cider coming from my mom’s thermos filled the air around me.
On the opposite side of the field we could see the tightly packed opponents waiting for their team to enter the field. I could easily tell that there were a whole lot more people there from Peach County than there were of the home team. In front of us there were two men from Dougherty who thought it would be fun to sit on our side of the field. They were not welcomed at all by all who were sitting there. The whole game they were standing up telling how they will win and how bad we will lose.
We sat next to the band so even when things weren’t going good the band always seems to bring back that excitement inside of you. Our band was either playing or shouting something to the fans going. Against the wind we sat there freezing our ears off to watch this wonderful football game. Every once in awhile there was a man sitting down in front of us who would blow a duck caller and that sound would put a smile on everyone face. At half time the game was close and finally it was time for our impressive band to take the field and give a wonderful show. The other school’s band was great but the cheerleaders danced provocatively and that turned many peoples’ heads on our side of the field.
After half time the football got back underway and now there was the smell of peanuts. My hands were now accompanied by a hot pouch which we all had in our jackets. About five minutes into the second quarter it started to sprinkle but that didn’t make anyone move and give up their seat. We sat there with the cold rain and our ears still cold watching the football game. After the second quarter we were up ten points and the men in front of us had finally sat down. We were finally happy to watch the game without someone yelling at us.
We were now in the fourth quarter with ten minutes to go and we were up twenty points. The men in front of us finally got up and started to leave. While they were leaving everyone within ten rows of them including my family started to sing “Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye” and that put everyone in mood that we were for the first time in our school’s history going to win the Championship. When the sound of the buzzer went off the stands were louder than ever and that is something I will never forget. My mother had gotten a call from my granddad who had told her that UGA had beaten GT. My mother told me “I am so happy that both of the schools I have gone to one this very night”. No one cared at that moment how cold it was and how cold our ears and hands were. Everyone just knew that we did it, we won the championship. Everyone said we are the true Trojans, Peach County Trojans.
After the game, after we bought car stickers which still haven’t been used, we got our stuff together and headed off to the nearest McDonalds to get some sweet tea. On the way home no one could go to sleep because we couldn’t believe what our eyes had just seen. We honked our car’s horn every time we passed a school bus full of Peach County students and players. When we finally got home I ran from the warmth of the car to the house to avoid the cold breeze outside. That weekend everyone was still talking about what had happened.
The Monday morning after that marvelous Friday night people at school were still talking. Before the morning announcements began the office played the song “We are the Champions” over the whole school. The next year’s football season was just as great as this one. We won the State Championship again, but that is another story for another time. I am so glad that I can say I was at Peach County High School when we won our first ever State Championship.
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