Robservations: Finally time to hit the field
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It’s not because we can boast a perennial winner. In fact, over on Pioneer Lane there’s a group of over 40 young men, the most experienced of which have won just three of the 30 contests they’ve played in their high school careers.
But this is still a football town.
Other athletic teams have brought the glory to Warren County High School over the years, with state tournament trips, all-district honorees and even a scattering of state championships.
But even still, this is a football town.
And what a great time to be living in a football town.
We’ve said it time and again. But this is a new era for football in Warren County. New coaches, new players, a new system — even new uniforms, for goodness’ sake.
And with all that, has come a new attitude.
As an example, I think back to a conversation I had a couple of days ago, when the Pioneers’ practice was cut short by a sudden lightning storm. While standing out by the locker room, talking to coach Gerald Tidwell, I brought up the subject of the Earl Nall and Sonny Moore prep football ratings systems.
For those who aren’t familiar with those two names, they’re a pair of men who for years have compiled information on high school football in Tennessee, and then have ranked and assigned ratings to each team. With those ratings, number crunchers and prognosticators can project a potential point spread for any game.
At any rate, I brought up the fact that — on paper — Centennial comes into tonight’s game as the favorite, by about 14 points. Then I explained the ratings system that helped me arrive at that spread.
“That’s not this team, and that’s not our rating,” Tidwell said back with a grin. “That’s a different team, and a different team’s rating.”
You’ve got to like that attitude. Forget the past, and let it be where it belongs — in the past. Because now is the time to focus on the future.
What better time is there? It’s opening night, and Warren County High School is tied with the other 303 high school football teams in this state with its 0-0 record. The slate is clean, and the fans and players are aching for a victory.
On top of that, the Pioneers are taking on a team tonight that provided them with the one victory they’ve had in the last two seasons.
Don’t think for a second that Centennial doesn’t feel exactly the same hunger for a win, however. After losing last year to WCHS, the Cougars won their next two games, then lost their final seven. In fact, in the five full seasons they’ve played, CHS has won just 11 games.
And, having spent an off-season saddled with the label of “the only team Warren County beat last year,” you can be the Cougars will have a bit of a sour taste in their mouths when WCHS comes calling.
So what will we see tonight? No one will know until the whistle blows and that first kickoff of 2002 is in the air.
But I will tell you this, without fear of revocation: We’ll see a Pioneer team that has busted its collective hull in 98-degree heat for months, and can’t wait to come out of the gates and take the first step toward a winning season.
We’ll see a Pioneer team that has renewed focus, energy and enthusiasm, and the confidence that while it may not play well all the time, it will play hard for four quarters.
And hopefully — for their sakes, and the sakes of every fan that has stuck with them through thick and thin, for all these years — we’ll see a win that we’ll later remember not as the only highlight of the 2002 season, but as the first.