They might have been sweaty still and sporting the kind of smell they wouldn't want moms or girlfriends to sniff, but Sale Creek's football players were riding the big yellow school bus down the highway on a wave of euphoria.
The Panthers, still without a field to call home other than Finley Stadium and the scraggly practice area a handful of miles from the school, had secured the tiny school's first varsity football victory.
"It's a once-in-a-lifetime feeling. The whole team is excited," senior tight end/linebacker Gary Keylon said this weeek about that win last Friday.
"A lot of (fellow students) said we can't or we couldn't. They're actually saying now that we can win and that they do believe in us," added two-way senior tackle Zack Howard.
That postgame ride "was great - a lot better than the first 21," coach Ron Cox said with a grin.
He changed travel plans for the ride home from Knoxville, where his team not only won its first game (51-13 over Concord Christian) but also invoked for the first time a running clock with a lead of 35 points.
"The kids did very well although I had to keep them calm toward the end of the game. They were wanting to celebrate before it was over," Cox said.
His guys managed to curb their impatience until the game's waning moments when their jubilation could no longer be contained. They caught their coach totally unaware, and he absorbed the full effects of an ice-cold cooler shower.
"We drowned him," Howard recalled.
Though soaking wet, Cox had the bus driver pull in at McDonald's in Harriman for an unscheduled postgame meal/celebration with parents and boosters.
"I thought my phone was ruined. Either that or the battery was dead, and I told my wife I thought it was gone. She looked and me and said, 'Does it matter?' It didn't. it really didn't," Cox said, smiling even more after learning that just the battery had run down.
"Yeah," Keylon admitted when asked if his head was still a little swollen the Monday after a weekend of celebration, "probably a little. When I walked into school I heard a lot of 'Great job!' and things like that."
Senior Chase Harvey was there for the first two seasons, plugging away at running back and defensive back. He scored his first high school touchdown, which was part of his elation along with contributing to putting points on the board, dunking Cox, celebrating with his teammates and even the bus ride home.
"It's great to be part of history. The feeling is indescribable," he said. "I've always been committed to this team - never was one to leave when things got hard."
And to those who walked away, who gave up on the struggle that had been Sale Creek football, Harvey said, "I'd tell them, 'You missed out.'"
It was nice to share the evening with Cox, the players said.
"He probably works harder than anyone," Keylon said. "He's told us the past three years to keep working, that the 'W' can come. He never gave up on us."
Yet on Monday it was back to work.
"We're putting last week behind us," Cox said. "I told them after the first week that we weren't going to dwell on that loss. Well, we're not going to dwell on this win. I told them if I heard one more word about last week we were going to run sprints."
"It was hard not to focus on winning," Keylon admitted. "But we realize we won and it was great, but now we have to get ready to go and try to do it again.
"Still, this is one I'll remember for a long time."
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765. Follow him at Twitter.com/wardgossett.