Signal Mountain’s Drew Lowry gets a lift from Whit Hunt as they celebrate a touchdown against East Hamilton on Aug. 18.In communities everywhere, time is measured in seasons.
In the South, for many families those seasons do not have equinoxes or solstices. Those seasons are marked by innings and quarters and laps around a swimming pool. One season ends, registration for the next sport rolls around.
For high school athletes who have spent most of their lives on fields and courts and in pools since before they knew about homeroom, never mind hormones, the end can be the crossroads from then to tomorrow. The bridge from what was to what will be.
And tonight, seniors from half the high schools playing playoff football in Tennessee will put up their pads. Their high school careers will be complete, and for many their football careers, and that will be that.
There will be tears. And there will be hugs.