Signal Mountain is 13-0 and poised to play for a state championship. The Eagles have made it from program inception to a state final faster than any program in Tennessee high school football history.
Yet there will be no pressure on his team, 23-2 over the past two years, when it takes the field at 1 p.m. today in Cookeville, coach Bill Price maintains.
“We’re a second-year [varsity] program,” he said. “This is a state championship, yes, but the kids are just playing ball. There was pressure going into the Trousdale County game and the games against Friendship Christian and Boyd-Buchanan. Trinity Christian is just another of those [type] teams, and this is a state final. We’re looking forward to it.”
The Eagles left Friday morning and watched South Pittsburg win the Class 1A title against previously unbeaten Jo Byrns and the 3A battle between perennial champ Alcoa and Goodpasture. They were to get up early this morning for breakfast at Shoney’s, return to their hotel and be at Tennessee Tech between 10 and 11.
Price didn’t know when his handful of seniors would realize that today would be their final high school game, but the seniors didn’t, either.
“It hasn’t really dawned on me yet,” quarterback Hogan Whitmire said Thursday afternoon before his final practice. “I think maybe after watching South Pittsburg and the others play I’ll fully realize what’s happening.”
It’s doubtful, though, that much will change.
“The kids have never been overly hyped for any game,” Price said. “They didn’t get that way when we played South Pittsburg. They were so calm before the games against Trousdale and Friendship and Boyd that the coaches were wondering if they were ready to play. They’re not a rah-rah type team but really a low-key bunch until we get on the field and huddle up.”
The coaches are the ones who’ve had sleepless nights – not from worry but from eagerness and anxiety.
“I can’t wait,” said assistant Bumper Reese, who still wears his ring from Red Bank’s 2000 championship season. “As a coach, both then and now, I remember thinking that the teams were well prepared. And this bunch is very businesslike, which reminds me so much of that [Red Bank] team.”
Price talked to the Eagles earlier in the week about getting to Tech and walking up and down the field before pregame warm-ups. He advised each to soak it up, that years from now each player would recall the moments vividly.
But winning would make the memories even better, he acknowledged.
“You don’t really soak up the moment until the game is over,” Price said, “and you can’t really enjoy it till you win the last one. I’m sure they’ve enjoyed the attention they’ve received, but we still have a game to win.”
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.