SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. – A varsity debut most football players would rather forget instead has served as the memory that most motivates Travis Millard.
A nightmarish experience at Boyd-Buchanan last season rattled the South Pittsburg quarterback’s confidence but now reminds him of the need to prove himself each game. Although he has already earned the respect of his teammates, coaches and Pirates fans with a solid first half of the 2010 season, tonight he can further exorcise the demons of a year ago.
Class 1A’s top-ranked Pirates host 2A’s sixth-ranked Bucs on senior night.
“I know you’re not supposed to say things like this, but I’ve been looking forward to this game every day since the season began,” Millard said. “I knew people were doubting me, so that game is really what drove me through the summer and all this season, just to prove that I can lead this team.”
Both teams also were state-ranked when they met last year, and after waiting out more than a two-hour rain delay, Millard was told just before taking the field that he would be getting his first varsity start because Terrell Robinson, the Pirates’ two-time all-state quarterback, had been taken to a local hospital with the flu. The combination of swampy conditions, a stingy defense that would carry Boyd-Buchanan to the 2A state-title game and butterflies the size of pterodactyls made it an ominous beginning to Millard’s prep career.