Their steps had a bit more purpose as the football players and coaches from four Chattanooga-area schools walked the halls of their schools this week after vital season-opening wins.
Heads were held high and ears perked up to welcome every congratulatory greeting. And why wouldn't they? The players who make up the squads at Hixson, Lookout Valley, Polk County and Whitwell hadn't experienced much reason to celebrate over the past few years, but each of the kids on that quartet of teams carry themselves with more confidence headed into the second week.
Hixson got a 41-yard game-winning field goal from Isaac Smith with just six seconds remaining to beat Signal Mountain for the first time in program history, while Lookout Valley snapped a 17-game losing streak that dated to the second week of 2020.
Whitwell hadn't won its season opener since its magical run to a state title in 2018, and although Polk County did win its first game last season, the Wildcats had gone just 4-26 since Derrick Davis departed.
So with Davis back on the sideline as head coach, there is reason to believe last week's blowout win over county rival Copper Basin will be followed by a return to the days when the program was a perennial playoff participant.
"Both my older brothers played for Coach Davis, so I sort of knew he would make us a lot better," said Polk County senior two-way lineman Derrick Burgess. "There was a lot of excitement after the game, and school and practice were more fun this week after the win."
Davis, who had guided the McMinn Central program and worked as an assistant at Rhea County since leaving Polk after the 2018 season, wasn't brought back to his alma mater until the last week of June. Because of the two-week TSSAA summer dead period, when coaches are not allowed to have contact with athletes, that meant Davis wasn't able to meet with the team until the second week of July.
"We didn't have a lot of time to implement a lot, but fortunately we're not real complicated in what we do," Davis said. "The schedule is going to get tougher, but you could tell that win was a big confidence booster. And you can coach them harder in the film room after a win."
Hixson put to rest quite a few frustrating streaks with last week's three-point win. Not only was it the first win over Signal Mountain, which had outscored the Wildcats 105-0 in five previous meetings, but it was also the first season-opening win in 11 years and first season-opening home win in 22 seasons.
In Josh Owensby's first two years as head coach, Hixson had lost five games by 10 points or less.
"I've preached for the last two years to play hard for 48 minutes and see what happens," Owensby said. "We've been in several one-possession games where something bad would happen and you could see their heads drop, like they were thinking 'Here we go again.' But that wasn't the case last week.
"This was the first time I felt like they got to see something positive come from continuing to play hard when we're down late. It was rewarding because now they know I've been telling them the truth. Kids will tune you out if you keep preaching the same message but they don't see results. Now we can repeat that message a lot louder."
Lookout Valley's defense intercepted three passes, including a pick-six by Devon Cooper, and Jaxon Quails ran for two scores to snap the Yellow Jackets' nearly two-year skid.
When former Whitwell star running back Rocky Stephenson took over at his alma mater last season, the coach inherited a program that had won just four of its previous 22 games. But under Stephenson, the Tigers showed promise as last season wore on, winning four of their last six.
Whitwell, which competes in the same Class 1A region with Lookout Valley, went on the road last week and used a 13-0 third quarter to earn an impressive 12-point win over 4A foe Cumberland County. Stephenson said he expects that win to provide the confidence boost needed to redirect the program back to the level it was just six years ago, when the Tigers went 26-2 over a two-year stretch.
"Football sets the tone for the whole school year, so to win the first game is a great way to start things off and build on," Lookout Valley coach Josh Payne said. "We definitely could tell a difference this week at school and practice.
"Our kids haven't experienced a lot of wins recently, so it was good for them to walk down the halls at school and be told 'Good job.'"
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.