The preseason dreams of high school football seniors are larger than life and crafted for years.
But what happens when those dreams become more like a nightmare?
"We believed we were going to improve on last year, have a winning record and reestablish the program," Signal Mountain senior Ripley Hutcherson said this week. "Obviously that's not how it has played out.
"But at the end of the day, you just have to get back to work and make the most of it."
After a 6-4 regular season in 2021, Hutcherson was part of a rising senior class prepared to take the next step in the program's sixth year under coach Josh Roberts.
Hutcherson's play has been a bright spot on defense, because he is in on more stops than an overcaffeinated sheriff's deputy trying to meet his ticket quota at the end of the month. But when Signal Mountain's defense has clicked, its offense has sputtered — and worse still, suffered some painful self-inflicted wounds.
With a slew of sophomores in some key spots, close games became tough losses, and the Eagles were staring at a 28-0 halftime hole last week.
On senior night.
"We just accepted Coach's challenge about competing," senior offensive lineman Daniel Odom said. "None of us wanted to get shut out on senior night."
A blinding rally turned the four-score deficit into a 32-28 lead in the final minutes against Sweetwater, which has been the class of Region 3-3A through the first seven weeks of the season.
But a last-second touchdown foiled the Eagles' hopes of completing the comeback by winning. Again.
For the third time this season, Signal Mountain (2-5, 0-3) gave up the winning score in the final minute of a game, with late field goals at Hixson and McMinn Central accounting for other two such losses. The team's five total defeats have come by a combined 21 points, a fact not lost on players or coaches.
The flip side of that coin, though, has been embraced in some ways after the rally against Sweetwater.
"Yeah, that's pretty accurate. It's been tough so far, but we're a team; we win some and lose some," said senior Malik Aljack, whose 11.5 tackles for loss rank among the Chattanooga area's best. "In my opinion, we should be undefeated if not for some of those little dumb mistakes.
"This team has a lot of chemistry, and we could have split after a start like this, but we haven't. And we still have a lot to play for."
Aljack and Hutcherson rarely leave the field, and Odom switched positions in the preseason to help the depth and talent on the offensive line. Despite the Eagles' rocky start that was highlighted by frustration rather than fulfillment, the three seniors were quick to state that wins in their final two region games still would mean a postseason berth.
The effort to earn an 11th game starts Friday night when Kingston (5-2, 1-2) visits the Eagles Nest. A nonregion game at Marion County on Oct. 21 will be followed by a trip to Brainerd to close the regular season.
"Making it to the playoffs is still a huge goal for all of us, and winning the next two region games is 100% attainable," said Hutcherson, whose 90 total tackles rank second in the area, with his 14 tackles for loss in the top 10. "Once you get there, who knows what can happen, right?"
Of course, because when the playoffs start, all the teams in the brackets get to reset their preseason dreams with postseason ones.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.