Standing on the home sideline, just before kickoff, I remember looking across the field toward the road that runs next to the football stadium at Soddy-Daisy High School in amazement. As players from both teams were jogging onto the field to take their positions, the line of traffic still making its way in for the game snaked all the way off campus.
Folks filled every nook and cranny, including the hillside in one end zone, 24 years ago when Marion County came to Soddy-Daisy for a battle of state-ranked teams. A battle-tested Marion team used the win as a springboard toward its second straight state title later that season.
It was a similar scene midway through the 2001 season when Red Bank, unbeaten and coming off its Class 5A state championship, hosted McCallie, which brought a matching 5-0 record into a showdown of state-ranked locals. It felt like Chattanooga's entire prep sports community was filing into Red Bank Community Stadium to witness something special that night, and they did as the visiting Blue Tornado held on late and used the win to build toward what became a state championship season of their own.
The buzz and electric atmosphere the fans created for the teams in those games is something that's still talked about by those who were there. For players, coaches and fans alike, such a special experience comes along only ever so often, but Friday night promises to have one of those memorable matchups.
It's a game 60 years in the making and will draw the attention of the entire state as two of the Chattanooga area's most accomplished and prideful programs face off for the first time since 1959. Red Bank's Lions, ranked No. 4 in Class 3A and winners of 19 straight regular-season games, host 1A's top-ranked South Pittsburg in a game that has been selected as the Tennessee Titans statewide game of the week.
The teams bring matching 5-0 overall records into the 8 p.m. kickoff, and while the outcome will have no bearing on either team's playoff seeding, both coaching staffs agree that facing one another will prepare them for the deep postseason runs they want to make.
"With their level of talent and coaching, we feel very strongly that South Pittsburg is the type team we'll need to beat in the later rounds of the 3A playoffs," Lions coach Chris Brown said. "We've talked about how this game will have all the feeling of a championship-type matchup but without any of the pressure of the season being on the line since we don't affect each other's playoffs.
"The bigger picture is that this is a major opportunity for two communities to come out and showcase the game the way the kids deserve."
As part of the Titans' commitment to prep football in the state, the winning coach will receive a $1,000 grant to benefit his school's program. The game also will provide the rare opportunity to create the kind of memories that both sides will carry and talk about long after the season ends.
"We've told our kids that they really don't know yet what it feels like to get to play in a game like this, with an electric crowd and atmosphere, where so many eyes are on you," added Brown, whose team already owns wins over 6A Ooltewah, 5A Soddy-Daisy and 4A East Hamilton this season. "I'm anxious to see how we respond myself. We've already been in some real battles this season, but this is one that a lot of people have talked about since the schedule came out."
Since their most recent meeting, six decades ago, the Lions and Pirates have more 10-win seasons than any other Tennessee teams in the Chattanooga area. Red Bank is the only Hamilton County public-school program to have won a title in the state's largest classification, and South Pittsburg is the only program in the state to have played for a title in all six decades of the playoff system, owning five titles.
Each team will carry state championship aspirations into the playoffs when they begin next month, and both bring plenty of star power into Friday's game.
Against mostly outmanned competition so far, South Pittsburg has the state's second-largest scoring margin, regardless of classification, outscoring opponents an average of 47 points. The Pirates have averaged 10 yards per play on offense and allowed just 2.1 yards per snap on defense - all despite missing all-state athlete Ronto Tipton, who had been limited by a preseason injury until this week.
However, they will face a Red Bank defense that has allowed just 3.2 yards per play, led by all-state linebacker Clark Lockerby, and a balanced Lions offense that has averaged 332 yards per game. Senior quarterback Madox Wilkey is the area's leading passer (1,035 yards), and classmate Lucas Brown is the area's leading receiver (31 catches for 638 yards).
"It's probably the biggest challenge we've had in several years, honestly, because they're the real deal," Pirates coach Vic Grider said. "We know a lot of people in Chattanooga have heard of us but haven't gotten to see us before, so to have the chance to go there and show who we are and what our program is all about is a big deal to our kids and our community.
"Hopefully it's a chance for both teams to measure where we're at going into the second half of the season and the playoffs, because it's no secret we've both got big goals after this one."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.