Under the new lights and in front of the new stands with a socially distanced and mindful crowd, the new-look Reggie White Field at Howard School was impressive.
And the action on the grass Friday night would have been pleasurable to White, the former Hustlin' Tigers and University of Tennessee star who found his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in a record-setting career with Philadelphia, the Packers and the Panthers.
So, in a tribute to White's NFL teams and the passion of the players in Howard's 14-10 win over East Ridge, let's expand that theme of words that start with the letter P.
It was, in some ways, predictable.
"That's a typical, hard-fought East Ridge-Howard game," Pioneers coach Tim James said after the teams traded second-half leads twice. "You know it's going to be tough."
It was assuredly physical. Both teams were committed to running the ball - by choice and necessity, because they combined for minus-2 passing yards - and more often than not running it between the tackles.
It was passion-filled. On senior night for the Hustlin' Tigers (6-3, 4-1 Region 2-4A), the win put them in position to earn a home playoff game with a win over East Hamilton next week to close the regular season.
"It's really special," said Jacobi Dixon, the Howard senior quarterback who fashioned a criss-crossing 65-yard scramble that set up Deorean Baer's game-winning 5-yard touchdown run in the final two minutes.
"It was a pass play, and everyone went right," he said of the game-changing dash that was part of his 112-yard rushing performance, "so I knew I had room and I had to do something, and the moves just came to me."
The win was about which team kept its poise. Howard and East Ridge (5-4, 2-3) self-destructed in a scoreless first half with crippling penalties before the back-and-forth final 24 minutes. But the ability to stay in the moment was key for the victors, as Howard remained calm after Desmon Drake's 65-yard kickoff return for a score opened the third quarter and when Luis Serrato's 24-yard field goal split the uprights to give the Pioneers a 10-8 lead with a smidge more than three minutes to play.
"Persistent," Howard coach John Starr answered quickly about which theme word summed up his team's comeback win. "We're really banged up and were out of sorts early and not patient enough.
"But we continued to play hard."
There's at least one more "P" word, because each side featured several playmakers:
* The quarterbacks - Howard's Dixon and mercurial East Ridge senior Cameron Sanders - made up for a barren passing line with an array of open-field moves.
* Each side had combinations of speed and power in its backfield - Drake and Dejuan Norris for the Pioneers; Baer, Courtney Walker and hard-charging Willie Owens, who scored Howard's first touchdown - that added balance to its attack.
* Defensively, each side was powerful, led by pad-popping linebackers such as R.J. Miles Jr. for Howard and Latrel Adair for East Ridge.
It was a Friday night filled with promise, and the realization that each program sees the potential down the line from a crazy path of 2020 that has produced better results than most pundits predicted.
So let's give Starr the final themed word after his team's victory.
"I'm proud of these guys, for sure," he said before adding, "and I'm pleased."
Perfect.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.