We went to the Beech

Last night was our first round in the regional play-offs for 5A football. We traveled to Beech High School, Sumner County, near Hendersonville. Our team, Tullahoma Wildcats, was 8-2. The Cinderella team that wasn't expected to win half of our schedule. Many players did not stay with the team early on in the hot, summer work-outs. There was only sweat, guts, extreme heat and talk of winning only a few games. That was in July. This is Novemeber, when the wind is blowing cooler air across the field. The eleventh month of the year when the grid-iron becomes brackets in the program and the creme either rises to the top or the churning of the season has molded butter out of buttermilk. Well, we became the butter. The topping. Yeah, I know it is just the first play-off game. Well, we won it. 14-0. A goose egg that our team cracked with tough defense , a sparky offense and town support with our garnet and black colors to show it. The drive was worth it. The gas was worth it. The sacriface of sleep was worth it. The trips to the Cracker Barrel unforgettable. And the fairytale did not end as the clock ticked away the final minutes of the game. No, my son is not the stand-out star. He is a sidelined sophomore. Does that matter? Yes. The victory was won long ago in the heat of July. When the players left standing on the hot practice field wanted to be there. When the score board wasn't lit up or the clock clicking away. When the reasons to keep going became a personal choice. As we drove away from the school last night. My son said, "Mom it was so cool when we left town yesterday. People were lining the streets cheering to wish us good luck." Ah, the essence of a small southern Tennessee town, hoping the fairytale is still being written in the grit, hashes, markers, in the cool November air blowing across the field.