This was submitted by Panther Fan, Jimmy Farlow and it is worth sharing with everyone! Thank you, Jimmy!
“To most people the road the Chattanooga is nothing more than a trip down Interstate 24, But to 62 students at a small school nestled on the banks of the Beech River the road to Chattanooga means something completely different.
It’s two-a-day practices in 100 degree heat, it’s 8am weight sessions during the summer, it’s running wind sprints until you think you may die and then running 10 more. Then they get to play the season.
It is the sacrifice of their social life, to the film room, late weekday practices, repping the same play 100 times until it is perfect and redefining what it means to go out with friends on Friday night. It’s early Saturday morning ice baths so that on Monday morning, when the cycle starts again, it doesn’t hurt as bad
To them the road to Chattanooga means Monday morning starts the countdown to when they have to stand toe to toe and slay a giant from Huntington, Milan, Peabody, Camden or JCM on Friday. And they do so knowing the pain and agony that Saturday morning will bring.
And then, after all of that, if they have sacrificed enough, they earn the right do it all of it again in the playoffs. On top of that they will face the best Memphis and the rest of the state has to offer. So to them the road to Chattanooga is more than the asphalt and potholes of I-24. To them the road to Chattanooga is built by their hard work and paved in their sacrifices. Because only one team gets to raise the gold ball.
So Panther Nation remember that when we load up to head to the game on Saturday our trip to Chattanooga is going to be a hell of a lot easier than theirs was. We R Riverside! We R One Heart! GO PANTHERS! 💙💛💙💛”