For many Rams, it's the final practice in Reidsville

For many Rams, it's the final practice in Reidsville



By Heather J. Smith

Staff writer

REIDSVILLE – It’s almost time. It’s Christmas, birthday, first car and recess rolled into one. It’s just hours away. It’s the worst case of butterflies and the longest drive to Raleigh.

The Reidsville High School Rams are going to the state championships Saturday. If they succeed, they return with the Rams’ 16th state title.

Football is not something the school, or its coaching staff, takes lightly. The leisurely way the team took the field for their next to last practice here Wednesday didn’t betray that gravity.

At least, not until pads went on and Coach Jimmy Teague’s voice hardened into a commanding bark. Before, they were a crowd of teenage boys, stretching on the cold turf, They were talking manly talk about interceptions, fumbles and failed romantic attempts.

“‘Night’s last time we practice on this field,” was uttered by a senior player, almost unbelieving. Saturday night’s championship game rematches the Rams against their 2005 championship opponent, the Shelby High Golden Lions. The senior Rams still remember when the title escaped them.

This, however, is a chance for revenge.

“I think we all really want to win this one,” said senior Phillip McLaughlin. “If we all really want to win, we just have to.”

Play over. Tackling drills followed rushing drills followed footwork drills followed punt drills. Tackles smacked together with unsettling crunches. Envy and awe swell with the thought their warm-up is more exertion anyone else chooses in a week.

Maybe it’s something they put on the turf — Miracle Grow or football pixie dust. Something must explain why anyone would run in this cold. Perhaps, if the average person scuffed around on the grass long enough, they would grow cheetah fast, fox sharp, bull strong.

A few minutes of watching reveals the team is not perfect, but near it. Coaches catch and correct missteps. Teague warns them to judge each movement of their opponent. What seems like a feint may be blind drives downfield.

In 16 seasons as the Rams’ head coach, Teague has amassed 180 victories against only 41 losses – a winning percentage of .814.

A Southern Alamance graduate, Teague came to Reidsville in 1992 and replaced Mark Barnes, who was 23-12 in three seasons.

“Outside, outside, stay outside,” was yelled simultaneously with “Gotta be better than that. State championship weekend. Move.”

While coaches always had an improvement suggested for defensive plays, offense was beautifully aggressive. The ball was no sooner in the air before other hands took it. Practice tackles were not softened by mutual friendship.

Special events call for special traditions. Curiosity sprouted around the blue and white box carried to every game and kept just on the sideline this fall. As the season wore on, the mysterious box became more of an enigma, especially when players wouldn’t say what was kept inside.

Safety Jordan Gunter explained its significance.

“Used to, in the past, we’d spray paint our cleats blue,” Gunter said. “This year we wanted to do something different.”

The box houses whatever meaningful things the players added over the fall. Gunter said the first entry was each player’s definition of a team.

“We wrote down a team’s characteristics, how they act, and why they win,” he said.

Gradually, players added newspaper clippings, obituaries, souvenirs from games and tokens from the school year.

And like all traditions, the Rams will pass the box on to sit on sidelines for years to come.

“Maybe we’ll pull it all out to look at during class reunions, look back at all the fun things,” Gunter said.

Like any good team, the Rams don’t hope, they know they’ll win. A good, hard game will make the state championship theirs.

“We’ve gonna go and we’re gonna win so hard,” Damien Lee said. “It’s gonna be 62 to 0.”

Staff writer Heather J. Smith can be reached at hsmith@reidsvillereview.com or 349-4331, ext. 16.