By CHAD COOPER
There are some days in sports you know you are going to remember.
Last Thursday was one of those days for me.
I had the great privilege of attending the first fall sports media day in Southern Gap High School history, and from the moment I stepped onto that brand-new turf field, I knew this wasn’t going to feel like any media day I had covered before.
My first thought was simple: Wow.
The design of the stadium reminds you of something you would see on a college campus. The field sits below ground level in a bowl, with terraces on both the home and visitor sides. Instead of climbing a set of bleachers to find their seats, fans will walk down toward the field.
Then you look beyond the stadium.
That’s when it really hits you.
Sitting on top of that mountain, with the sky overhead and the mountains stretching across the horizon, the backdrop is breathtaking. Then you turn and see that beautiful new school overlooking everything, the “Southern Gap Eagles” lettering across the press box and the large intertwined “SG” at the school’s main entrance.
It feels like a place where memories are waiting to be made.
And Thursday, we started making them.
For the first time, I had the opportunity to see head football coach Greg Tester and his decorated staff together.
What a collection of football knowledge.
That staff is a who’s who of Buchanan County football history. These are men who have spent years coaching in different communities, on different sidelines and sometimes against one another. Now they are together, coaching Buchanan County’s high school football team.
That is pretty special.
You could see the Eagle pride shining Thursday.
Players who once represented different schools and different communities walked onto the same field wearing the same all-black Southern Gap uniform.
And those uniforms looked sharp.
More importantly, there is plenty of talent wearing them.
It appears Ayden Whited will enter the season as the frontrunner to be QB1. Whited has plenty of experience, but Tester has another big arm in Kanan Justice, whose size and athleticism could allow him to make the transition to tight end.
If Whited gets the nod and Justice moves to tight end, imagine Justice lining up at one tight end with sophomore standout Luke Stiltner lining up opposite in a double-tight formation.
Both can block. Both can catch. Both can create problems for a defense.
Then there is Brayden White, a capable passer who has started at quarterback for the Panthers for the past three seasons.
Think about this: Between Whited, Justice and White, Southern Gap has three quarterbacks with more than 20 games of starting experience.
How many first-year programs can say that?
White may ultimately become one of Southern Gap’s best pass catchers, as I expect we’ll see him get plenty of opportunities at wide receiver.
The Eagles are deep in the backfield, too.
There may not be a proven Trey Taylor or Logan Lester-type workhorse entering the season, but Southern Gap has something just as intriguing — options.
Aidan Baker, Reid Stiltner and Gavin Mays have already received plenty of varsity touches during their careers. Two talented freshmen, Carson Blankenship and Gunner Baker, will also be fighting for playing time.
Remember those two names.
By the end of the season, don’t be surprised if Blankenship and Baker are names people across Buchanan County are talking about.
Ethan Smith and Harvey Cooper add speed to the backfield, while R.J. Rowe and Caden Justice give the Eagles a pair of strong fullbacks.
Then we get to my favorite nickname on this football team.
The War Pigs.
Coach Anthony Church and the other line coaches have given that name to Southern Gap’s offensive and defensive linemen, and I absolutely love it.
Chase Baker, Henry Brown, Blake Childress, Eli Dye, Matthew Thompson, Trevor Blankenship, Marshall Justus and Colin Wolfrum are just a few of the big guys Southern Gap can throw into the trenches.
The War Pigs are not going to get their names called every time Southern Gap scores a touchdown. They aren’t going to fill up a stat sheet like a quarterback, running back or receiver.
But they can become the heartbeat of this football team.
They’ll be down in the dirt doing the work nobody notices until it isn’t getting done — opening holes, protecting quarterbacks, taking on double teams and making life miserable for opposing offenses.
There is something old-school about calling a group of big, physical Buchanan County linemen the War Pigs.
It just fits.
But Thursday wasn’t only about football.
Southern Gap varsity volleyball coach Hannah Lester brought a team to media day that should have Eagle fans excited.
Claire Griffey is one of the county’s most decorated volleyball players, and she’s joined by Leah Rasnake, Megan Hess, Madison Lester, Bella Hurley and Addy Boyd, to name a few.
There is plenty of talent on that roster, and I expect the Eagles to put a lot of wins on the board during their first season.
Southern Gap’s cross country program will look a little different after losing some outstanding runners to graduation, including All-American Keyston Hartford, Ella Rasnake and Destany Armendariz.
But I’m going to give you a name to remember.
Kaitlyn Wolford.
The freshman is a star in the making, and I expect her to make an immediate impact during her first high school season.
Aliyah Armendariz is another runner to watch after enjoying a breakout season last year. She should be a key part of coach Christina Bane’s first Southern Gap cross-country team.
I also had the opportunity to photograph our Southern Gap band.
Standing in front of that band was senior drum major Rachel Tackett, who now owns a distinction nobody can ever take away from her.
Rachel Tackett is the first drum major in Southern Gap High School history.
But this certainly isn’t her first rodeo.
Tackett has led the Buchanan County band as drum major for the past three years, and now she’ll be the one leading the band as it provides the soundtrack for Southern Gap’s first year.
Our cheerleaders were there, too, led by Staci Griffey.
Seeing their smiles and excitement was another reminder that this wasn’t simply a collection of students from several former schools trying to figure out how to coexist.
They already looked like Eagles.
Southern Gap varsity golf coach Preston Hibbitts and his golfers came to media day with something nobody else could claim.
They were already 1-0.
Mason Boyd has already written his name into the Southern Gap record book with the lowest competitive round in school history after firing a 38 last Monday at Willowbrook.
Boyd is no stranger to winning. The three-time Black Diamond District golf champion gives Hibbitts a proven player at the top of his lineup.
Ethan Deel is another athlete Eagle fans will get to know quickly. He’s not only a promising young football player, but also one of the leaders of the golf team.
Braden Hopkins, Jaxon Hardin, Wyatt Street and Jackson Deel add even more talent to a deep roster.
Hibbitts has several other golfers capable of breaking into his top four on any given day, and that competition should only make the Eagles better as the season progresses.
But after taking all the pictures, talking football and looking at all the talent Southern Gap will put on the fields, courts and courses this fall, I kept coming back to one thing.
It was almost impossible to tell where anybody came from.
And maybe that’s the most important thing I saw all day.
I couldn’t look across that football field and immediately pick out Council.
I couldn’t pick out Grundy.
I couldn’t pick out Hurley.
I couldn’t pick out Twin Valley.
All I saw was black and Vegas gold.
All I saw were Eagles.
I’ll admit that this season feels different for me.
For years, fall meant traveling to Grundy, Hurley and Twin Valley. It meant seeing those familiar colors and photographing kids wearing jerseys that their brothers, fathers, uncles and sometimes grandfathers had worn before them.
Those schools mattered.
Those rivalries mattered.
And those memories aren’t disappearing just because the jerseys have changed.
They are part of who we are.
But maybe Thursday showed us that we can honor where we’ve been while still being excited about where we’re going.
Buchanan County has been through a lot.
Our communities have endured devastating floods and watched neighbors lose homes, possessions and pieces of their lives. We’ve watched roads, schools and communities take hits that would test anywhere.
And yet, Buchanan County keeps getting back up.
That’s why I believe Southern Gap can become about something much bigger than sports.
For decades, Friday nights divided us — not in a bad way, but in the way high school sports are supposed to.
Council pulled for Council.
Grundy pulled for Grundy.
Hurley pulled for Hurley.
Twin Valley pulled for Twin Valley.
You defended your colors. You cheered for your kids. You wanted bragging rights until the next game.
Now imagine this fall.
Imagine that first big Friday night with the lights shining down into that new stadium.
Imagine the band playing.
Imagine the cheerleaders lined up.
Imagine the War Pigs coming out ready for battle.
Imagine that mountain backdrop behind the stadium and a packed house surrounding that black and Vegas gold field.
And then look into the stands.
Maybe you’ll see people from Council sitting beside people from Grundy.
People from Hurley cheering beside people from Twin Valley.
People who spent decades rooting against one another suddenly yelling for the same touchdown.
That’s what excites me about Southern Gap.
This school can’t erase the hardships our county has endured, and it shouldn’t erase the proud histories of the schools that came before it.
But it can help write the next chapter.
Maybe, in its own way, this new school can help mend some wounds.
Maybe sports can do what sports have always done at their best — give people a reason to come together.
There are going to be disagreements. There will be growing pains. There will be people who miss the old schools and the old rivalries, and I understand that.
But when those Eagles take the field, step onto the volleyball court, tee off on the golf course or run their first cross country meet, they won’t be representing one end of Buchanan County.
They’ll be representing all of it.
That is what I felt Thursday.
Words really can’t express the atmosphere surrounding that first media day. The morale was high. The smiles were everywhere. Coaches were excited. Athletes were excited. Cheerleaders were excited. The band was ready.
Nobody looked like a former Council Cobra, Grundy Golden Wave, Hurley Rebel or Twin Valley Panther.
They looked like Southern Gap Eagles.
One school.
One set of colors.
One county.
And for a place that has been through as much as Buchanan County has been through, maybe coming together underneath those Friday night lights is exactly what we need.
I can’t wait for that first football game.
I can’t wait for that first home volleyball match.
And I hope when those moments arrive, Buchanan County shows up.
Not one district.
Not one community.
All of Buchanan County.
Because those kids wearing black and Vegas gold aren’t somebody else’s team anymore.
They’re ours.
“Thanks for joining me In the Locker Room. Until next week, let’s keep celebrating the victories, learning from the defeats, and always standing behind Buchanan County’s athletes.”
