Update, Sat morn: Coach Shuping and The Team had the N&R's Kellie Dixon following them around all day and filed this report. Ed Hardin recounts Grimsley's glory days and looks at the future of Whirlie football.
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In the run-up to tomorrow's state championship football game, Grimsley held an old fashioned bonfire tonight on their campus. Jinni and I were transported to 15 again taking in the spectacle.
The 'Blue Steel' drumline was there and so was Jackson's before-today-unsung (N&R) "o"-line. All of the Whirlie cheerleaders were dancin' to the beat as some adult lit a match to a ten-foot pile of wooden pallets. As the flames rose, so did the chanting of the students: LET'S. GO. WHIR-LIES. clap... clap... clapclapclap.
Having never even experienced a winning season during my four years playing high school football, I was envious of the Whirlie team as they occupied an honored place inside the ring of yellow plastic tape installed to keep us mere fans a safe distance from the fire - they were 'the MEN' - and they deserved every minute of tonight's primal tribute as well as all of the media attention and fan adoration they've received over the past weeks.
Tonight Jackson and his team mates were under strict coach's instructions to be in bed by 9-o'clock. The team will gather at Grimsley's field house tomorrow at 7:15a to begin the most extraordinary day of their young lives.
As for the rest of the Hoggards and some friends, we are heading to Raleigh around 9:00a leaving us plenty of time for a Waffle House breakfast on the way. We will be there there early to secure some prime seats for the 12:00 kick-off at NCSU's Carter-Finley Stadium.
This is more fun than people are supposed to have.
10:56:22 PM 
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