Suddenly Saturday! One Night in Mocksville

All that was missing was a crisp, biting Autumn chill. 

Otherwise, it was a perfect night for Southern Football in North Carolina.  Once again, if you are wondering why I capitalize "Southern Football", I'm sure there is a knitting show coming on HGTV in a few minutes.  It was Homecoming in Mocksville as the Davie War Eagles welcomed the Spartans from Mount Tabor, with second place in the conference up for grabs.

I arrived at War Eagle Stadium 80 minutes before kickoff, since there was so much I wanted to see and do...most of which had nothing to do with the contest on the field.

Before we go any further, though, please rise for the playing of our National Anthem:

A little birdie told me that the theme for the night's festivities was "Orange and Camo".  You have to admit, nothing says "Homecoming" like a little camouflage.  As I set up Mission Control in the press box about 70 minutes before the kick, I heard a ruckus over in the direction of the Davie student section.  Half of the Davie Crazies had taken their seats and were banging on Thundersticks.  I hurriedly grabbed my recording devices and dashed down the press box steps.

Ed. Note: One of my favorite parts of doing this blog is the reaction of the press box denizens when I set up...and take off out of there.  Your normal, everyday game reporter I am not.  Not when there is hunter orange and camouflage involved. No, sir.

I rushed over to the student section and grabbed Dylan and Adam for a quick chat.  These fine young men happily obliged, and you can download this piece of audio magic here.

Oh, I'm sorry.  You wanted to meet them?  Okay...

I then made my way to the cheerleaders' mats over near midfield.  Cheering is a BIG deal at Davie and I've admittedly been very slack in getting the cheer squads some face time.  First, allow me to introduce the Davie Cheerleaders!

By the time I'd offered my thanks to the cheerleaders, there were still 45 minutes remaining until kickoff.  I turned around to see the student section, from which emanated yet another ruckus.

Like my visit to North Davidson a few weeks ago, Homecoming is a big deal at Davie.  While I was deciding what to do next, I saw a line of fine automobiles loaded with what appeared to be the 2012 Homecoming Court.  I raced over to the end zone, to see if I could catch these anxious young ladies getting escorted onto the field like the VIPs they were.  See anyone you know?

I then walked down the Mount Tabor sideline to meet the fabulous Mount Tabor cheer team and ask them an important question:

At this point, I had accepted the fact that any pregame work I had planned to do up in the box was going to have to wait.  My ADD does not do well when there are distractions, and War Eagle Stadium on a Friday night is a big damn distraction.  Additionally, I needed to stay down on the field to capture the Eagles' entrance onto the field on video.  That was the goal, at least.

With less than ten minutes to go until kickoff, the music on the stadium loudspeakers grew louder and more anthemic in song choice.  I heard a familiar beat from the 8 Mile soundtrack and realized that something important was probably about to happen.  I boogied back over to the Davie sideline with a quickness.

You'll notice that there are motorcycles on the field amongst the band and cheerleaders.  Suddenly, the music and music got kicked up a notch.  There was, in fact, a ruckus occurring.

As excited as I was, I was a tad concerned about the mass of humanity, steel and chrome assembled at the far end of the field.  I had a hurried discussion with the WXII camera man about the logistics of a Davie War Eagle entrance.  It went kind of like this:

Him: "Which way do they come out?"
Me: "I have no idea. I thought you knew."
Him: "Nope."
Me: "Great.  I was going to follow behind you."

It was at that point I might have accidentally threatened WXII Sports Director Kenny Beck:

Anyway, we agreed to throw caution to the wind, and stood bravely side-by-side as the pregame festivities reached its apex.  From my perspective, oh what an apex it was. 

Ed. Note: I'm well aware the video gets shaky while "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is playing.  I was banging my head.  I apologize for nothing <throws metal horns>.

I love that video.  Don't you?  I loved the whole experience, actually.  Davie was a great destination and you can bet your hunter's vest that I'll be back for basketball.  Oh, yeah.  Davie won the game, 24-7, taking control and making my prediction about Mount Tabor's defense look idiotic (not hard to do).  You can read Marc Pruitt's game report from the Winston-Salem Journal here.   If you are so inclined, you can follow Marc on Twitter at https://twitter.com/marc_pruitt .

Stay tuned to Finally Friday! to see where I'll be next week!  Special thanks to Davie AD Mike Absher for accommodating me in the press box.  It was also good to my man Shannon and his Mount Tabor radio crew again.  Those are good guys who do a good job. You can find Mount Tabor football on the radio here. Finally, thanks to all the good people from Davie who welcomed me and let me roam around their fine facility like I owned the deed to the property! 

PS  I tried to find a way to include the acronym "DCAW" in this piece, but could not.  For those who don't know what a DCAW is, it's best explained this way:  If your school is playing Davie, and Davie has more points than your school at the end of the game, you just took one.

War Eagle! (Is that right? Or is that Auburn-only?)