Limestone rivals put on great show

I wish every one could have seen what I saw Saturday night at East Limestone High’s Cavnar Field.

It was the definition of “Friday Night Lights.” Or maybe “Saturday Night Lights,” in this case.

Standing-room only, and not much of that, on a field nestled near the back of East Limestone High’s campus. The Indians, ranked seventh in the Class 4A preseason polls, took on the 5A defending state champion Athens Golden Eagles in a county rivalry game that is quickly becoming one of the hottest in North Alabama.

“This is how high school football is supposed to be,” Athens coach Allen Creasy said. “I wish they were all like this.”

Even in defeat — the Golden Eagles lost 7-6 to the Indians — Creasy appreciated the outpouring by the neighboring communities in Limestone County.

Athens fans traveled eight miles to Capshaw and the stands on both sides were full an hour before the 7 p.m. kickoff, and that’s despite competing with Auburn and Alabama, which played Saturday night games to open their seasons.

It was the ideal high school football atmosphere.

Cavnar Field is an upgraded facility, but deceased Indians coach Phil Cavnar, for whom the field is named, once said that East Limestone wanted to keep the small-stadium feel, so that it wouldn’t lose the big-game atmosphere.

He said there was “nothing like this stadium when it packs out.”

Cavnar was right. And on Saturday night, he would have been proud.

With fans cheering and bands playing before the teams even made an appearance on the field, students and band members from both sides stretched nearly to the 50-yard line to greet their teams as they made their entrance.

And the players could hardly contain themselves, bouncing up and down as they came out of the locker room before thundering through the run-through signs.

And that was just the pre-game.

The actual football game wasn’t half bad, either. Fans probably came expecting a shootout. Athens’ offense rolled up 31.5 points a game in last year’s regular season en route to the state championship, while East Limestone scored 30.4 in the regular season before advancing to the state quarterfinals.

But two strong defenses kept the scoring in check Saturday night. Both teams moved the ball, however, which kept the crowd roaring.

The contest was complete with a heroic ending, when a furious crew of East Limestone players, led by senior Greg Holley, blocked Athens’ extra-point attempt that would have tied the game with two minutes to play.

Standing in a nearly empty locker room afterward and still in awe of what went down, East Limestone coach Jeff Pugh tried to reflect on what clearly will be a signature win for the Indians for some time.

And it’s not just his players who were affected. Pugh had the interesting thought that players from teams other than Athens and East Limestone, and there were a lot of them there, will have a lasting memory of the night as well.

“Do you not think they’re going to be driving home tonight thinking about what they saw here?” Pugh asked.

I can’t help but think Pugh didn’t just mean the way his team played, but also the kind of support that two communities offered nearly 150 students representing their schools.