I’m going to jump on and steer this thread back to the Milan vs Alcoa championship game. I’ve been around on coach T since 2015 but don’t say much. My middle son was a senior on this year’s Milan team. In all honestly, a lot of our kids were star struck just being on the same field as Alcoa in a championship game. A huge chunk of were little boys when Alcoa played Milan in the 2008 & 2009 championship games and several have fathers/uncles that played on the 1998 & 1999 championship teams . Over the course of the week leading up to the championship several parents posted pictures of current players present at those games back in the day remembering those little boys saying back then that one day they would be back playing against Alcoa when they grew up. At the age of 7, my oldest used to sit in class at school and flip his worksheets over writing stories of Milan beating Alcoa. It was a dream to meet them on the field. My dad coached with Coach Tucker and my son followed in his footsteps in coaching the Bulldogs. He was on the sidelines yesterday as an coach. Coaching against Alcoa in the state championship was a dream of his since we took him to those championship games in 2008 & 2009. My senior was at those same games at the ages of 5 and 6. Playing against Alcoa in the state championship himself had been on these kids minds since they picked up footballs for the first time. So for them, yesterday was not just another Alcoa beat down. It was the fulfillment of many childhood dreams. Win or lose they made it to the dance. The road for this senior class hasn’t been easy. They have been through 3 head coaches, 3 OCs, and 3 DCs over the course of their high school careers. They have had coaches get into physical altercations in the middle of games and even have another coach hauled off in a cop car and thrown in jail. Half the town of Milan rooted for their failure since the first snap of the ball this season as an act of loyalty to the prior coach. These same people tried with all their might to get some of players to transfer schools as acts of loyalty to the previous coach and tried to provoke racial divides that were not there between the players. So needless to say, these players had been through heck. For the most part, this group of seniors had played together since they were in the 3rd grade and reaching the championship game together, in spite of all those that tried to tear their team apart this season was something to behold. A shutout in the championship game is a humiliating way to end anyone’s high school career but just getting there was the prize. I’ve never been as proud of taking a shut out defeat in all of my life. Milan is extremely proud of this team that has overcome so much and that silver ball represents so much more than just second place to our town. My third son doesn’t move into high school football for 4 more years, so until then...it’s been real coach t.