Pre-Championship Procession to Vonore

Photos by Jammie Graves
Article by Jeff McQueen

Week 13, and all four of the Loudon Quarterback Club teams have all earned a seat at the banquet, the Sequoyah Conference Championship Game that is, “The Big Dance”, which was held this past Saturday (11-13-04) at Vonore.

The day started with the Cheerleading Grand Competition held at Sweetwater High School, starting at 10:00am. All four of our cheerleading squads competed against the other 11 organizations in the conference, with the following results: Crickets - performed well, but did not place, Hoppers - 4th place, Mustangs - 3rd place, and the Indians - 2nd place. Congratulations Cheer girls!!!

Before the first course was served (Crickets game), it was time to gather “The Big Red Caravan”! Now the plan was to meet at the Loudon High School flag pole area at 2:00pm for a pep rally, decorate the cars, and have a police escort all the way to Vonore… however the Cheerleading Competition ran late, and the Mustang and Indian Cheerleading Teams missed the caravan. But, “The Voice of the Hill” had the wall of sound set up and playing when the first car arrived at about 1:30. Excitement was in the air, hope everyone didn’t peak too soon. Channel 8 was there filming, all the cheerleaders led cheers, everyone was decorating their vehicles. Parents were walking around encouraging the football players. Cricket Head Coach Scott Newman and several of the players spoke; thanking everyone for getting behind them this season. The Reverend Jimmy Ridge of Liberty Baptist Church offered the invocation; Officer Tim Brewster led the Pledge of Allegiance, Officer Brewster also gave instructions on how to caravan safely in such a large group. Loudon Quarterback Club President, Jeff Nichols thanked all the officers and volunteers for their tireless efforts this season. And after all that, it was time to load and go. Officer Brewster and his wife Angie, with lights flashing and horns sounding, led the precession all the way to Vonore. All told, there were 112 decorated, Redskins flags a flying, horns a honking, with folks hanging out of the windows cheering vehicles. It was a sight to behold!