Players’ biggest fans
Published 12:01 am Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Trailing 14-13 after scoring a late touchdown against St. Jude last Friday night, Pleasant Home took a chance, went for two point and made history.
Parents, fans, coaches and players then scattered Montgomery Catholic’s football field to celebrate a 15-14 first-round victory in the Class 1A state playoffs, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in the school’s history.
For PHS players’ Chris and Zack Roberts’ mother, Tammy, the fact that the Eagles won was “exciting.”
“I was just overjoyed and just thought our boys did a wonderful job,” Tammy said.
Donna Lewis, Josh O’Neal’s mother, said she too was excited for the team.
“A long line of family of mine has come from Pleasant Home, and with Josh being a senior, we were ecstatic,” Lewis said. “We’re looking forward to this Friday night.”
Pleasant Home will play host to top-ranked Linden this week for the second round of the playoffs.
Leading up to the game last week, Hunter Weaver’s father, Preston, said the team worked hard to get ready and that was definitely evident during the game.
“They played their hearts out,” Preston said. “They played hard all night long. You couldn’t ask for nothing better.
“We controlled the ball on one side, and the defense held them up on the other side,” he said.
For Glen Greathouse, who is the father of Forest and Troy Greathouse, losing last week wasn’t an option for him.
“Of course, we were proud of our boys,” Glen said. “I kind of felt like we had a good chance coming in with the size of our boys and their discipline. I told most of everybody we had a really good shot, and we played up to it.”
And the call PHS head football coach Ronnie Douglas made to go for two points to win it was a good call, the parents said.
“At that point, we saw that the coach was not going for the field goal,” Tammy Roberts said. “That just showed that he had a lot of confidence in the boys’ ability to pull it off.”
“That was an excellent call and his only call at the time to take the win,” Glen said. “I would definitely have made it (the call). We had the momentum going into that to run in the two points for sure.”
For Tammy Slaughter, the mother of Jeffery Slaughter, the game was a “nail biter.”
“I am so very proud of those boys,” she said. “I’m just proud that they had an opportunity to do it their senior year.”
Preston said the Eagles were “under dogs” going into the game last week.
This week against Linden, Preston said if the boys “play hard, they can accomplish a bunch.”
Kick off in Pleasant Home at Eagles Field is at 7 p.m. this Friday.