In the fall of 2024, we started the football season 0–5.
I had never been 0–5 in my life.
And it wasn't as if we were simply showing up every Friday night and getting run off the field. We lost 38–28 to Oak Mountain. Then 28–7 to Homewood, 23–14 to Ramsay, 20–7 to Carver, and 20–14 to Wenonah.
It felt like bad break after bad break. We were competing. We were fighting. We just weren't winning.
The Monday after the Wenonah loss, I went back to Wenonah for a JV game. I was pretty down. When you've coached as long as I have, you learn not to make too much of any one game or season, but 0–5 was unfamiliar territory for me.
The Wenonah varsity players were working the chains that night. I walked over toward the sideline, and one of their players—a really big guy who I believe was their starting offensive tackle—saw me.
He smiled.
“Coach, last Friday night, man... THAT WAS A GAME!”
Then he gave me a hug.
That stuck with me. Their kids were terrific. And I was reminded that beating Briarwood still meant something to them. Our record didn't matter. They knew what kind of fight they had just been in.
Then he said something else.
“Coach, it was a war! That big #90... I felt him.”
Number 90 was Garrett Witherington, one of our defensive linemen. Garrett is now a freshman defensive lineman at Virginia Tech. He has been playing a good number of snaps this season under James Franklin.
But that night, he was just #90.
“I felt him.”
For some reason, those three words hit me.
Here I was thinking about 0–5. Wins and losses. What had gone wrong. All the things coaches think about when the scoreboard isn't cooperating.
This kid wasn't thinking about any of that. He remembered the battle. He remembered the guy across from him. He remembered what it felt like to compete against somebody who gave him everything he had.
And suddenly I remembered something too.
That's part of what Friday night football is supposed to be about.
I went home that night and wrote a song.
I originally called it “You Felt Me.”
The chorus said:
Yeah, I know you felt me, in the heat of the fight
We battled like soldiers under those lights
Didn’t care 'bout the score, just the heart on the line
When we shake hands, it’s more than the grind.
'Cause it’s not the win or the loss I see,
It’s the respect, man, yeah, you felt me.
I wrote it about two players walking away from a football game knowing something about each other that nobody sitting in the stands could completely understand.
And then something pretty crazy happened.
We didn't lose again that season.
The following Friday, September 27, we hosted Leeds. We were 0–5.
Before the game, our “Voice of the Lions” Scott Kellner, started playing a song over the stadium speakers. He hadn't told me he was going to do it.
It took me a second. Wait a minute. That's my song.
Then we went out and beat Leeds 31–14.
Afterward, people started asking about the song. One of our assistant coaches told me his daughter had actually tried to Shazam it during the game. When he told her it was Coach Mathews' song, apparently she gave him a somewhat bewildered look—which is probably the appropriate reaction.
Our offensive coordinator's wife, who teaches at the school, found me and said, “I loved the song.”
The next week we beat Corner 31–6. Then John Carroll, 21–17. Then Hayden, 50–16.
On November 1, we played our final game. We had missed the playoffs, and McAdory—a 6A playoff team—came to our place. We won 55–35 in one of those wonderfully fun Friday-night football games.
A few more people asked afterward:
“Was that your song they played before the game?”
And I just said yes... it really is no big deal... just fun!
Somewhere along the way, the song became part of our Friday-night routine. We still play it just before kickoff at home games.
And here's a completely meaningless statistic that I nevertheless enjoy: since we started playing it before home games, we're 10–3 at home.
I don't believe in superstition, so I'm not taking credit for those ten wins, but I do love what the song has come to represent.
Because the strange thing is that “Fri. Night Lights” wasn't written after a win.
It was written when we were 0–5.
It came from an opposing player. It came from a Monday night JV game when I was discouraged and a young man on the other team unknowingly reminded an old coach what was important.
The season eventually turned around. We finished with five straight wins.
But that's almost beside the point.
The kid from Wenonah had already given me the lesson before we won another game.
The cheers fade. The scoreboard gets turned off. Most people eventually forget who scored what.
That's the story behind “Fri. Night Lights.”
The song officially releases on Spotify Thursday, September 17.
And every time I hear it playing in our stadium before kickoff, I still think about being 0–5, standing on the sideline at Wenonah on a Monday night, and one big offensive lineman with a huge smile saying:
“Coach... that big #90—I felt him.”
BTW- I hope other stadiums get to enjoy it, it is a fun pre-game song celebrating a good part of the American experience!
Here is the Soundcloud Link: Fri Night Lights
Verse 1: Friday night lights, the whole town’s here Band’s playin’ loud, you can feel the cheer Mud on my cleats, leather in my hand Drums pound the beat, I’m a warrior in the land. Whistles blowin', crowd on its feet Sweat in the air, it's time to compete But all that noise, it drifts away When it's just you and me in this 4-quarter fray. Chorus: Yeah, I know you felt me, in the heat of the fight We battled like soldiers under those lights Didn’t care 'bout the score, just the heart on the line When we shake hands, it’s more than the grind. 'Cause it’s not the win or the loss I see, It’s the respect, man, yeah, you felt me. Verse 2: Grass stains on my jersey, pain in my bones But you gave it back, every inch we owned Could hear the cheerleaders, fans in the stands But out here, it’s just me and this man. Helmet to helmet, down to the wire Pushin’ through mud, through the dirt and the fire When the game clock ticks down to none We’re both standin’ tall, knowin’ what we’ve done. Chorus: Yeah, I know you felt me, in the heat of the fight We battled like soldiers under those lights Didn’t care 'bout the score, just the heart on the line When we shake hands, it’s more than the grind. 'Cause it’s not the win or the loss I see, It’s the respect, man, yeah, you felt me. Bridge: All the cheers, they’ll fade away But that war we fought will always stay The glory ain’t in the crowd or the fame It’s in the respect we earned in the game. Chorus (repeat): Yeah, I know you felt me, in the heat of the fight We battled like soldiers under those lights Didn’t care 'bout the score, just the heart on the line When we shake hands, it’s more than the grind. 'Cause it’s not the win or the loss I see, It’s the respect, man, yeah, you felt me. Outro: Friday night lights, they’ll shine again But it’s that handshake, man, that says where we’ve been.
Come find me on Spotify- I have new songs coming out soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment