I imagine most of you have seen the movie Remember the Titans about a public school in Virginia the 1970’s being desegregated and how its football team became a vehicle for positive change.

I watch it every chance I get. There’s a hopeless romantic still inside of me that likes a feel-good movie that actually is based on real events. That and my aunt who is an actress is in it

It’s rather neat to see her on screen and say, “Hey, I know her.”

We play a clip from the movie before football games that has Denzel Washington’s voice giving a pep talk to his players.

It sounds cliche’, I know. But if you remember, that was an actual team from an actual small town in the south and the local public school was a fundamental part of those kinds of small towns like West is to Clemmons.

West Forsyth is one of those few remaining schools in our area that can be claimed by a small town. It has been that way for three generations. All of 27012 feeds into West along with other surrounding areas of course.

So what happens at West happens to the town. And we are the Titans.

If you remember, the team from the movie as they walked into the stadium after warmups had a dance that brought them together.

Sound familiar?

And that team became family, albeit in a relatively short time.

You ladies are a family. Anyone who watches you play sees how you pick each other up, celebrate each other, and refuse to let setbacks keep you from achieving. And you instinctively understand that the power of the team as a whole is more than the sum of the individual parts put together.

Any competitor would have been disappointed in circumstances that would lead to having to play away from a home field advantage on campus, but what you ladies proved this past Thursday is that when you are with family, you are always home.

You ladies are family, so no matter that color of jersey you wear, you are the home team.

There will be a lot of people from your hometown traveling 111 miles to come see you play tonight on your “home” field. There will be parents, friends, coaches, students, teachers, and others who may have never kicked a soccer ball in their lives there to watch you play.

And there will be many more following from their homes via social media, texts, phone calls, internet, etc., but expect a crowd there at our Raleigh “home” field.

There are not many public schools in the state outside of metropolitan areas that have caused powerhouse programs to travel all the way to Clemmons, NC to play in state championship playoffs for multiple sports.

Tonight is no different. Even though the other team is traveling ten short miles, they still have to get into a vehicle and drive over to a field that tonight for a few hours will actually be part of the 27012 zip code – your home field to be exact.

There is no need to tell you that the other team will “remember the Titans.” They’ll know. You will leave it all on the field tonight.

Just remember that you are the Titans and there will be a very large family gathering tonight.

At our home field.

With the coolest flag of any school.