INDEPENDENCE, Va. – Football practice for Grayson County looks a little different in December--inside the school’s gymnasium.
They’ve never practiced this late in the year as the weather shifts to below freezing temps and falling snow. A lot of firsts come with making history.
“It’s a great group of kids they come in and work every day and you know they’ve been on a mission kind of since day one,” said Blue Devils head coach Stephen James. “You know, they’ve held to that.”
It’s been a season of ups and downs with a slew of injuries impacting the team at the start of the year. Sitting at a 1-2 record, the Blue Devils were then met with a turning point at Floyd County in week four.
“First two games were really rough for us with injuries and just sit and play to full potential,” said Blue Devils senior Mac Goad. “I think Floyd County--beating them like we did really helped get us going and prepared for the rest of the season.”
There’s no question Grayson County has dealt with just as much off the field as they have on the field this season.
Just a few days after that pivotal game in Floyd, Hurricane Helene swept through southwest Virginia--devastating towns like Independence.
“Obviously, here it was a pretty bad situation.”
The team and community came together. Senior Mac Goad was one of the players who made sure his teammates made it to practice while school was out for weeks.
“Most everybody on the team actually lives down through Elk Creek so when Route 21 was out, it made it really hard for a lot of those players to get to practice,” said Goad. “It added like an extra 25 minute drive to get here so it was hard on them especially with gas prices and moneywise so it was rough on everybody.”
“Anytime you’re dealing with 15 to 18 year olds you always worry about getting out of your routine again to work every day just preparing and mentally staying locked in to football,” coach James said.
But through adversity, the Blue Devils found their footing once again.
“We just started stepping up on defense and doing what we needed to do,” said Blue Devils senior Aaron Peterson.
Since Helene, Grayson County has won seven of its last eight games with improvements on the gridiron leading them to a region championship for the first time in program history. Now on the precipice of more history in the state tournament.
“It would be real big. We’ve never done it before so we’re super excited,” Peterson said.
Grayson County will play at Rye Cove in the VHSL Class 1 state semifinals Saturday at 2 p.m.