Vance football brought home its first state championship in school history this season, and despite the current climate of the sports world due to coronavirus the school still made sure to celebrate the team's accomplishment by hosting a drive-up ring ceremony for the group.
"I think this moment almost symbolizes what sports is all about. You're going to have your good times, your rough times you just have to deal with it accordingly and keep going. This is one of those situations. It's not the ideal situation that we wanted to use to give our kids the rings, but we're making the best of it," Vance athletic director Carlos Richardson said.
Even though the team wasn't able to celebrate as it normally would, it was still great to see everyone from a distance.
“It felt amazing to see everybody again for the first time since coronavirus,” senior Michai Riley said.
“It was nice I expected nothing different because I'm here with my teammates, my coaches and everybody that helped make this happen,” senior Soloman Sutton Jr. explained.
So what about seeing those state championship rings in person for the first time?
"It's felt like Christmas man, just getting another gift,” Riley said.
“It felt good either way, I'm just glad we got the job done and I get to wear the hardware,” Sutton Jr. said.
Regardless of what the future brings for Vance football, this team's legacy will always be felt.
"I can’t even explain this,” Sutton Jr. said. “It's just an unthinkable feeling of just being the first team to ever win a state championship in football at Vance and then the way did it just got to thank God."
"It's the first. We've been there knocking on the door, but this group was able to kick it in and make a state championship an actual reality. Going forward kids think hey they did it I can do it too,” Richardson said.
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