Lions' celebration set for Jan. 4

By Marty Roney
Montgomery Advertiser

Prattville will ring in the New Year with a celebration honoring the Prattville High School football team's 6A state championship.

A parade through downtown and pep rally at Stanley-Jensen Stadium have been set for Jan. 4 beginning at 6 p.m. The Lions defeated the nationally ranked Hoover High School Buccaneers last Saturday at Birmingham's Legion Field, capping a 15-0 season. The Bucs had won the championship for the past four years.

"We want everyone to come out and show their support for our team and coaches," said Mayor Jim Byard, a 1984 graduate of Prattville High. Prattville last won the state championship during the 1984 campaign. "We had an impromptu celebration last Saturday night, but we want an official celebration honoring this tremendous accomplishment."

About 3,000 fans gathered downtown last Saturday night to welcome the victorious Lions home. The festivities included covering anything that wasn't moving on two blocks of Main Street with thousands of rolls of toilet paper.

Melanie Fields, a 1989 graduate of Prattville, plans on being at the parade, but said the bar has been raised pretty high following Saturday's hoopla.

"We went to the game and then came downtown afterwards," she said. "I screamed so much Saturday that I was hoarse in church the next morning. I was in junior high in 1984, and we rolled downtown then, too. I'm sure the parade will be great, but I don't think you could recapture the spirit of Saturday night right after the game."

School officials decided to delay the official celebration because this week was exam week at the high school and Christmas break began yesterday.

Attendance at the championship game was estimated at about 25,000-30,000.

"That's why the parade and pep rally are so important. We want to share it with the community," said Bill Clark, head football coach and athletic director of PHS. "It was amazing to look up at those stands and see all the Prattville folks. I've told everybody that we play for our school and we play for our families. But there's a higher purpose. We play for Prattville."