Marietta will play the Blue Devils on the final weekend of the high school football season for the first time since 1967, and the community is excited.
While the team breaks down the film and prepares for the game on Saturday, Marita City School is inviting students and fans to participate in a series of Spirit Week events.
Merita City Schools Superintendent Drs. Grant Rivara said that Spirit Week was planned to commemorate the team, cheerleaders, athletic trainers and bands during this historic run.
On Monday, fans were encouraged to show their #bluedevilpride on social media.
Fans were invited to meet the team on Tuesday at the end of practice, with the first 100 children autographed to receive team photos.
On Wednesday, team members will parade all elementary schools in the system, as well as pre-kindergarten, as part of the “Be Somebody” parade, so that young students can cheer the team.
The Marietta High alumni are asked to show their old team colors on Thursday, and all fans are invited to a bonfire celebration and free cookout near the school track at 7 pm.
Finally, fans are asked to take to the streets of Marita from school to class at 4 pm on Saturday. The team leaves for the stadium.
“We’ve got a lot of fans who will travel to the state of Georgia,” Dr. Rivera said. “We are going to pack the place.”
In the meantime, the team will treat this week of practice like the others and get ready for the big game.
This is coach Richard Morgan’s fourth-year head of Margeta High School, and this decorated senior class is the first that he leads for his entire career.
This senior class includes several players offered to play college football, including Herald tight recruit Arick Gilbert, who has committed to play at LSU. Morgan says the group caught their knots early, but this prepared them for the game.
“The state championship is the culmination of all your hard work, so it means everything to these people,” Morgan told.
Morgan said that his senior class and the rest of his team’s players were like his sons, even though he only met them for four years.
“We’ve got an extraordinary bond,” Morgan said, “so they’ll always be part of this program, for me, forever.”
The Blue Devils will face national-level Laundes High School from Valdosta at 8 pm. On Saturday at Georgia State Stadium in Atlanta.