Excitement in Noble
No. 6 Noble is playing in its first state semifinal football game Friday against No. 2 McGuinness at Western Heights. That means the program’s first Thanksgiving morning practice.
NOBLE — The white, folded papers with markings from crayons full of encouragement are taped to the locker room door full.
Play hard.
I hope you guys score a touchdown.
Noble High School football players have read hundreds of those letters.
Some even hung them around their lockers.
“To most people it might not mean anything, but to me it means a lot,” Noble star senior Danny Arebalo said.
“You have those little kids looking up to you.”
In a week of thankfulness, the hand-written notes from elementary students are just another bright spot around the Noble football team that has every reason to be grateful.
No. 6 Noble is playing in its first state semifinal football game Friday against No. 2 McGuinness at Western Heights.
That means the program’s first Thanksgiving morning practice.
For coach Greg George, it’s the best day of the year.
In his 25 years of coaching, he’s never practiced this particular day.
He still planned the day months ago, saying on a local radio show that his goal was to practice on Thanksgiving.
He even planned a traditional feast for the players afterwards. Now, they’ll get that in the commons area after practice.
Some of the fathers in the booster club will have everything prepared for around 70 players.
“I wouldn’t want to have a Thanksgiving dinner with anyone else but my brothers out here,” Arebalo said. “The bond we have is unlike any other team. We’re a family.”
The entire community is proving to be one big family.
Main Street has been covered in blue and gold. A police escort is scheduled to lead the team down that area before Friday’s game.
And the entire community may shut down for the actual game.
“This is your typical story of a team that makes the semifinals … I’m assuming,” George said.
But there’s little that’s normal about this playoff run.
Noble went 8-2 in the regular season to finish third in its district. Then it beat traditional powers Tulsa Kelley and Ardmore on the road.
It’s taken an effort from seven players who play on both sides of the ball.
Arebalo, a running back and linebacker, has carried the load. Quarterback Hayden Lingle has been opportunistic.
The run has been more than anyone expected from a program that continually struggled.
“The decisions you make and how you a run a program, you always wonder if you’re doing it the right way,” George said.
“It validates what you do, how you do it.
"We’re not a hot, fertile recruiting bed with D-I kids just falling off (trees.)
“These are good, hard-nosed kids that are coachable.
“You tell them what to do and they play hard for you.”
Now, no matter what happens Friday, they can be thankful for success.