History meets tradition for Cedartown football
When it comes to sports that have traditions so closely tied into their fabric, football is pretty high on the list.
It’s not just the players and the exciting plays made on the field, but it’s everything that goes on around the game.
High school football creates an atmosphere where traditions thrive, and while some may disappear, the memory of them can keep it alive. Such was the case with Cedartown High School’s football team.
When Jamie Abrams was hired as the Bulldog’s head coach in early 2020, he talked with some of the team’s former players.
“When I first got here several former players told me what a special feeling it was to walk down the bleachers on Friday nights, so we decided to do that even though the locker room isn’t in the old gym anymore,” Abrams said. “I believe the guys really enjoy it.”
The Dawg Walk had become a standard part of the pregame activities for any contest played at Cedartown Memorial Stadium now. But there are also traditions that bring back the feeling of sitting in the stands and cheering on your favorite team.
It’s hearing the school’s fight song, played by its own marching band, watching the team run through the large paper banner that was created especially for that week’s game by the cheerleaders, and smelling the popcorn, or hot chocolate on cold nights.
“I think tradition is extremely important in high school football, really football at any level,” Abrams said. “I believe tradition
is one of the things that makes Cedartown special.”
Cedartown cheerleading coach Kim Allred said they make sure to be as much of a part of the traditions
on Friday night as possible. She said that they are planning to have the cheerleaders join the football team on the Dawg Walk at some point this season, building on the tradition.
“I think the community as a whole and the traditions are what makes it what it is,” Allred said. “The traditional run through signs and just doing the way we do homecoming, I mean just all the different traditions. It means a lot to all of us.”
Allred’s assistant coach, Ashley Payne, is a former Cedartown High School cheerleader, and Allred said she has been one to keep up with the many traditions they do.
For the football team, Abrams said they also do a special helmet ceremony during the season that the players enjoy.
“I’m not sure they help us be any more successful, but they certainly make Fridays special,” he said. “I’m not sure if there is one specific tradition that gets me in football mode or that I am ever out of football mode.”