Rabun Gap ready for Varsity Football on Friday Night

This Friday night, the Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School Eagles’ varsity football team will be playing its first game under the lights of their new stadium, says Athletic Director Dale Earnhardt.  “We are so excited.  I’ve been in boarding schools over 20 years and all those years we have played day games because a couple of schools I’ve been at did not have lights and I grew up in public school in North Carolina playing Friday nights under the lights.  You just can’t describe it to a community.  As a boarding school community, we are excited for that September 10th game, our first night game, to be able to have our students out, our families, and we are playing such a big opponent that is going to bring a big crowd, AC Reynolds from Asheville, NC, which is a 4A public school, and perennial powerhouse.  We are just excited and I think it is going to be a community event, that is what I’ve always visioned.  At a boarding school, we’ve got kids on Friday and Saturday night looking for things to do and now we are going to provide them with an opportunity to come down, grab some popcorn, grab a hotdog or hamburger, tailgate before with friends, and sit in the stands and cheer their students and buddies on in a football game under the lights.  Being such an international school, a lot of our international students it will probably be their first experience of a Friday night football game.  So, I can’t tell you how excited we are.  I think it is going to make it easier for our opponents, they are used to playing Friday night and having to come over here and play day games it is not easy for them.  My head of school, we’ve got all kinds of plans, we’re going to make it a festive evening and we hope a lot of people in the community will come out.  I know that when Rabun County and Franklin, the local schools, play they will be there but if they happen to be far away and they want to come watch football, we hope that they will be able to make it to one of our football games and come in and enjoy the environment,  So, we are excited, no doubt.”  The Rabun Gap Eagles are a competitive force in the Carolinas Athletic Conference and the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association.  Friday night’s game against AC Reynolds kicks off at 7:30pm.