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The Actual End of the Wildcats’ Football Season

by | Nov 27, 2022

The post-game team photo in Richmond.

 

Saturday, I got up a little bit early and made a trip to Richmond, Virginia.

My “day trip” to the University of Richmond was with the sole purpose of watching the Davidson Wildcats in their third straight FCS playoff appearance.

As you may have read in News of Davidson last week, the history of Wildcats football at Richmond is more than 100 years old. Unfortunately, the Wildcats didn’t repeat the victory that they earned in 1920.

And quite frankly, I almost didn’t write this article. As is the case with most Davidson athletic events, I often just add my photos to the press releases written by the team at the Davidson Sports Information office.

However, I changed my mind about writing up a special article about the game.  This morning someone said they were sad to see the ‘Cats’ season end the way it did.

Coach Abell’s post-game talk.

I thought about it for minute and then realized that anyone who thought the season ended with the final play of the fourth quarter in Richmond didn’t know the rest of the story.

So, here’s the rest of the story.

When the game ended, there were the traditional handshakes, and even a few hugs, with the Richmond Spiders’ team members and coaches.

And then the team surrounded Coach Abell. Most members took a knee and listened to the words of their coach. When he finished, they gathered around and said “we on three”, “one, two, three – WE!”

But that still wasn’t the “end of the season.” The coaches had the seniors stay put. Then the first, second, and third-year scholar-athletes lined up on the 10-yard, 5-yard, and goal lines respectively. The seniors then walked up and down each line to say their farewells to their teammates. The coaches, assistants, team managers, and even athletic director Chris Clunie were standing in the end zone to add their words of support.

“WE” on the helmet in the foreground, and the football scholar-athletes lined up to bid farewell to their senior teammates.

And after all those farewells, the team lined up for a final team photo – the photo at the top of this article. The team faced the track, where hundreds of their family members were standing by patiently to greet their favorite scholar-athletes.  When the team was “photo ready,” family members and friends snapped away and captured the photo.

Those photos captured the actual end of the Wildcats’ season.

Go ‘Cats! Congratulations on a great season!

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