The coaches coach and the players play, but games like Friday night in Franklin, Tenn. make Jay Johnson and Brian Kelly want to go back to the days of when they were playing basketball.
Johnson, who directs the Franklin Rebels, defeated Kelly’s Centennial Cougars by a score of 64-57 and both coaches were impressed with the crowd at Franklin High School.
“Nights like tonight are what high school basketball is all about,” Johnson said. “I’m glad our kids get to experience these games.”
The gym was packed, the crowd was boisterous and the student sections for both schools came out in full force.
“The students were great,” the Franklin coach said. “Once we start I don’t notice. You just got this feeling when you walked in during warm-ups.”
Kelly addressed his Centennial team before the game on how special these rivalry games are.
“The atmosphere was just super,” Kelly said. “I told the guys that no matter what happens in these games, here or at our place, remember the moment.”
Some of the players in the game will continue their basketball careers in college and some will not, but every athlete involved will be able to look back years from now on Jan. 18, 2008 and say, ‘That was some crowd at Franklin.’
“Not many kids get to feel the appreciation of a couple thousand people,” Kelly said. “It’s a great thing all the way around.”

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This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 @ 10:54 pm on the category Nashville, Franklin High, Centennial High, Tennessee boys high school basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.