A Cumberland team wins -- no matter what

FAYETTEVILLE -- In the up-down world of high school football, here is one solid bet: At least one Cumberland County school will go home a state champion this weekend.

In a rare alignment of the prep sports firmament, two Fayetteville-area high schools -- Douglas Byrd and Seventy-First -- will play each other for the Division 4-A championship at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill on Saturday. A third -- Jack Britt High -- will compete for the state's 4-AA title there on Sunday.

The prospect of having state champs in their midst has alumni from the three schools pulling out the weathered T's and sweatshirts from their alma maters.

But in the county's southwestern corner, where Byrd, Seventy-First and Britt are neighbors, the loyalties of parents, teachers and business owners are tested. Not only are the schools close to one another, population growth has redrawn district boundaries so that even families who have never moved can have strong ties to more than one school.

"Everybody's taking sides, and we're all out there recruiting our fans; 'Go with us! Go with us!' " said Jackie Warner, principal at Byrd.

For years before she became principal, Warner was the cheerleading coach at Byrd, pulling for the football team that Bob Paroli coached for a quarter-century. Now, Paroli is at Seventy-First, Byrd's rival in Saturday's game.

"So we have that connection," Warner said wistfully, "but now, we're on opposite sides of the field."

Byrd's success this season is especially delicious for students because the school had to forfeit last season when a player was found ineligible.

Byrd, a perennial athletic powerhouse through the 1980s and 1990s, lost much of its Eagles muscle eight years ago when Jack Britt High opened and siphoned off many of its students.

Now, Warner said, "Everybody is saying that maybe Byrd is coming back."

Mayor Anthony Chavonne graduated from Byrd, and he sent the school a note of congratulations this week. No fool, he sent congratulatory notes to the others, too.

Businesses around the school have begun to show their support, allowing boosters to put signs in the windows or using their marquees for partisan purposes. Elementary and middle schools whose students will eventually end up at one of the high schools have been making banners of support.

The schools plan to run buses to UNC's Kenan Stadium for the games, hoping as many as a couple thousand fans will come for each team.

Falcons have a history

Al Miller, principal at Seventy-First, says the excitement is spreading.

"We feel blessed to even be a part of it," he said.

Seventy-First is the oldest of the three schools, tracing its roots to a township named by 19th-century settlers, descendants of the 71st Regiment of the Scottish Highlanders. The 71st had fought in a rebellion against the British in the 1700s but were defeated. Afterward, their chiefs were executed and their land confiscated.

Their namesake school has enjoyed a more distinguished history.

The Falcons won back-to-back state championships in the 1980s, a time when, Miller says, "We were a school nobody wanted to have to play."

Seventy-First has also had times when its teams struggled and, while winning isn't everything, Miller knows it's more fun than losing.

"It's amazing what a winning team does to a high school," Miller said, "the way it sets the tone for the entire year. It brings spirit into the school. It creates this energy that you can build on the entire year. Everything sparkles."

Buccaneers' baby

A couple of miles away at Britt, the Buccaneers were out on the practice field in the late afternoon this week as a setting sun turned the sky Buccaneer purple and gold. Richard Bailey, head football coach since the school opened, said he planted an idea with these boys he doesn't entertain with every team: You could be state champions.

The thought had crossed his mind as early as last spring. Among the 62 players were several returning members from last year's team, and some promising kids from the junior varsity squad. So when his wife, Laura, told him she was expecting the couple's first child together, Bailey whipped out the calendar on his cell phone and noted that the due date was perilously close to the state championship game.

"I hope that's going to be a problem," he told her.

With the game approaching and the baby a week late, Laura Bailey's doctor sent her to the hospital Monday night to induce labor. Carson Britt Bailey was born Tuesday, leaving his mom time to recover and get to Sunday's game.