Avondale High Football and the Bell Trophy

Lyrics

Yeah! Friday night under the pines.
The lights hum over Clarendon Avenue.
You can feel it in the air. That October cool.
Whole damn town's pouring into the stands.
Find your spot. Let's go!

Cold concrete on the west-side bleachers.
Smell of cut grass and boiled peanuts in a paper cup.
Same chain-link fence my dad leaned on, yelling his lungs out.
Tonight it's Decatur. Or maybe it's Druid Hills.
Doesn't matter who wears the other jersey.
It's the same old argument we've been having
since George Willis first broke ground.
Since the first whistle blew in 1924.

All for the sound! All for the strike!
All for the iron cast in the stadium light!
That old 1924 soul!
Put the points on the board and make this town whole!
C'mon! Ring the bell!
RING THE BELL!

They say the old-timers, back in the forties, the fifties,
used to carry it here themselves. A team of them.
Right out of the schoolhouse doors, down the hill.
Felt the dead weight of it in their hands, the cold iron.
The same weight we feel in our chests right now,
fourth quarter, two minutes on the clock.
Every tackle, every yard, every desperate pass is for that one single note.
Just one.

All for the sound! All for the strike!
All for the iron cast in the stadium light!
That old 1924 soul!
Put the points on the board and make this town whole!
C'mon! Ring the bell!
RING THE BELL!

And for a second, it all goes quiet.
You just hear the quarterback's count, the pads hitting.
Every porch light on Berkeley and Kingston is waiting.
Every old Tudor slate roof holds its breath.
This isn't just football.
It's the sound of us. Being us. Right here.
It's the only sound that matters tonight.

ALL FOR THE SOUND! ALL FOR THE STRIKE!
ALL FOR THE IRON CAST IN THE STADIUM LIGHT!
THAT OLD 1924 SOUL!
PUT THE POINTS ON THE BOARD AND MAKE THIS TOWN WHOLE!
RING THE BELL!
RING THE BELL!

Yeah.
That's the sound.
That's Avondale winning.