Bulldogs honored with championship rings

According to Youngblood, a lot of the awards are based on exact data, not choices by coaches, so it really does come down to what the players do on the field.

He commended cheerleader coach Tina Swann for everything she did throughout the year and said she was deserving of recognition.

Youngblood said they wanted to send the seniors out in style so they all received a surprise — their jerseys framed — in addition to the expected championship rings.

“I had a lot parents compliment the way we did things,” Youngblood said. “The biggest compliment is when your cheerleader parents come up to you and thank you for the contributions that you’re including everybody. So, I think the program is in great standing.”

Youngblood said he wanted to have everyone open up their ring box at the same time.

“I felt like, you know, I’ve been different places doing this,” Youngblood said about ring ceremonies. “One of the things that I’ve always remembered is everybody doing it at the same time will give everybody the 'awwww' effect.”

The coach said getting everything together was one of the most stressful things he’s done in a while because he wanted to make certain everyone that helped along the way got the recognition they deserved.

“Our booster club did a tremendous job of getting people to help out,” Youngblood said.

A lot of the senior football players loved every bit of the ring ceremony.

Tavion Collins, senior defensive lineman, said it felt great to open up the box and see his championship ring inside.

“It felt amazing, all the hard work paid off,” Collins said, adding that seeing his jersey felt like he was in the Hall of Fame.

Jaden Moss, senior defensive wide receiver, said it was a good feeling getting his championship ring and it was really something to receive his framed jersey.

“It feels good to bring it back to the community,” Moss said about the state title for Thomson.

Nolan Norman, senior defensive back, said it felt good to receive his ring and the jersey.

“Yeah, because we can take it for the rest of our life, our future kids can have it and pass it down and so on,” Norman said.

Dez Boyd, senior defensive back, said it felt good because they’ve been working hard for this moment.

“It was just so exciting,” Boyd said, noting that the framed jerseys were a welcome surprise.

“It really made me excited that he let us take our jerseys home and keep our jerseys that we played in the state championship game,” Boyd said.

Quincy McCord, senior linebacker, said it felt good to receive his championship ring and his jersey.

"That surprised me I’m not going to lie,” McCord said about receiving his jersey.

D’Vonta Babbs, senior linebacker, said receiving his ring was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

“I’m just blessed to be in this moment,” Babbs said. “We didn’t expect to get our jerseys.”

Tyler Giles, senior kicker, said it whole event was great.

“It was such a great reward to get for so much hard work and dedication for the season,” Giles said, noting that represented something more.

Jack Gordon, senior offensive lineman, said it was a great feeling getting the championship ring.

“It was beautiful. Coach Youngblood did really good,” Gordon said about the design.

He added that all their hard work paid off and he thought it was amazing to receive his jersey, as well.

Cain Coulter, senior offensive lineman, said the ceremonies were emotional.

“It was kind of emotional, I didn’t know we were getting them,” Coulter said about getting his jersey.

Jimmy Stewart, senior offensive/defensive lineman, said that, at first, he felt some nerves until he opened up the box and saw his championship ring.

“It was a shock,” Stewart said.