A Union County high school football team returned to the field Monday night in their first game since unexpectedly losing their head coach.
Piedmont Coach Ron Massey died of natural causes a little more than a week ago.
Massey spent a quarter of a century mentoring young men in high schools across the state, and his death is uniting and inspiring a still grieving high school family.
As is customary, the Piedmont Panthers ran through a pregame smoke. But little about the game was normal.
“It’s not every Friday night. But we’re going to try and treat it like that,” said Coach Belk.
Spectators took part in a moment of silence to honor Coach Massey who has been coaching at Piedmont since 2008.
The Piedmont family is responding, purchasing more than 300 shirts for a Coach Massey memorial fund.
Massey’s mother Beverly Starr and other family members attended the game.
“He was a father to the fatherless, he was a brother to the brotherless, he was a son to the motherless,” said Starr.