Final Game of DHS Varsity Football Season
Coach Nash and Walt Anders in a tearful final game embrace.
by Audra H. Anders for The Aha! Connection
I love football. Particularly high school football. I’m so proud of Coach Mike Nash and this year’s Dunwoody football team and coaches and trainers and band and cheerleaders! Last night they clinched a playoff spot for the first time in many many years.
But I also loved football and the Dunwoody Wildcats when they were losing. So much so that my husband and I along with our friends the Troxels….started a huge tailgating tradition and Wildcat Walk back in 2017….. Kirk and I come from small towns with HUGE football programs. In fact, we went to rival high schools. Our Alabama high schools have radio and television programs so nobody must miss the game. Kirk researched and found a way to broadcast Dunwoody’s games in 2016. We gathered our WSB radio broadcast friend Bill Caiaccio and later another football parent, Mark Julian, to create a broadcast team. These three men continued to broadcast games long after their sons had graduated from DHS. They’ve turned it over to several dads including Scott Stephens that have morphed the radio broadcast into a YouTube video broadcast. Kirk, our sons, and I watch/listen to DHS football regularly. Josh Neel is one of the current broadcasters and he is so fun and entertaining and really makes you FEEL the excitement with each play.
Back to my love of football. It’s not just about the boys who play. It’s about the cheerleaders. The students who dress to a weekly theme and come out in droves to cheer. It’s about the announcers…Bob Fiscella does an amazing job! It’s about the local restaurants who feed the team each week. It’s about the Friday night lights and the music created by the band. It’s about the parent volunteers who raised money to build a practice field and add lights so all the teams can practice after dark. I remember the night Coach Nash turned the lights on for the first time! Fundraising and volunteering for DeKalb County football programs is critical because the county takes all the proceeds from game ticket sales and concessions and does not give it back to the teams.
More reasons I love football. Teamwork. Toughness. Hard Work. My boys learned life lessons during their years on football fields. They made friends they never would have met without football bringing them together. They are 22 and 25 and still love the game of football. And they still love their football teammates from childhood. And they still play fantasy football every year with their DHS friends.
I think the most important aspect I love about football and other sports is the coaches. The men who have poured out their time, effort, advice, and love on my children through the many sports they played are priceless to me. I hope they all know that. There are several who I continue to thank often. One of those is Mike Nash. He poured time, support, and love into both of my sons and still does. He has their cell phone numbers and reaches out to both from time to time. He seeks out my youngest on Auburn football weekends. My boys adore him. My hubby says Nash is the perfect combination of “honey and stinger…. exactly what young men need.” My family of four were celebrating via our family group chat from three different states last night when the Wildcats beat Riverwood on Senior/Homecoming Night! Every single one of us has followed up with congratulatory texts to Coach Nash. I’m sure his phone is still blowing up.
Losing isn’t as fun as winning and although my boys didn’t have winning DHS Football seasons, they won big in the area of team work, support, and LOVE from their coach. I’m so happy for everyone involved in DHS Football including the cheerleaders and the band and all of the coaches who have poured into Coach Nash’s Junior Wildcat feeder program. Fun fact: The current senior class is the first group of boys who were part of Nash’s Junior Wildcat program. Enjoy the ride boys….and thank you from the bottom of my heart Coach Mike Nash.
Sincerely,
Audra Anders
AKA mom of #11 from 2016-2019
For more information about Dunwoody Wildcat Football:
- Final Regular Season Game is @North Atlanta on November 3 at 7:30 PM. Get tickets here.
- Website
- YouTube Channel (please follow!)
Junior Wildcat Football Website
Thanks for all who have poured into the Junior Wildcat Program:
- Josh Neel
- Jim Davis
- Kevin Ryan
- Jon LeDoyen
- Tom Weeks
- Mike Nemetz
- Justin McClinton
- Rhett Hesprich
- Eric Oliver
- Matt Pearch
- Mark Moore
- Reid Harbin
- Connor Haynes
- Stevie D. Gephardt
- Justin Nemetz
- Doug Pearch
- Frank Quartararo
- Alan Salus
- Chris Poulos
- Scott Stephens
- Keith Johnson
- Nina Arnold
- Christina Weeks
2020 6th Grade Champs2021 7th Grade Runner-Up2023 7th Grade Region 1 Champs, 1 Seed for upcoming playoffs
And YOU have always been a champion of your kids and community! Thank you for your support through all their activities!!
Thank you so much Laurie. What a sweet thing to say!
Audra. You are and have always been awesome. Thank you
As are you Barbara! And that wonderful son you raised 🙂