Commentary by Danielle Pelke

The North Jefferson News



Have you heard about all of the commotion in Warrior lately?

I’ve heard about it for the past year it seems like.

The new semi-professional football team, the Warrior Wildfire, has lit up the stadium at the old Warrior High School field and it has really caught fire.

The first home game was two weeks ago and there were around 800 people there to cheer on the Wildfire. I was a little worried that some of the flame may have died down this week with the second home game, but I was amazed that there were even more people at the second game.

My husband, Todd Pelkey, is the head coach, so I have had plenty of dealings with this local football team. The first game we played the East Alabama Raiders. We had already been told that we should be able to beat them, so we were happy to do so with a final score of 31-2.

Last week were told that we might not be so lucky. We faced off against the North Georgia Bulldogs. Todd talks to a few of their players in the off season, so he was really excited and nervous about this one.

The game proceeded as we had hoped. The Wildfire won by 30 points and took their record to 2-0. As the coach’s wife, I could not have been happier about the turnout and the enthusiasm shown at the last two games.

There were posters being held by the fans to cheer on their particular player. There was a guy with an incredibly loud horn at the first game. We loved it, because it just fired up the crowd that much more.

At these games, the crowd is so diverse. It is just awesome to sit back and look at all of the different types of people who join together for this football game. There are fans of all races and religions, but they all get together on Saturday nights to bring their support to the Wildfire team.

This team is made up of about 50 great guys, coming from all types of backgrounds. Some played professional ball, some played college and some stopped at the old high school fields, but they all love the sport and want to continue their careers with it.

Their passion is so obvious. If it isn’t obvious to the outsider, then you should just listen in on any phone conversations between them and the coach. They love what they do and they look forward to the next time they can pad up and hit someone else.

I can imagine that it takes out a lot of their stress when they get to take on their opponents, but we can’t forget that the other team is also hitting back at them. So far there haven’t been any serious injuries in the games. That just shows you how much God is watching over these crazy guys that put their health on the line for this team.

The next two weeks will be quiet around Warrior because of an away game Saturday against West Carolina and an open week next Saturday, but the following week I expect to see that large and excited crowd back out at the field ready to take on the next victims of the Wildfire’s flame.