by Carly Dick
The Paducah Sun
December 10, 2024
Used with permission.
The Paducah Tilghman High School football team took home the 2024 Class 4A state championship title Friday. The team received a celebrity welcome Monday morning as players paraded through Paducah Public Schools.
The winners’ walk began at the high school, as the band and cheerleaders led the football team through the halls lined with students and teachers. The parade continued to Paducah Middle School, Morgan, McNabb, and Clark elementary schools, and Paducah Head Start.
Paducah Tilghman Football Head Coach Sean Thompson said the win is meaningful to more than just the team.
“It’s very huge for our program, our community, our school. We just wanted to bring something back that everyone could take pride in and be appreciative of,” he said. “We appreciate the support we’ve had all year. We appreciate the hard work that these kids put into finishing this thing and bringing it back to everybody.”
Thompson said losing out on the state championship last year fueled the football team to bring home the win this season.
“It’s the work [the players] put in. We decided, you know, after we lost last year, that we didn’t want to feel that way again,” he said. “Everybody put that feeling in their memory bank, and we used it at points in the season where we felt like we were having a lull, you know, just reminded them what it felt like when we didn’t finish the thing, and they really put the work in to make sure that didn’t happen again.”
Thompson said each of the players understand the larger implications the state championship win have for the community.
“You don’t know, as kids, if they understand the magnitude of the moment, but they definitely understood it, and they finished it and brought it back to everybody in Paducah,” he said.
Jack James, Paducah Tilghman quarterback who is committed to play at Troy University after high school, explained what the state title meant to him after a perfect 15-0 season.
“It means everything,” he said. “We’re going to be engraved in the history books forever; 15-0, first time to ever do it in Tilghman history. This school has so much history, and it’s awesome to be part of it.”
Martels Carter Jr., Paducah Tilghman safety, is committed to play football at the University of Kentucky. He said winning the state championship was a “surreal” moment, especially on the home field of his future football team.
“We ended it off on the right note, and I’m [starting] it on the right note, you know, 1-0 on the BBN field. What a great moment,” Carter said.
James emphasized the impact of football in his life so far, teaching him perseverance and discipline.
“Football has taught me everything. It’s taught me how to go through all types of adversity that I’m going to need later in life,” he said.