Small town homecoming football games are loaded with tradition and pride.  Devildog football has been a huge part of the Travelers Rest community since former marine and first TRHS head football coach Chico Boling selected the Devildog as the mascot for the team.

The TRHS homecoming game on September 23 was no exception. Families including several generations of TRHS graduates filled the stands to watch their Devildogs take on the Southside Tigers who narrowly defeated the Devildogs last season in a last-minute fourth quarter eight- yard touchdown run.  Head football coach Ray Gould says that the Homecoming game is very important to the community because TRHS has not won a homecoming game in eleven years and he says that he “[intends] to change that.”

The Devildogs started the evening strong by scoring a touchdown early in the first quarter on a ten-yard run by Deonte Byrd.  Byrd scored again with a little over a minute left in the first quarter.  However, the Devildogs failed both extra-point attempts. The Devildogs took a 12-0 lead into half-time as the Tigers were held scoreless.

The Tigers threatened to score early in the third-quarter but an interception by Devildog James Burnside shut down their drive.  With only forty-one seconds left in the third-quarter the Devildog defense stopped the Tigers on the two yard and prevented a touchdown.  Both teams were held scoreless in the third-quarter.

The Tigers did score early in the fourth quarter to cut the Devildog lead to 12-6. The Devildogs were able to block the extra point.  The Tigers threatened to score two more times in the fourth quarter but the Devildog defense held and closed the game with a 12-6 win.

This win marks the first homecoming win in the current stadium and in the words of 1986 graduate, Sonja Bryant, it will “hopefully starts a new homecoming winning tradition at TRHS.”