Friday is not just any big day for Crenshaw Christian Academy; it is THE big day as the Cougars head to Troy to face Patrician for the AISA Class A State Championship game.

The game begins at 4 p.m. in Movie Gallery Stadium, but the festivities will begin much sooner.

“Our motto for the year has been ‘Find a Way’, and that’s what we’ll be doing Friday afternoon,” head coach Roland Jones said. “We’ll be the underdog–nobody thinks we can win, but we’ll be trying to find a way to do what we can do to win.”

The Cougars’ busy week included a press conference Tuesday at Huntington College for Coach Jones and his Cougars, all of it leading up to the big day.

The 11-1 Cougars will leave at 10 a.m. Friday in order to have lunch and watch the AISA Class AAA championship game between Bessemer Academy (10-3) and Pike Liberal Arts (10-1), which begins at 1 p.m.

Cougar fans are looking to line the streets from CCA all the way down South Forest Avenue to the red light in front of the Luverne Post Office when the Cougars leave Friday morning at 10.

“We would love to have everyone to come out Friday morning and wave to our young men as they go by and let them know we support them and that we love them,” CCA Administrator Angela Carpenter said.

“You can hold up signs, have shakers and use megaphones to show your support,” she added.

Supporters are asked to be at the school by 9 a.m. in order to get everyone lined up. Tickets are $10 each and will be on sale at the school office until 11:30 Friday morning. The money for tickets purchased at CCA will remain at CCA; the money for tickets purchased in Troy will go to the AISA.

CCA will hold its pep rally at 9:30 a.m. and dismiss school at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

“Whether we win or lose, we want our boys to know that they will always be ‘forever strong’, something else we’ve tried to live and play by this season,” Jones said.

“Patrician is 12-0, and they’ve won 25 straight games,” Jones added. “They are the defending Class A state champs. Our kids have played so hard –I just want all the kids to know that as long as they play as hard as they can Friday, they will have nothing to regret.”

CCA’s last AISA Class A State Championship win came in 1997 after defeating Sparta Academy in Evergreen.