Share
Jabari Cuffie is a defensive tackle for Independence High, and you know how big and intimidating linemen can be. So when he walks into the locker room, smiling a cheerful smile, I assume I have the wrong guy.
How tall are you?
"I'm 5-9," he says. He sees me look and adds, "Or 5-10."
At 7 p.m. tonight on Independence's field, Cuffie will play the biggest game of his life. As a member of the junior varsity last season, he watched. Tonight, he'll start.
What do you think it will be like, going against Butler High?
"Unexpected," he says.
The only way to understand, he explains, is to be part of it.
"Then you know," says Cuffie.
The rest of us have to guess. And we do. I heard the Carolina Panthers talk about Independence-Butler in their locker room. Maybe you and your friends have talked about high school ball for the first time since September. On this night, the marquee athletic event in Charlotte involves not professional or college athletes but 17-year-olds.
It's like NASCAR returning to North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Undefeated Butler is ranked No. 1 in the Observer's Sweet 16 and equally undefeated Independence is ranked No. 2. Despite the rankings, Independence is the New York Yankees and Butler is the Boston Red Sox, minus the rings.
Independence is the top program in the city and state. Butler wants what the Patriots have.
"We're not ready to relinquish it," says Independence guard Anthony Navarro.
All week, classmates have asked Navarro if the Patriots are ready.
"Of course we are," he says. "We want it so badly."
To get to Independence on Thursday afternoon, my GPS takes me past Butler. Many of the Patriots and Bulldogs went to school together when they were younger. Daniel Rhodes, an Independence tight end and tackle, attended eighth grade with two of the Bulldogs. Alas, they've lost touch.
You OK with that?
He's OK with that.
I talk to Rhodes and then Navarro and then Cuffie in the Independence locker room. We sit on the green benches, much of the paint chipped away. On the bulletin board behind them is the team's goal.
2009 CHAMPIONSHIP
NO EXCUSES!
NO EXPLANATIONS!
In the adjoining office, four coaches work the way every boss hopes his employees do. They use computers and draw plays on a white dry-erase board. Almost nobody talks and almost every movement feels loaded with purpose.
Head coach Tom Knotts looks as if he hasn't slept since October. His unintentional custom is to wake up about 3:30 a.m., long before his infant son, and wait for sleep to return. When that fails, he gets on his mountain bike and rides at 5:30 a.m.
Only the ride is solitary. As the T-shirt hanging on the locker room wall says, "Independence football is everything." It also is everybody.
"We wouldn't have any of this if it weren't for T.K. (Knotts) and all the players who came before us," says Cuffie, the defensive tackle, as he extends his arms to include the locker room, weight room and tradition of success. "We want to do our share. We want to have our legacy." At 190 pounds, he will attempt to create his against Butler linemen who are SUVs to his Mini-Cooper.
You said you were 5-9, right?
"Five-ten," Cuffie says.
By kickoff, he'll be 6- feet. The game is that big.
