SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) -
The biggest game they'll ever play is bigger than any of them can even imagine.
Savannah High and Johnson will meet for a state championship and so much more Saturday, when they play in the moment and for a lifetime's bragging rights to be held over neighbors, rivals and friends. And it might only be natural that high school students, who sometimes can't see past the end of the week, don't fully grasp the historical significance of this game.
"The only think I'm thinking about,'' said Savannah High player Jamal Norman, "is getting our picture on the wall of our school.''
"That's the beauty and the irony, they don't get it,'' added Gator Rivers, who reached the state championship game in consecutive years while playing at Beach High School in the 1960s. "It's going to be something they talk about and remember for the rest of their lives.''
This will be only the second time two Savannah boys teams have met for a state title.
The last time was 45 years ago, and Rivers still hears about Beach's loss to Johnson that year.
"That 1968 game, (Johnson) coach Ed Daniels, he always rubbed that game in my face,'' said Rivers, whose Bulldogs had won the state title in 1967. "He keeps telling me that I went backcourt and that's why we lost. But I don't remember going backcourt.''
The details might get blurred by the passing of years. Point totals will surely be forgotten.
But there will never be any mistaking the outcome, and who gets to use it as a dagger in some social or professional context years from now, when Saturday's kids are adults and the game they play tomorrow is bigger even than a state championship game.
"It's a lot more than a game,'' says Rivers. "They're putting themselves in Savannah basketball history.''
And it's a history that will last long after time expires Saturday.
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