Golden Gate High School, located in Naples, Fla., opened its doors four years ago with a mix of students who had come from other schools in the area. The Golden Gate Titans coach, Dave Tanner, knew he’d have to build tradition from the ground up, so he and athletic director Pete Seitz, came up with a theme: “Get on the Titans Express.” Since then, students and local residents have done exactly that, as the Golden Gate squad has improved by one win each season. (This year, the team finished 5-5 and had three players receive scholarships to Division I universities.) Tanner even went online and found a locomotive air horn that now resounds throughout Golden Gate Stadium every time the Titans score. With more than 30 years in coaching, Tanner has taught his teams to win at every stop along the way. And with a talented, young coaching staff and players eager to build their program, he’s creating the same kind of tradition at Golden Gate.

Tupelo High School has a tradition of excellence in just about everything. Built in a campus style, the school consists of 14 buildings, and the 2,000 students excel in performing arts, academics and a range of athletic pursuits. In the early 1990s, the Tupelo Golden Wave football program had a run of success that culminated in the 1992 state title. After that, the program hit a lull, but the Golden Wave is surging again behind fourth-year head coach Eric Collins. Tupelo has made the state playoffs in three of Collins’s four seasons as coach, including this year—when they lost by a single late touchdown against perennial powerhouse South Panola. Collins is building his program’s tradition from the ground up, with an emphasis on team above self. The players have taken to eating team dinners on Fridays before their games. At the end of each game, they stand in front of the band to sing the school’s alma mater. They’re also giving back to the Tupelo community in a variety of ways. The result? The school’s 7,500-seat stadium is rocking again as Golden Wave football continues its renaissance.

Beaufort High may not have the resume of a powerhouse, but since hiring coach Mark Clifford in 2004, the football program at the South Carolina high school has taken off. Clifford arrived after the 2003 season and took the Eagles to the Lower State playoffs (compiling a 13-1 record along the way) the following year. This season, the team finished 9-2 in the regular season and has reached the Class 4A Division II semifinals. In the process, Clifford has steadily built a proud tradition of character, sportsmanship and community. The school holds special events during football games honoring local elementary schoolers, military servicemen and women and area emergency medical services workers. The elementary kids get free admission to Beaufort High games if they wear their school T-shirts. Beaufort has also added traditional state powers like Summerville to its schedule, while developing a healthy rivalry with crosstown Battery Creek High.

When Hull High football coach Jerry McGrath starting coaching the Pirates five years ago, the small school in Hull, Mass., had only 35 players on its football team. Now the Pirates boast 65 players, even though their school is the smallest (only 200 male students) in its league. Despite its size, Hull has had a big impact on the community. Every season, the Pirates and their coaches hold a practice with the community's youth football organization. They run drills in full equipment, working side by side with players ages 8 to 13. After the drills, the Hull High captains talk about their experiences in football, helping gain new fans and a new appreciation of the school's program. Last year, the school's seniors started a cheering section called The Ultimate Fan. A love of Hull High sports, plus a gold Pirates T-shirt are the only requirements. Currently, the club has temporarily run out of shirts because so many students and townspeople have signed up.

Sitting 40 miles northwest of Las Cruces, the community of Hatch, N.M., has long been known as the home of the world's best chile pepper. The annual Hatch Chile Festival, held around Labor Day each year, draws big crowds to the small town (about 3,000 people live in the area). These days, Hatch is known as a football town, too. Coach Charles Gleghorn arrived at Hatch Valley High in 2001, and his teams quickly became perennial contenders, winning Class 2A state championships from 2003 to '05. (The Bears became a Class 3A school last year.) Fans of the program love their Bears, and they love grilling out. The fun begins during the team's two-a-day practices, when football players' families grill for team cookouts that follow the afternoon practices. During the season, fans pay for parking spaces alongside the football field so they can tailgate during the game. Hatch Valley also offers free admission and T-shirts to local elementary schoolers, helping build a tight-knit community atmosphere with the Bears at the center. Hatch Valley's success on the gridiron has boosted the entire school, with pep rallies before rivalry and playoff games, and more attention for other winning programs, like soccer and volleyball.

To stay strong on the football field, the Capital High players start their
work long before the season's first snap. Athletes at the Helena, Montana,
school have a tradition of holding 6 a.m. weightlifting sessions throughout
the summer months. When considering their favorite aspects of the program,
the returning players always mention these workouts, and at times a visitor
might find more than 150 students taking part. That enthusiasm and work
ethic pervades everything Capital's players do. In fact, the team wears
T-shirts that bear the motto, "Attitude, Academics, Athletics", and at the
bottom, ". in that order". The shirts reflect a rare combination of academic
and athletic excellence that has carried Capital to the top of the state
rankings, year in and year out.

Texarkana, Texas
Texas High School

The town of Texarkana straddles the Texas-Arkansas border and boasts one of
high school football's most unique rivalries. With 64,000 people combined in
the two towns (the Texas side and Arkansas side each has its own mayor and
city government), Texarkana comprises two municipalities but one shared
sense of community. That goes for football too. On 94 occasions since 1912,
the Texas High Tigers have played the Arkansas High Razorbacks-these guys
were the Razorbacks even before the University of Arkansas adopted the
nickname-in a crosstown game embraced by young and old. (The teams tied,
17-17, on Sept. 7, before a crowd of 10,000 people.)

At Arkansas High, fans prepped for this year's game by decorating their
cars and designing an Orange Crush T-shirt with the slogan "Tiger. It's
what's for dinner!" The morning of the game, they gathered at the Orange
Crush and Tiger Tail Breakfast, a pep rally that included mass consumption
of orange soda and "tiger tails" - orange donut twists.

At Texas High, Tigers students and supporters countered with an
afternoon pep rally of their own, the Bacon Fry. The Arkansas razorback is a
type of hog, so the frying of bacon symbolizes what the Texas squad hopes to
do to Arkansas later in the day.

About 15 years ago, the schools' student councils introduced a prize for
the victor of each year's game - a battle axe, with a stripe added in the
winner's school colors each year. While the teams split most of their
decisions during the 1990s, Texas High won every contest for six years
straight until the Razorbacks tied the Tigers in this year's game.