Only a few minutes remain in the fourth quarter as the undefeated Union High School Bears hang onto a seven-point lead over the Ridgeview High School Wolfpack in Saturday’s Class 2 regional football playoff.
Ridgeview has the ball, its quick-footed runners grinding out three yards here, four yards there, colliding again and again with the big wall that is the Union defense.
Can Union hold those runners off just a few more times?
The players from the Wise County towns of Big Stone Gap and Appalachia and nearby communities have earned 13 victories up to this moment — most of them led by head coach Travis Turner.
But Turner isn’t here to see them now, nor was he here one week earlier when they defeated Graham High School to advance in the playoffs.
Turner vanished from his Appalachia home Nov. 20, just as the Wise County school system confirmed that an unnamed staff member had been placed on administrative leave. Now Turner, the subject of a Virginia State Police search, has been charged with 10 crimes involving child pornography.
* * *
At noon, two hours before Saturday’s game begins, Union fans are already filling the home team stands at Phil Robbins Field in Big Stone Gap’s Bullitt Park. The park is named for an 1800s local coal baron, while the stadium and football field are named in memory of a state championship football coach at Union’s predecessor, Powell Valley High School.
The school is called Union because it consolidated Powell Valley with nearby arch-rival Appalachia High School — where Turner was a star player coached by another state championship leader, the late Tom Turner, his father.
The air is filled with chatter about today’s game, Union’s flawless season, the gorgeous blue sky weather with a slight chilly breeze — anything but the mystery of Travis Turner’s disappearance.
Seeing a reporter coming their way, notebook in hand, fans make it clear: They don’t want to discuss Turner. Today is about the kids.
By now, national and international media have become fixated on Turner’s vanishing and his alleged crimes. The New York Times has reported the initial story, and the rumor is that the Times has one or more reporters back in town today, sniffing for clues and seeking comments.
The Times described Big Stone Gap as “a mountain town with a barbershop, a few restaurants and some shuttered shops.”
The people who live there know that the town is more than that. Big Stone Gap is home to the official state outdoor drama of Virginia, “Trail of the Lonesome Pine,” along with four museums, 10 public parks, a greenbelt walking trail and other trails. It hosts the annual Blue Highway music fest, the popular Home Craft Days annual music and craft festival, and boasts an increasingly busy downtown with several restaurant-bar combinations that offer live music several nights a week.
Big Stone Gap also produced best-selling novelist Adriana Trigiani, who directed the film of her namesake novel right here in town, boosting its tourism traffic.
A reporter for the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail is attending her first American football game today. No one will give her a comment about Turner, she says.
Parents, young kids and older fans pack into the stadium while men in Union ball caps and jeans gather along the fence surrounding the field, prognosticating about their team’s odds in the contest to come.
At 1 p.m., both Union fans and Ridgeview fans erupt in shouts and applause as a bus pulls into Bullitt Park carrying Eastside High School’s Spartans team, which lost its playoff contest with Rye Cove High School the day before. Like Union, Eastside is in Wise County. Horns blow, cowbells clang and everyone jumps to their feet as the Spartans arrive to the thundering guitars of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” over the intercom.
Union’s video crew is on the field, waving hands, exhorting the crowd to cheer. The horns and hooters wail.
The warm, rich aroma of hot dog chili and cheese-covered nachos fills the air. On the track, Union cheerleaders wave huge signs: LET’S GET LOUD. MAKE SOME NOISE!
Union students, in their dedicated stadium section, rise to taunt Ridgeview fans with a shout: “We can’t hear you! We can’t hear you!” It’s matched with hollers from Wolfpack devotees in the stands across the field.
The Union kids launch a raucous, booming call-and-response chant that gathers up more voices across the stadium:
“Everywhere we go, everywhere we go,
People wanna know, people wanna know,
Who we are, who we are,
So we tell ’em, so we tell ’em,
We are the Bears, we are the Bears,
The mighty, mighty Bears!”
* * *
Travis Turner, 46, left his house Nov. 20. The big man, standing 6 feet, 3 inches and weighing about 260 pounds, was wearing a gray sweatshirt, sweatpants and glasses. He was last seen walking off into the dense mountainside woods nearby.
That same day, state police headed to the home, aiming to speak with Turner about an investigation. But before they arrived, they learned he was not there.
* * *
Ridgeview wins the toss to start Saturday’s game and kicks to Union.
The Bears grind their way, yard after yard, to the 40-yard line, then to midfield.
Then, Union running back and linebacker Keith Chandler breaks through with a blazing 20-yard run deep into Ridgeview territory. Union fans rise, screaming. Confetti explodes into the air, bursts of red, pink, yellow and blue paper covering spectators and the stands, followed by clouds of tiny soap bubbles.
But the Bears ultimately punt and stop the Wolfpack on their own 39-yard line. Ridgeview grinds out another series of short runs, but the wall of Bears keeps pushing back hard.
On the Union sidelines, acting coach and defensive coordinator Jason Edwards is on the move. The wiry coach, sporting a long beard below fierce eyes, is pacing, pacing and shouting instructions.
Ridgeview quarterback Braxton Deal launches a pass, but Union’s Chandler zooms in, snatching the ball and racing to Ridgeview’s 20-yard-line. Union fans jump up, screaming. The horns squeal. The cowbells clang.
A couple of grinding carries later, Chandler breaks out and dashes as far as the 1-yard line — then Chandler score the day’s first touchdown.
* * *
After Turner failed to return home on the night of Nov. 20, his wife Leslie was told she must wait 24 hours before filing a missing person report.
Meanwhile, the county school system confirmed that a staff member had been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
* * *
In the second quarter, Ridgeview’s fast carriers continue trying to elude Union’s big defenders, digging and pushing their way to the Bears’ 35-yard line.
Then a Wolfpack receiver slips through for a breakout run to Union’s 2-yard line. Ridgeview at last carries the ball into the end zone, then kicks for the extra point. The score stands at 14-7. The smaller crowd of Wolfpack fans bellows out a great roar.
Ridgeview’s kick to the Bears lands in the Bears’ end zone, so Union’s next drive starts on its 20-yard-line.
The Bears struggle to gain a few yards, play after play. Union fans again taunt the Ridgeview side, chanting, “We can’t hear you!”
Union punts, and Ridgeview resumes its push against the wall of Bears. The Wolfpack can’t get down the field. Union fans are screaming, louder than ever. The cowbells clang.
Ridgeview’s Deel launches another pass. The receiver is slammed to the ground hard.
Ridgeview goes to the air again, but Union defensive back Brandon Bunch intercepts the ball, running to Ridgeview’s 42-yard line. The Bears push to the 20, then call a time out as the cheerleaders shout a rally cry: “Go Bears! Go Bears!”
By the quarter’s end, Ridgeview has regained the ball. The field is cleared as the Union band moves in for a halftime show of songs from the musical “Grease.”
* * *
On Nov. 25, state police confirm that Travis Turner has been charged with five counts of possessing child pornography and five counts of using a computer to solicit a minor, with more charges pending. He is deemed a fugitive.
* * *
Ridgeview is back to grinding away in the third quarter, poking for holes in the Union defense and finding too few to penetrate for more than a few yards. The Wolfpack punts, and now the Bears are prowling again, yard by yard, deep in their own territory.
A fake handoff to Chandler pays off as Bostic dashes 84 yards to a touchdown. With the extra point, the score becomes 21-7. Bear fans go wild, screaming, shouting, blasting the horns, clanging the cowbells.
Taking possession, Ridgeview goes back to slamming against the wall, gaining a few yards, a few more. But the Union defenders swarm them like an army of orange and black hornets.
Union is big, tough, while Ridgeview is quick. At last, the Wolfpack breaks free again with a long run to a touchdown, then the extra point. The score is 21-14.
Time is running short. Fans of the undefeated Bears are growing anxious, while the team that suffered its only regular season defeat to them is only a touchdown and a kick away from evening the score.
* * *
On Nov. 28, Turner family attorney Adrian Collins released a statement explaining the timeline of events, beginning with Turner’s disappearance eight days earlier. In it, Collins confirmed that Turner was last seen leaving his home with a firearm in his possession, headed for a walk in the woods.
By that time, schools Superintendent Mike Goforth had confirmed that charges have been filed “against a staff member who has been on administrative leave. The individual remains on leave and is not permitted on school property or to have contact with students.”
* * *
Early in the fourth quarter, Bears quarterback Kam Bostic fires off a pass that drives the team to Ridgeview’s 33-yard line.
A Bears receiver then takes a handoff and pushes to the 20, dragging Wolfpack defenders along. The kid just will not go down.
But then, Bostic fumbles the snap and Ridgeview grabs the ball. Once again, the Wolfpack is poking away, searching for cracks in the Union wall.
A Ridgeview player breaks through for a run to the 40-yard line. Then quarterback Deel takes to the air again, but the pass misses its target. A great OOOOOOOHHHH rumbles forth from the Union fan seats.
The teams dig and dig deeper, trading possession, until Ridgeview calls a time out with one minute and 32 seconds left on the clock. Union fans are on their feet, staring at the warriors on the field, shouting encouragement, as the intercom blasts “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie.
The grind resumes and the Wolfpack drives to Union’s 20-yard line and calls another time out, with seconds left on the clock.
The crowd goes wild with shouts and screams as Ridgeview drives to Union’s 10-yard line. The Wolfpack only needs seven points to gain overtime play.
Ridgeview’s Deel launches the ball again, but Union defensive end Matty Polier smacks it down and the pass is incomplete.
Union regains possession, only a few steps beyond their end zone. The wall has held. Bears fans erupt with a roar and shouts of “Let’s go, boys!”
One play is left. The seconds tick off. The snap, then Union downs the ball. It’s over. The Bears are victorious. The screams are deafening — elation, relief. Another step in the climb toward a championship. Another chance to play.
Fans mob the field to greet the victorious players. Within the crowd is Big Stone Gap Town Manager Steve Lawson, who has spent the last week deflecting questions about the mystery hanging over this moment. “Today is about the kids,” he says.
Union now moves on to host Virginia’s only other undefeated team, Glenvar High School, in the Region 2A semifinal game Dec. 6 at Bullitt Park.
Travis Turner mentored this team through the regular season and to the playoffs before he vanished.
Still, no one knows where he is. But the Bears know exactly where they are — one game away from a shot at a state title match.
And two towns — beset by quiet gossip, quizzed by national and international reporters, splashed across hundreds of headlines — have one more moment to briefly set aside the unknown and focus on their beating heart.
The kids.
