PIGEON FORGE — The Pigeon Forge Tigers football program accomplished something this season, and what they accomplished was hope.

Although the Tigers fell 28-14 this past Friday night at Gatlinburg-Pittman, Pigeon Forge played with the Highlanders through most of the night, leading early and fighting to keep it a one-possession game until the fourth quarter.

If the Tigers had won the 2009 season finale against G-P, Pigeon Forge would have had its first legitimate shot at the postseason in years.

But even after the season-ending loss in Hammonds Bowl III, the Tigers still had a glimmer of hope for a playoff berth.

That berth, unfortunately, never came for the Tigers, even after early TSSAA playoff announcements were rescinded on Saturday morning and revised and re-posted later that day.

The Tigers knew they were longshots for the postseason with a 4-6 mark on the year, but they also realize they are an extremely young team — a team that resembles a junior varsity squad in appearance and age more than a team that plays its games under the Friday night lights.

The fact that the Tigers even had a chance for a playoff spot on Saturday says a lot about this young team, which started the season slow and ended with a four-win campaign, including victories in two of its final four contests.

“I’m proud of our kids and their season,” said third-year Pigeon Forge coach Lee Hammonds, who has matched his father Benny Hammonds’ first three campaigns as a head coach with identical 10-20 records. “I’m just proud of these young men, these bunch of young kids we’ve played all year. They’ve gained some valuable experience, and they’ve fought hard all year long.

“We’ve got to keep these kids together and understand that this program is headed in the right direction, and that we’re doing the right things. We’ve just got to learn to step it up another level. We’ve done better this season than we thought we might at first. We got better as the season went on, and that’s an advantage to playing a bunch of young guys ... because they have the ability to get better as it goes on.”

chitchcock@themountainpress.com