[Stardust]

March 13, 2012 — All hands on deck Vikings fans, the state tournament is almost here, and the Rowan County faithful are prepping as we speak.

In case you haven’t noticed, we take great pride in our local sports here at The Morehead News, and we hope that you thoroughly enjoy the special section commemorating Rowan County’s second state tournament appearance we comprised for this edition.

Exciting, entertaining, and at times poetic…this is how I could describe my season of coverage with this year’s Rowan County squad.

The Viking insanity took center stage last Friday, as Rowan County Senior High School hosted the pep rally to end all pep rallies.

Twenty years is a long time, and during this pep rally a twenty-year memorial met its end at Warren H. Cooper Gymnasium…the mustache of head coach Shawn Thacker.

Should we fear that the famed mustache was shaved during last Friday’s pep rally? No. For it will take more than the mystique of a mustache to down this year’s run.

With almost 1,200 tickets already claimed by the fans sporting green, it is quite an amazing number to consider when those tickets will fill over two sections at Rupp Arena, and board 16 pep buses from the Rowan County School System.

These are the moments you live to remember, ones that you simply will never forget in your time on this Earth. I can see that I do not have to tell you to support your team, as this is something you already do with such passion and pride.

As the Viking players make their rounds around the local schools, speaking with future hoops’ hopefuls, the time to prepare is coming to an end.

Preparation itself will not be a problem Viking fans, for your team has proven itself the entire season.

I am confident they will continue this trend when they take the floor at high noon tomorrow for a showdown with North Laurel in the first round of the KHSAA Sweet 16.

It has indeed been fun.
http://themoreheadnews.com/localsports/x...the-troops