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1993 Sweetwater football team remembers dream season

The 1993 Sweetwater Wildcats, who won the Class AA title 25 years ago, reunited on their home field to reminisce and rekindle old friendships.

A state champion football team showed its bond is unbreakable, even after 25 years apart.

Some members of the 1993 Sweetwater Wildcats high school football team reunited at their old stomping grounds Saturday.

There's always something to talk about when you've won a state championship.

"It's just good to hear and reconnect and to listen to everyone talk," said Larry Arwood, a former linebacker and fullback. "It kind of takes you right back to that moment. Makes you feel about 25 years younger."

Together, 14 members of that 1993 championship team recalled growing up in Sweetwater, the dream season, and the people who made that year special.

Especially head coach Bill Dupes, the Sweetwater native and Hall of Fame coach who died in 2011.

"He was special to all of us," former quarterback Jeffrey Upton said.

Sweetwater last won the Tennessee AA state championship a quarter of a century ago. But don't let that undersell the rich football tradition the school has had for decades.

The Cats boasted back-to-back state titles in 1971 and 1972, when generational athletes such as Anthony Oggs and Kippy Brown patrolled what is now known as King Berrong Stadium.

Former players like Jamey Upton remember the intense training and workouts that started when they were in middle school. They aimed just to be like the Sweetwater greats who played before them. Failure was not an option.

"When I think about Sweetwater football, I think about crying because you get scored on, the pride that we had," Upton said. "The pride and the heart that you show because what transpired as a kid and what was instilled inside you. What football means here in Sweetwater."

Wes Jenkins - whose uncle played on the '93 squad - is filming a documentary about the state champion Wildcats, as well as the history of Sweetwater High School football. No release date has been set yet.

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