Founders' Arena on the day of Game Four carried an atmosphere Rae had never experienced before — not just full, not just electric, but charged with the specific, almost unbearable anticipation of a town that had waited six years for exactly this moment, an entire community's collective hope concentrated into a single Saturday afternoon.
Whitfield's pregame speech, delivered in the cramped locker room with the specific gravity of a coach who understood exactly how much this moment meant to everyone in the room, was shorter than usual, and hit harder for it.
"I've coached this program for eleven years," he said, his voice carrying none of its usual gruff impatience, replaced by something quieter and more heartfelt. "I've had good teams. Talented teams. Teams that should have won more than
