LANETT — Lanett City Schools will close at 11:30 a.m. EST Thursday to allow students to be at the state championship football game at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. 

The game is at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.      

“It means a lot,” Coach Clifford Story said of the day off. “It shows that the school and the community back us up, and the students are there to support the team on to victory.”

Team members will leave Wednesday, so they can practice and prepare for the game and   spend the night in Auburn.

Lanett schools will hold sendoffs for the team that morning, allowing team members to walk through lines of cheering students.    

The first sendoff is at W.O. Lance Elementary School at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, and the second is at the high school, with junior high students in attendance.   

“The players get on the bus while both schools stand in front of the school to congratulate and encourage them and wish them good luck,” Coach Clifford Story said.    

Superintendent Jennifer Boyd said the walkthrough is something of a school tradition. 

It was done for the last football championship game, and for the basketball team when it went for back-to-back championship games. 

“The smaller kids love seeing the football team coming through,” she said. 

The school system is not providing transportation to the game but Boyd said Tifton Dobbs Transportation is providing a shuttle at a reasonable rate. 

The company could not be contacted for prices as of Tuesday afternoon. 

“This is big for our community,” Boyd said. “Something of this magnitude gets everybody excited. I’m hoping the entire community comes out to support the team,” she said.

“We’re very proud of our student athletes. We definitely want to highlight our kids. This is just a piece of what’s going on in Lanett schools.”