Lehigh head coach James Chaney tried to keep the big news a secret from his players. It got out.
Administrators had been working on something special for more than a year, so it was no surprise that rumors of a once-in-a-lifetime showcase got back to the team before Chaney could reveal all.
On Friday night, for the first time since Noel Devine’s heyday at North Fort Myers in 2006, a Lee County football program will host a nationally televised game on an ESPN network when the Lightning faces Lake Gibson at 8 p.m. on ESPNU.
“It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” Lehigh senior lineman Jaheim Buchanon said. “When I first heard it, I was amazed.”
Putting together something of this scale is not simple on an administrative end, and the team itself is under pressure to deliver after an unsettling 0-2 start to the season. But a national spotlight can be worth all the toil.
“For us to be able to play on a national stage, to me, not only promotes Lehigh, but it promotes the area,” Chaney said. “We’re just humbled and happy that ESPN could make that happen for us.”