{"id":409485,"date":"2025-11-28T00:33:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T00:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/409485\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T00:33:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T00:33:12","slug":"undefeated-raines-vikings-share-thanksgiving-tributes-of-family-faith-and-football-as-round-3-approaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/409485\/","title":{"rendered":"Undefeated Raines Vikings share Thanksgiving tributes of family, faith and football as Round 3 approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 As the Raines Vikings prepare for their Round 3 playoff showdown against Bishop Kenny, the undefeated team took a moment to reflect on what matters most during this Thanksgiving season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thankful for an opportunity to just put on a show for Viking nation on Friday night,\u201d junior Johdeem Jones said. \u201cGrowing up my family has been very Viking oriented. I love my family and I just want to put on a show for them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: <\/b>\u2018It\u2019s been special\u2019: Middle Tennessee commit Ethan Sherman making impact at Raines<\/b><\/a> | <\/b>The Making of \u2018The Sheriff\u2019: Mother\u2019s sacrifices, father\u2019s memory driving forces behind Raines DB\u2019s title chase<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

For many players, the opportunity to practice during Thanksgiving isn\u2019t seen as a sacrifice but rather a blessing. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thankful to be practicing on Thanksgiving,\u201d senior Arquis Robinson said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thankful for my mom, my family and the ability to play on Thanksgiving this week,\u201d senior Cody Levy said.<\/p>\n

Family emerged as a common theme among the Vikings, with several players expressing deep appreciation for their support systems. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thankful for my family… that lady that\u2019s looking from up there.\u201d junior Troy Butler said in reference to his mom who passed away in 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The journey to this point hasn\u2019t been without its challenges. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing put in an opportunity to play at this school,\u201d junior Isaiah Madyun said. \u201cI had a lot of stuff going on and I probably wasn\u2019t going to play at this school. And all my family and my coaches made this possible,\u201d <\/p>\n

Some players found strength in their faith and mentors. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thankful for God, my family, this great coaching staff for believing in me,\u201d junior Jabari Denefield said. <\/p>\n

Senior Jamarri Solomon added, \u201cGod, my family and my coaches because without them I wouldn\u2019t be where I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even in serious moments, the team maintained its sense of humor, with freshman Nicholas Davis declaring, \u201cI\u2019m thankful for macaroni and cheese because its the best side dish of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Raines prepares for their crucial matchup against Bishop Kenny, with a Final Four appearance on the line, the team\u2019s gratitude extends from the practice field to the dinner table. Several players said they\u2019re thankful for the opportunity to put their work on display on Friday for the fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cRaines Round 3 let\u2019s get it,\u201d senior Tony Williams said.<\/p>\n

Kickoff with Bishop Kenny is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 As the Raines Vikings prepare for their Round 3 playoff showdown against Bishop Kenny, the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":409486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,18131,7310,1425,192750,44599,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-409485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-high-school-football","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-playoffs","14":"tag-raines-vikings","15":"tag-thanksgiving","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115624516200675619","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}