For high school football teams, the ability to practice on Thanksgiving Day is one of the main hallmarks of a successful season.

These teams not only made the state playoffs, but they advanced far enough to where football has to become a priority over some of the holiday traditions. With playoff games happening the next day, coaches know nothing can come between the young men and that crucial final walkthrough.

With some programs, the Thanksgiving practice is almost a predetermined event. Families from places like Tarboro know not to plan any trips to spend the day with out-of-state family members. Tarboro has had practice this morning for 17 consecutive fall seasons.

For programs that aren’t so used to the occasion, the ability to spend the Turkey Day morning between painted white lines instead of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, feels like a true milestone.

A team like Eastern Wayne is taking extra care to appreciate the occasion of practicing this morning.

The Warriors, a 7-seed in the 2A East, advanced to the third round with a 40-36 win over Princeton. The team has won the most games this season (10) than it has in a decade.

“It means a lot,” Warriors head coach Leander Oates told HighSchoolOT earlier in the week. “It’s one of those things for our community that we’ve been fighting for. The support has been there. The people have started to recognize some of the hard work we’ve been doing and fans have been getting behind us.”

It was an opportunity that has been a long time coming for the Warriors and head coach Leander Oates. The Warriors last made it to the third round and practiced on Thanksgiving in 2014, under Guy Williams.

“What we made it to is what we’ve been talking about since the spring and summer,” said Izeiah Oates, Leander’s son and the team’s starting quarterback. “It’s always been, ‘let’s go to that Thanksgiving practice, let’s go to that Thanksgiving week game’ and now that we’re here, it’s a different kind of environment. It’s great.”

Leander took over the head coach role in 2016. Then, the Warriors were a part of the tough Big East 3A/4A Conference with the likes of the Greenville schools and New Bern. The program, which dates back to the 1960s, has an all-time record of well under .500.

Over Leander’s first eight seasons as the head coach, Eastern Wayne made the playoffs six times. But the Warriors were never able to break through past the first round.

Despite some of those postseason struggles, Oates stayed with the program and by the side of his young men, who have found themselves, frankly, overlooked by many.

Now, in season nine, the big breakthrough has come.

“It’s going to be a different thing for me,” Oates said. “I’m overwhelmed to be able to be a part of this journey with these guys. I hope to take care of business on Friday.”

A big reason why Oates has become a mainstay at Eastern Wayne is his family – he’s had two sons come through the program: Zavian, a member of the Warriors’ 2023 graduating class and of course now, Izeiah, who will graduate in 2026.

Not only did Leander get to appreciate this Thanksgiving practice, which can be a seminal moment in a coaching career, but he got to do it with one of his sons.

“Now to be able to have this experience with Izeiah is great,” Leander said with a smile. “We’re enjoying this moment, he’s working hard. Outside of being a coach, I’ve definitely been a proud father to be on this journey.”

Izeiah, who is still just a junior, is also a patrolling linebacker on defense in addition to serving as the quarterback. He’s thrown for 30 touchdowns to 11 interceptions, leads the team in rushing, and is the defense’s second-leading tackler.

“I’m basically him on the field,” Izeiah said of his father. “Everything he says, I’m voicing it back to the team on the field. Being by his side my whole life with him coaching and then being out here with him at this moment, it’s definitely great. I’m happy not only for out team, but I’m happy for him.”

Zavian was a multi-sport standout and excelled in the classroom, winning a Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award. But one thing that evaded him during his tenure was one of these deep playoff runs that the 2024 team has been able to experience.

It was Zavian, though, who paved the way for Izeiah and Leander to have this Thanksgiving moment. The older brother showed the younger brother the path that he needed to take when it was his turn to run things. The brothers played one season together – during Zavian’s senior campaign, Izeiah stepped in a freshman quarterback.

“He did everything to set the tone for Izeiah. He passed down that leadership,” Leander said of the older brother. “He texts Izeiah during the game to let him know what he sees on film. That excitement that he has for his brother I think helps Izeiah a lot.”

Izeiah says he takes pride in his brother’s accomplishments at Eastern Wayne and his accomplishments as he progresses through his degree at NC State University. That pride goes both ways.

“When I got back from the (second round) game, he was hype, telling me ‘you that dude, you that guy,” Izeiah chuckled. “He’s my biggest hype man for sure.”

Almost the entire Oates family will make the trip down to Whiteville tomorrow night for the next step in the familial journey.

“It’s going to be a shorter meal than we’re used to,” Leander pointed out about this Thanksgiving. For coaches, there’s more to preparing for a game than just the practice time. “We normally like sit around the table and have fun, but to have this moment, to have this experience… we’re bringing this E-Dub spirit around.”