More Than A Game
Preston Gannaway

Preston Gannaway recently completed a season-long documentary photo essay she published in the Coalfield Progress in Norton, Va., where she currently works as a photographer. "More than a Game!" explores the many facets of Friday night high school football.

Of the work, Gannaway says, "Anyone can tell you, fall Friday nights in Southwest Virginia belong to high school football. It is an event so rich in entertainment, love and war, it can hardly be surpassed. There is a whole other world that occurs away from the eyes of fans, or from a point which few fans see. It may be the personal and group happenings in the locker room, the repeated ritual of taping a wrist, the support and shared hope between players, or the secret speech the coach shares with his team during half-time.

"These images depict a culture. A Friday night in a coalfield town. A way of life. At the least, something just a little more than a game. It's all in how you look at it."