By MEALAND RAGLAND-HUDGINS

Before hosting its final home football game of the season Tuesday, Siegel Middle School held a USA-themed pep rally in honor of head Coach Martaveon Dockery.

Dockery serves as a staff sergeant with the Tennessee Army National Guard and has received orders to deploy later this fall. Principal Kim Stoecker said Dockery has been with the school as a teacher or volunteer coach for nearly a decade.

During the pep rally, school staff and student-athletes shared how much Dockery means to them and the ways his leadership will be missed in the months to come.

“He’s demanding but he’s not demeaning,” Stoecker said of Dockery, who also serves as a physical education teacher and track coach. “He’s got a set of principles he believes in. He stands by them and he wants to do things the right way.

“Coach Doc is special to all of us,” Stoecker added.

When the Cavaliers host Rocky Fork Middle Tuesday evening, both schools will wear American flag decals on the back of their helmets as a sign of Dockery’s deployment.

All Siegel Middle students and staff received a bracelet inscribed with “Siegel loves Coach Doc.”

“We’re going to wear them until he comes back,” Stoecker said.