ASHEVILLE — Craig King was a standout at Asheville High and a starting linebacker at the University of Tennessee, where he routinely played in front of more than 100,000 fans.

The audience was about 300 on a recent Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, but the players and fans were just as fired up as those in any Southeastern Conference showdown.

King is a member of the Asheville Grizzlies, a minor league team in the North American Football League that has had a lot of success in virtual anonymity over the past several seasons.

The approximately 35-40 members of the Grizzlies are an eclectic bunch of characters who range in age from 19-38 and serve as policemen, teachers, coaches and work in security, warehouses and furniture factories.

Most played high school ball, and some played in college.

Most are African-American, and none get paid to risk injury and lost time on their jobs.

But they all show up on Saturday nights to hit and be hit because they still love to play football, still long for that feeling of togetherness and belonging to a winning team.

“This is my time of peace, where I can forget everything and just be a football player,” said Frank Meade, 33, a warehouse employee who has been Asheville’s quarterback since 1998.

“Out here I’m just a kid again playing a game. ... I don’t feel 33 until the game’s over and my body hurts.”

“You lay on the couch and get lazy and watch NFL football, and you remember what it felt like to be on the field, just ballin’,” said King, 34, who works with autistic children as a teacher’s assistant at Asheville Middle School.

“Some of these guys still have dreams (of playing in a higher league). And some of us just want to enjoy the fun and camaraderie of being on a team, of playing to win.”

Support network

The crowd for the game on Sept. 29 — a Southeast Division title match and grudge game against the Georgia Generals, the only team to beat the Grizzlies this season — was predominantly wives, girlfriends and family of the players.

In a fun atmosphere in the stands where loud music blares between every play, the crowd cheers, encourages their loved ones — and prays.

“I worry all the time about Matt getting hurt, so I pray a lot,” said Jerri Young, of Marion, the wife of Asheville lineman Matt Young, a 30-year-old who played at McDowell High and Wingate and has three children.

“This is his first year, and when he told me he wanted to play and they didn’t get paid, he had to talk me into it.

“But he loves the game and loves to play, and he always supports me in the things I do, so I’m going to support him.”

Former Reynolds High player Chris Johnson has been with the Grizzlies for several years and has his biggest fan at every home game.

“It’s great that he still gets to play football,” said his mother, Johanna Johnson, of Asheville. “I pray to God every week that all the boys are safe.”

“I’m a Christian man, and I put my faith in the Lord that I won’t get hurt,” said King.

Considering the Grizzlies struggle to get in one practice a week, the game with the Generals was of a surprisingly competitive caliber. The contest would decide home-field advantage through three rounds of the playoffs.

Though players come from as far away as Raleigh, Charlotte and Georgia to compete, there is a lot of male bonding on the sidelines along with an air of informality. Players dance to the music and often look into the stands to smile and wave.

As it became apparent that the Grizzlies would win the division title and enter the playoffs with a 9-1 record, players celebrated like youngsters. In such a moment, wrinkles and work and bills are forgotten about.

“We’re the traffic controllers,” said defensive back Shaun Sanders, part of a secondary that repeatedly thwarted the Georgia passing game. “We handle everything in the air.”

Asked by an assistant coach if he needed anything, the team’s oldest player — 38-year old linebacker Thomas Richardson — said, “I need a lot of ice and Ibuprofen.”

Strong brotherhood

Asheville will play the Macon (Ga.) Tiger Cats on Saturday in a 7:30 p.m. start at Memorial Stadium following the 17-0 shutout of Georgia.

After that game, long-time Grizzlies head coach Phil Lytle gathered both teams in the middle of the field for a brief prayer.

“Put your hands on somebody,” shouted a Georgia player. “We’re all brothers here.”

Before leading the Lord’s Prayer, Lytle offered words that could serve as the code for all those who continue to play the game they love.

“Nobody here’s getting paid, and we all have wives and children and families,” he said.

“And on Monday morning we have to go back to work and make a living, but tonight I want to thank you for a clean, hard-fought game.”