It's back. Oh, it's my favorite time of year.....
Football!!! And not just the NFL, not just fantasy leagues, either. There is just something about spending a Friday night at a high school football game....the community comes together, the kids hang out (I know, I used to be one...), it's a great slice of Americana.
20 autumns ago this month I was embarking on my senior year of high school, and part of that ritual meant Friday night at the football game. If Patrick Henry wasn't home, I'd either check them out on the road, or go to another game with a friend from Governor's School. Friday night simply meant football, and friends.
In 2002, a long-time friend, Rob Kennedy, helped make a boyhood dream come true in the most special way possible. Up to that point, I had done most everything radio had to offer: news, morning drive, afternoon drive, interview host, commercial production, live remotes, anchoring Election Night, you name it, I had done it. Well, save two things:
1) Traffic reports (ground-bound or in a chopper, didn't matter)
2) Sports Play-by-Play.
I offered color commentary at a couple of high school basketball games in the 90's, but never had the chance to be the play-by-play guy, the "voice" of a team, as it were.
Rob has contact with the manager of the AM station in Ashland, just a few miles north of here, and where I graduated high school shortly after the discovery of electricity. The station needed a play-by-play man/woman for Patrick Henry football. Knowing it was my alma mater, Rob automatically thought of and recommended me. A couple of phone calls and an interview later, and I got the post.
I'll always, always be grateful to Rob for it.
2002, our first year, saw great football, games moved due to the sniper, and another PH playoff appearance, upsetting the top seed in the first round, losing a heartbreaker in the Regional Title game on a COLD night in Hopewell.
2003, it rained, then it was Isabel, I think it rained some more...
PH moved up from Division 5 to 6 (enrollment determines your division) and the fight for playoff berths was much tougher. 7-3 in Division 5 in 2002 meant playoffs. 7-3 in 2003 in Division 6 meant wait 'til next year.
Well, it's next year. :)
Tonight, I began my third season of play-by-play as the "voice" of the Patriots, 20 years to the month I started being the PA announcer my senior year at PH games (the county paid me $15 a game to do it, too!)
My partner, Andrew "Stubby" Price, has been there from the beginning. Now a graduate of Randolph-Macon, he's writing for Hanover's newspaper, the Herald-Progress and doing quite well. He is an absolute hoot to work with, and besides, he's an NC State fan!!! We work well together on the air, which is cool considering we've never spent a moment together outside the confines of a high school on a Friday night.
Stubby and I picked up right where we left off tonight. I felt good about the broadcast and think this will be a very interesting year. Four teams dominate PH's district, and PH is one of them. They have to play 2 of the other 3 on the road; they've lost to both of those clubs two years in a row......
Tonight, the opener against new county rival Hanover, the Hawks now in their 2nd year of existence. Several mental errors resulting in penalties, mostly in the 2nd half, and some dropping of the football resulting in some key turnovers that, in a game in late October, can mean losing a playoff berth, were their Achilles heels. Some of that is to be expected on opening night. But overall, PH should be happy with its first performance, a 41-12 win that saw fullback Bruce Mines punch it in 3 times, and the debut of tailback Dean Thomas, a sophomore, whose first varsity game is one to remember.....
Reasons: 1) 2nd carry from scrimmage gains the better part of 20 yards.
2) After Hanover scores to cut the lead to 14-6, Thomas takes the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for the touchdown with 3:02 left in the first half, and PH never looked back from there.
3) He administered quite honestly the most crushing defensive hit I've ever seen in scholastic football. Hanover WR Robbie Bailey had broken free on a short screen and was destined for paydirt; Thomas raced across from the middle of the field, caught him at about the 10 yard line, and when they met, Thomas, who's not much bigger than a bug, literally picked Bailey up of his feet, bearhugged him, and bodyslammed him to the ground. Not maliciously, no personal foul play here, just a vicious, vicious hit. The whole crowd cried a collective "OOOOOHHHHHHH!!" when they witnessed it.
So, a good first night for the Patriots, who begin 1-0 (I can't remember the last time PH lost on opening night), Coach Long is one step closer to the record for most career wins by a coach in the Central Region, and now they head east, off Route 301, to Atlee High School, who got destroyed tonight by the other 2nd year team in town, Deep Run. Folks, this one may not be pretty. Or, Deep Run is a surprise and Atlee will give PH a run for its money.
We'll find out next Friday night, and, hey, if you can't make it to Atlee High School, coverage begins with the pre-game show at 7:05 on WHAN (1430AM), with Stubby and yours truly.
Getting to call my alma mater's high school football games on the radio.....I couldn't ask for more. I serve an awesome God!
No comments:
Post a Comment