This Friday (11/10, my 7th anniversary at WRVA) will go down as one of the busiest on record.
Workload like you would not believe today; I'll be picking up the pieces and tying the shoelaces over the weekend to make sure I can still take Monday off and SLEEP!! Well, at least during school hours. :)
Then, tonight, late for the PH/Hermitage game, because we're late leaving work (THANK GOD FOR AUNT SHERRY, who was kind enough to bring the kids to work), have to grab something to eat, run home and make sure the hamster is okay (someone left Rachel's bedroom door open, which is a no-no, being that the cats could hypothetically go in, see Chloe (aforementioned hamster), and salivate.
Then, it's off to Hermitage High School to call, as my broadcast partner Stubby Price dubbed it, "The Witham Bowl".
Robbie's first year at Hermitage, so it's officially a father vs. son game.
Score one for the son! Big time.
Patrick Henry was 8-1 with a simple mission. Win tonight, you go to the playoffs. Lose tonight, the season is over. Hermitage was 6-3 and their playoff chances were about as good as the chance you'll ever find me on a seven-night cruise.
BUT....it's senior night, and Hermitage's field is, to me, a pretty imposing place to play. It's built for good home-field advantage.
Tonight they could have played anywhere and it wouldn't have mattered. Hermitage senior running back Nick Lockhart could never have dreamed this scenario for his final home game.
253 yards.....five touchdowns.
Yes....five.
Before a minute had been played, Hermitage was up 6-0. PH scored to take the lead, then Hermitage scored their 2nd TD, retook the lead and never looked back.
Plays of the game? Two of them. PH had the ball at the Hermitage 4 yard line, not once, but twice in the first half, where, on the next play, they fumbled the football.
Arguably, 14 points lost. Add that to the fact that Lockhart and Quarterback Ju-Ju Clayton were running at will against the Patriots defense whose reputation for speed was known throughout the district, and the halftime score was 27-7.
Final score: Hermitage 41, Patrick Henry 14.
So, that ends the post-season hopes, the 2006 campaign, and we say thank you to D.J. Thomas, Todd Bowden, Hunter Osborne and several others who graduate this year.
But, as Coach Long said in a TV interview tonight, he has eight returning offensive and seven returning defensive starters plus more players coming, his outlook for 2007 seemed VERY optimistic. He also spoke like a man who has no intention of retiring after this, his 25th season as head coach.
Hey, and 8-2 record with a sophomore quarterback, and after losing lots of players to graduation last year? Not bad. It's just a shame everything went against them tonight.
The costly fumbles. Several guys went down hurt (mostly cramps or sprained ankles), one of their best lineman did not play due to an injury, and then the excellent play of the Hermitage running game, and, as the game went on, the Panther defense's speed and tenacity.
Plus, lest we forget senior night for a proud program.....
....it all equalled Patrick Henry home next Friday, and congratulations to Clover Hill for making the Division 6 Playoffs as the fourth seed.
#4 Clover Hill will face #1 Varina in one semi-final...
#3 Highland Springs travels to #2 L.C. Bird for the other....
My thoughts? L.C. Bird is the three-time defending Division 6 Central Region Champions. I consider them the favorites until somebody (Varina?) can finally knock them off.
Then, in Division 5, where PH would have waltzed into the playoffs (if the school had 50 to 75 less students, it would qualify to be a "Division 5 Sized" school.), we have these wacky results.
#3 Huguenot will travel to #2 Deep Run (Colonial District Champs) in a rematch of a semi-final game from 2005....
#1 Matoaca will host......#4 Hanover. HANOVER???
Yes, that Hanover. They finished 5-5 and they're in the playoffs for the first time. I'd like for someone to look into the record books to find out the last year a Hanover County team other than Patrick Henry made the playoffs in the same season where PH did not.
Matoaca has been ranked #1 in the region pretty much all year, so they have to be favored, even though if they get Deep Run in the final, that's a game I'd drive and pay to see.
So, Stubby and I finish our 5th season together, a disappointing one for me because I lost out on some games due to illness. I told Stubby on the air tonight, by next season, I will have passed 40 years of age, the issues will have straightened themselves out (hee hee) and we'll be ready for a full campaign.
And, the way Coach Long looked after the game, I think he and his guys will be ready, too.
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THE DOZEN DAYS: DAY FIVE!!!
Rachel: School, picked up by Aunt Sherry, meets Dad at the station, sits in the booth for the Hermitage game, has stuffy, runny nose, takes medicine and goes nite-nite.
Robbie: School, including a choral performance, meets Dad at the station, sits in the booth, too----wins "Witham Bowl I", knows a coach who's in the press box, comes home, eats, and now sleeps.
Dad: Kids to school, Ukrops quickly, work, work, work, breathe, work, work.....you get the idea---off with the kids eventually to the game, broadcast from there, come home.
Mom: Anyone know anything about Philipsburg, St. Maarten?? Well, Mom does now. Can't wait to hear the details (or read), as we didn't catch up to each other today.
So, it's 2:23am on the ship, 1:23am at Witham Nation Headquarters, so I guess it's welcome to The Dozen Days: Day Six.
Happy sailing!
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