We just finished up high school football with our annual banquet last Tuesday. When I say “we” I actually mean my oldest son, Rece. He pointed out to me not too long ago that I have not posted about any of his sports. Life has just been so busy, I’ve not made much time for the Sports section of the blog. I’m changing that today!
Fall brought another full lineup of sports in our household. My husband coaches the Junior High Baseball team, and then Rece had football and Callahan had soccer. We were busy driving from one town or field to another!
I have to admit that football is my favorite sport to watch at any level and I certainly got my fill of high school football this season. Since Rece is a Sophomore, he played on the Junior Varsity team and dressed (and even got to play a little) for the Varsity team. There were two games a week, one of which was on the road. When one team played at home, that meant the other had to be on the road. Most of the road games were about 2 hours away. It seemed like a marathon season!
Both teams were really exciting to watch this season. The highlight of the season was, hands down, the first varsity game of the year. It was on a HOT Saturday afternoon in August. We played Rochelle, which is a four hour drive. Luckily that was a home game for us. We won that game with 9 seconds left. It was literally one of the most exciting football games I’ve ever watched at any level. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that found it exciting. The coach’s daughter was pregnant and her water broke on her way to the car after the game! Talk about an exciting day for them!
The varsity went on to a 7-4 record this season. They went farther in the playoffs than they had in several years. The season came to an end in the second round of playoffs in Joliet. We had a long drive up to the town near Chicago. We played Joliet Catholic, a private school. There is much controversy on whether or not private schools should be allowed to compete against public schools. The private schools are allowed to recruit and that’s hard to compete against. Joliet went on to win the state championship. Even though the game didn’t turn out in our favor, the team had a great overall season. There were a lot of Seniors, so they will definitely be missed next year.
The Junior Varsity team ended their season with a 6-1 record. The only loss came during week two at Highland. The first play of that game one of our players had a gruesome break to his leg. He had to be transported to St. Louis by ambulance immediately. I think that really shook our boys up. They really had a hard time bouncing back from that. Overall, the JV team was fun to watch all season. I am really looking forward to watching them play together over the next few years.
I enjoyed getting to watch Rece learn a new position this year. His Freshman year he played Right Tackle on the Offensive Line. This year he played Center. He really learned a lot and improved as the season went on. One of his best friends was the Quarterback and it was neat to see them play in those two positions together.
The off-season workouts have already started. I don’t think most people realize that football is a year round sport. They are working out four to five days a week right now. Hopefully they will see all of their hard work pay off next fall! Until then we’ll be rooting for the Steelers!
