Game 1 report

First of all, you were right Alto – I wanted a fall color and was still playing around. This theme allows color changes 🙂 This Red/Burgundy is much more suitable as it matches the Pop Warner color and is also fall-ish.

OK, game 1. 20-0 Golden Falcons!!!! Omigosh I am so proud of these kids. And, I would have pictures except that my freaking memory card has decided to crap out and is now ‘unreadable’. Poop. Next game. Anyway….it was 104 according to my car temp gauge. It was officially 115 on the playing surface. If you were in the sun, within 30 seconds you felt the heat stroke coming on. I had to park across the street from the sports park and just the walk to the field with my chair, small cooler and purse was enough to make me get all flushed. Now, it *was* a dry heat, though more humid than normal as there were thunder clouds off in the distance. Those clouds were a blessing though as they did come over and cool things down and there was a breeze. But, oh, if that sun was on you – WOW. As my mom said when she arrived “Ok, I showed up. Can I leave now?”  Seriously – ONLY people who love you would stay to watch in that heat!

On that note – give part of this team victory to the team mom and the parent’s who provided coolers and canopies and ice and water and towels. They took such good care of these boys that it was clear they were in much better shape in the last quarter than the other team. They would come off the field and immediately have someone drop a cold, wet towel over their head or on their necks. One boy did lose his breakfast in the heat, but otherwise everyone was doing well and the one affected boy recovered by the second half.

From the first series I could tell we could win. Defensively they team was dominating. Tackling in the back field and forcing turnovers. Offensively there were some hiccups. Difficulty getting plays called on time resulting in some delay of game penalties. The offensive line was not as sharp as they would have liked I am sure. Still, in the first quarter our one great runner from the last two season broke free up the sidelines and scored. I was walking up and down the sideline since the shaded seats had an obstructed view and I thought I would faint after running alongside #32 as he scored!! I had to sit down and guzzle some water after that 🙂 But then the clouds came overhead and the breeze picked up and the rest of the game was really not that uncomfortable. Sportsboy (#55) mostly played defense and kickoff coverage today with a few plays carrying the ball on offense. He did great! Was in on a fumble recovery, had two great tackles on kickoffs and scored what we thought was the 3rd touchdown of the game, but one ref decided that his knee was down one foot before the goal line. Of course he claims otherwise, but it didn’t matter as another runner punched it in two plays later. Our kicker put through one successful extra point (which counts as 2 at this level) and missed one. Kicking is a little more of a challenge since now they are at a level when the opponents can rush the kicker, but he did great. And I love the little hop he does in celebration when he kicks one through! Officially we had two touchdowns by #32, one by #33 (after #55 was ruled down before he crossed the goal line) and the two points by #12 kicking one through.  And a HUGE assist to the team mom and her assistants on the sideline today.

Bottom line: we survived and they came away with a win and now it is on to next week which is thankfully at home at 4:00. No triple digits to deal with 🙂 Oh, and with the shutout they earned baskin robbins which was a needed treat on a day like today!!

Tomorrow I will share with you the tale of the dumb waiter. No, not something in your house, I mean a DUMB waiter! But now, I must collapse on my sofa in front of my open window.  Yeah, I know, I didn’t PLAY the game..but still…I also hadn’t prepared for 4 weeks…I got dizzy walking from my car to the field…weeeeeeee!!!