High School Football

I give Trevor too hard a time about the amount of football he watches, plays or fantasizes about online. I really should understand the passion. I come from Royal City. Where is Royal City you ask? In the middle of nowhere Washington. I've blogged about my hometown before, but was pretty inspired again last night.

We played Connell last night. They've been our rivals since I can remember, and we've been waiting for this match up for the last 12 months. Last year, we lost in the last 3 seconds of the game when the Eagles kicked a field goal to walk away with the victory. Connell and Royal are the #1 and #2 teams respectively and this was the BIGGEST game of 1A Prep Football for the state! Keep in mind that there's not even 2000 people in Royal City. Last night the estimated attendance was somewhere near 3000. I can't even imagine what that must have felt like to these young kids. The noise alone would've been awesome.

Now don't go feeling sorry for me because I was stuck here in this HIGHLY overpopulated area and not at the biggest game of the year. Along with their world class facilities, Royal's games are broadcasted over the Internet (with yours truly's brother-in-law calling the game). If you're ever sitting at the computer at 7:00pm on a Friday night (what's date night?), check out http://www.network1sports.com/ and search for Royal to hear the live game. I threw the kiddies in front of a movie, grabbed a diet coke and some Sun Chips and parked myself in front of the computer. My nerves were horrible (I hesitate to add I took several trips to the bathroom). I played solitaire while I listened just to give my eyes something to do. Trevor finds it funny that I'm still so emotionally involved in my old high school. To this I reply "You're obsessed with a college team whose school you never even attended?" This is where I should be more understanding with his passion for football. I have it too.

What's interesting about that is that my passion for Royal Football doesn't come close to matching that of the rest of the town. They live it, love it, and can talk about games decades later. By the way, last nights game has been dubbed a classic. That's not what I'm writing about though. I'm always overblown with pride when I hear about the crazy number of fans or our team overcoming all odds. We're a small school. Yet year after year we have an incredible season and total fan support. It honestly saddens me to think that my boys probably won't play football, or basketball in high school. That's one of the greatest things about a small town. Almost everyone gets to play. There are definitely more opportunities, especially for the vertically challenged, and unlike bigger schools, you're not limited to one sport.

I know most of you can't understand what it's like to grow up in a town like this. A lot of people who did grow up there don't completely understand or care either. But for the people who live there still and for sentimental saps like me, Knight football will always be a bit of an obsession.

Well, I suppose I should tell you that it was a close game. Long story short, the game was tied with 8 seconds left when Connell kick another field goal to take it away from our boys for the second year in a row. I would give you a more detailed version but I'll leave that to the experts. Becky? I want your take on this. We'll, hopefully, see Connell at state, where I'm sure another proud moment in RHS football will rear it's beautiful head.

*Need more Knight Football? Check out photos and such at http://www.rhs.royal.wednet.edu/sports/football/index.htm