Both of these teams have outstanding running backs…Justin Stockton from Steele and Chris Armstrong, Johnathan Jackson, and Javion Polk from East Central.
I worked a Steele game in week 1 and Stockton had 240 yards on the ground.
I worked an East Central game in Week 3 and Week 7. Armstrong didn’t play in Week 3 but Polk carried the load with 98 yards. In Week 7, Armstrong returned to action with 56 yards (on only 3 carries), Polk had 128 yards, and Jackson had 146 yards.
I was expecting a really close game with lots of extraordinary plays from the running backs!!!
Now it is time to brag about what a wonderful worker I am!!! This was a TNL game on CW35 and also a RADIO game on the Texas Sports Radio Network. So, yes, I did double duty!!! But, I am not getting double paid…unless Bobby, my radio boss, is feeling generous.
I hung the TSRN and radio banner on the stands underneath the scoreboard…hey, they were shown on tv a few times!!! When the Judson Rockets won the 2002 state championship in the Alamodome, our TSRN banner was shown on tv a million times cause the game winning play celebration took place right in front of the banner…that was awesome!!!
I also sent text messages for the scoring drives to Bobby and Mark Kusenberger jotted down my stats at halftime and end of game. When the tv broadcast ended, I hung out with Bobby and Mark and helped em pack up the equipment. Dude, I climbed a submarine ladder to get to the film deck in order to unplug the crowd mic. The banners I hung when I arrived have to be taken down when we leave and that was of course my duty. Yeah, it was a busy and long night, but I don’t complain…well sometimes I do; just ask my wife!!!
The Hornets road jerseys are horrible and extremely difficult to see the numbers; white uniforms and yellow numbers. I found myself watching the replays on the tv monitors to get the correct number. I really hope I don’t get to see East Central again as a road team this season.
I think I need to have my expectations re-examined cause Steele won the game and held the Hornets scoreless. Only one running back had over 100 yards. Man, I was really disappointed by the Hornets performance on Thursday night. You could probably put most of the blame on the Steele defense.
The East Central Hornets ran a total of 53 plays for 179 yards…134 of those yards on the ground. Johnathan Jackson had 90 yards rushing and Polk and Armstrong combined for 38 yards rushing. Absolutely completely opposite of last weeks game. Wow!!!
The Steele Knights ran a total of 58 plays for 388 yards. Justin Stockton had 16 carries for 119 yards and 3 touchdowns. Stockton is really exciting to watch and we get one more year as he is only a Junior!!! I was lucky that I saw his debut on the Steele football team as a Freshmen for a TNL game. LG Williams, the starting full back, had 11 carries for 32 yards…he is a Sophomore!!! Jaylen Harris, a running back, had 3 receptions for 100 yards and 2 carries for 17 yards…he is a another Sophomore folks!!! They are really good and have a great shot of playing in there 3rd consecutive state championship game; they won in 2010 and lost in 2011!!!
FINAL SCORE
East Central 0 (5-3, 2-1)
Steele 28 (8-0, 3-0)
Next Thursday and Friday are road trips for me and I will be pumped up cause I am off from my real job both of those days!! Sweet!!
Thursday, I will be at Boerne stadium for the Canyon Lake Hawks and the Boerne Greyhounds. This may sound very shocking, but I have never in my very long career as a stat man worked a Boerne game nor have I never been to there stadium!!! This will be my first time seeing Canyon Lake since they are a fairly new high school. I have been looking forward to this game since the TNL schedule was released.
Friday, I will be at New Braunfels Canyon stadium (they have a red turf) for the Judson Rockets and the New Braunfels Canyon Cougars.