This was not a TNL or a Texas Sports Radio Network game, nor did I do stats. I also don’t have any children playing for St. Anthony. I was actually invited by Diana Rybczynski, the mother of Marc Rybczynski, the starting running back for the Yellow Jackets.
Marc was also on the Yellow Jacket basketball team and last year, Kevin Smisek, the Head Coach of the basketball team saw my BLOG and invited me to attend some basketball games. Well, I ended up attending several games and had a wonderful time sharing my thoughts and pictures with the world.
I guess that is how Diana first knew about me; plus, she is friends with me on Facebook and I primarily use Facebook to promote my blog (right now, it is focused on High School football as am I statistician for TNL games on CW35 and also the Texas Sports Radio Network). This is my 5th year with TNL and 17th with TSRN!!!
On September 27th, I was featured in a KSAT 12 story for my Alamo stadium renovation photos. Oh, the camera-man who shot that segment was at the game on Saturday afternoon getting some video for KSAT 12.
I know the two gentlemen, Bobby Mendez and Manny Rodriguez who broadcast the St. Anthony football games online. I haven’t seen Bobby in a while and I think I trained Manny in stats several years ago. Every time I heard there names, I looked up to the press-box cause I thought it was them…I actually got confirmation this afternoon from another broadcaster friend of mine. Man, now, I wish I had gone up there and said hello. Well, I will have another game.
Enough about me, this is about St. Anthony football!!!
This was my first time at Benson stadium and I was overwhelmed by how nice it was!!! This was also my first time in 17 years that I didn’t have to do stats. I was kinda debating back and forth with myself…should I sit in the air conditioned press-box, should I sit with the fans (Diana invited me to see sit with her), or should I watch the game from the field level?
Well, I will tell you that I chose to watch the game from the field level and that was awesome. It was such a great view of the game and I was able get some excellent pictures. One thing that was very noticeable was all the St. Anthony players wore pink socks to celebrate National Breast Cancer awareness month.
To be honest, it was weird not being in the press-box. I did find myself looking at the scoreboard and talking out-loud the down, distance, and yard line (that is something I do when I do stats).
It was very very very hot on the field and I asked several St. Anthony folks where the swimming pool was and to my surprise, they all pointed to a building across from the stadium…I seriously thought of jumping in several times!!!
I did get a chance to meet the head football coach, Roy Salas (Diana actually introduced us) before the game started. But, to be honest, I didn’t ask him any questions. I just asked for a roster and told him I will be running around the field taking pictures. He was very nice and told me if there is anything else I needed to let him know. Man, I sure am looking forward to my next St. Anthony football game as I am definitely gonna pick Roy’s football brain.
Towards the end of halftime, I talked to some of the officials. I was really curious about how much a penalty flag weighs cause I have seen flags fly with accuracy for like 20 yards!! So, the flag itself is very light, but there is a small sandbag at the end of it!!! WOW!!!
I met a bunch of great people from St. Anthony and everybody was so nice and friendly to me. I really felt like I was part of the family. On the sideline throughout the game, I chatted with Kevin Smisek and Alejandro Calderon. I handed out business cards…basically it just my blog address so people can know where to find me.
Even though I had my media credentials, I was totally clapping and rooting for St. Anthony. Hey, I am sorta the “unofficial beat writer for St. Anthony!!!”
So, yeah, I was very happy that St. Anthony won the game by a score of 31 to 6. The St. Dominic Savio Eagles team played and fought hard till the very end.
Now, this would be the point where I normally would mentioned key stats, but I don’t have any!!!
Actually, folks, I grabbed the stats from mysa.com.
Brandon Armstrong, the quarterback, was 12 of 23 passing for 206 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was on the basketball team last season as a Freshman!! Kevin Stone had 4 catches for 94 yards and 1 touchdown, Justin Mayer had 7 catches for 95 yards and 1 touchdown, and Daniel Brown had 1 catch for 17 yards (I was in the end-zone for a what would’ve been a touchdown but it was ruled incomplete).
Yesterday, Brandon Armstrong was named as an honorable mention for his performance by the SA Express News. You can see the article here:
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/hssports/2013/10/football-top-performers-week-5-2/.
As soon as I saw the article, I wanted to share this on Twitter and Facebook cause unlike the bigger schools, I know that St. Anthony doesn’t get a lot of recognition and they should get equal coverage. It is my job to make this happen as I love covering St. Anthony basketball and football.
Marc Rybczynski led the running backs in carries and yards…he had 13 carries for 51 yards. Henry Sanchez had 9 carries for 44 yards and 2 touchdowns (I was in the end-zone for one of Henry’s touchdowns), Lazaro Chavez had 6 carries for 50 yards, Brandon Armstrong had 5 carries for 9 yards, and Justin Mayer had 1 carry for 6 yards.
I am so used to seeing 5A and 4A football where teams typically suite up about 100 players. Man, in the game on Saturday, St. Anthony and St. Dominic had less than 100 players combined and that meant several players had to play both and that just tells you how good the conditioning programs are at both schools.
I didn’t see any heat related injures besides me!!! I was prepared for a football game…I had my notebook to write notes (I didn’t write anything) and I had my camera phone at hand snapping away. I failed to prepare for the sun…well, besides my sunglasses. Next time, I attend a day game, wear a hat and bring suntan lotion!! Don’t worry, I will be OK, I just have a red face and neck, but it was totally worth it.
Dude, let me just say that I couldn’t have picked a better St. Anthony Yellow Jacket football game as it was also Homecoming and it was really cool to see all the flair, spirit, and the entire Homecoming court during halftime.
On Friday morning, WOAI TV personality Cleto Rodriguez was at the St. Anthony pep rally. In case you missed it, here is the link: http://www.news4sanantonio.com/community/features/cleto/stories/cleto-at-st-anthonys-132.shtml
I had a great time and will be attending another St. Anthony football game on November 2nd.
Diana, thanks again for inviting me.
This Thursday, I will be at the Spring Sports complex for the Jefferson Mustangs and the Lanier Voks.
On Friday, I will be at D W Rutledge stadium for the Hammer Bowl as the Judson Rockets host the Wagner Thunderbirds. You can throw out the records for both teams because this game is for bragging rights!! I expect a full house so arrive early!!!
And, on Saturday, I am taking the day off to celebrate our 3 year Wedding Anniversary. It is actually on Thursday, but I don’t want to miss a TNL game and there is no way I am missing the Hammer Bowl. on Friday.