My radio boss, Bobby, kept referring this game as “the battle of 3009″, but their has to be a better name or an official one that I don’t know yet!! I mean, Judson and Wagner is called ‘the hammer bowl.” Help me out Knight and Buffaloe fans please.
I knew this game would be a full house (yes, I watched that show) and parking would be a nightmare for me even though I normally arrive 2 hours before kick-off. Well, I ended up parking where the Clemens band was practicing. At 11:15 in the evening, as I was walking to my car (which was the last one parked), I tripped on the pavement and fell down (yep, Mark tumbled to the ground). I am OK folks, just a few cuts on my hands and a nice hole in my blue jeans at my left knee (oh, my knee got cut also). I am very glad I wasn’t wearing shorts and that nothing was seriously cut…cause it could’ve been worse.
Ten years ago, I fell on a glass coffee table (I wasn’t drunk…that’s what everybody thinks when I tell them this story) and to make a long story short, the glass cut me in three different places and when I looked at the severity of them, I knew, I had to go to the ER. Al I required was lots of stitches.
Man, I have no clue how to transition from blood to a football game besides just stating it (hey, that was actually good and it works). YAY!!!
During the game, I got to meet one of my Twitter follows @knighto_cibolo. It was pretty cool to put a face and name together. John, it was a pleasure to finally meet you. I did Tweet stats to John and also @txhsfb1 and I really appreciate all the retweets. This really helps me build my following and brings more awareness to my BLOG and the fact that I love sharing my passion for the game with you. THANKS!!
Working a game at Lehnoff stadium is always awesome for me as you can open the windows in the press-box and hear the fans roar and the vantage point is much closer to the action than any other press-box in the area. The staff in the press-box are always very hospitable and they always have food and drinks for us media folks…and a bathroom!!!
Their is no a/c at Lehnoff stadium, but it wasn’t needed on Friday night! Their is no elevator!! To get to the film deck, you have to climb a submarine ladder (I have done that climb many many many times as that where we have our crowd mic). It will finally get a much needed renovation when the season ends!!
The only complaint (although I keep it to myself) is the fact that the radio area doesn’t allow to me to be in my stat comfort zone. I have no room for laptop or Ipad (so, I have to use my phone throughout the game for social media updates) and their is no room for my little dry erase board (I use that to keep track of drive summaries and also to point out to Bobby and Tony how long a play was). I was happy that I grabbed a chair before the scouts snatched them up.
I saw Clemens in Week 3 and the three-headed running game of Frank Harris, Jeremy Collins, and Shannon Warren combined for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Last week, the Steele Knights, had 224 yards rushing combined from LG Williams, Bryson Denley, Travell Lumpkin, Jaylen Harris, and Trai Armstrong and 2 touchdowns.
As you can see, both teams like to run the ball but I was expecting Steele to win pretty easily over Clemens. I ain’t got nothing against the Buffs, but Steele is a much better team.
Well, the Steele Knights did indeed beat the Clemens Buffaloes by a score of 31 to 0.
The Clemens Buffaloes ran 44 plays for 101 yards!! Running back, Jeremy Collins, only played in the first series. Frank Harris, the quarterback, had 54 yards of total offense. Tony Franklin, our color analyst, mentioned in the pre-game show that if Clemens wants to win, they have to make first downs (they had 5 first downs and were 3 of 14 on third down conversions with 10 punts).
I have to give KUDOS and NAME DROPS to the Steele starting defense…they were magnificent!! Mark Jackson, Zach Edwards, Tristan Watson, Gage Magargee, Marquee Allison, Chris Boring, Marcos Gutierrez, Malik Perez, Anthony Johnson, Mark Frankhouse, and Jubias Cloud. Both Mark’s are juniors and Mark Jackson is already being recruited by many of the top college football programs.
The Steele Knights ran 57 plays for 435 yards, The starting running back, Byson Denley, didn’t play, but no worries as they still rushed for 231 yards and 2 touchdowns. Sophomore, Travell Lumpkin, led the ground game with 17 carries for 101 yards and 1 touchdown. LG Williams, the quarterback, had 10 carries for 61 yards and 1 touchdown and he was also 11 of 16 passing for 204 yards with 2 touchdowns. One of the touchdown receptions was a 62 yard hail mary to Jaylen Harris as the 2nd quarter came to an end…WOW!!! Harris had 3 receptions for 72 yards and that one touchdown. Antoine Wesley had 2 receptions for 98 yards and 1 touchdown (which was for 65 yards).
I think that the best teams (that I have seen) in the city so far are: Steele Knights, Brennan Bears, O’Connor Panthers, and Brandeis Broncos.
Brandeis and O’Connor play on Friday, October 24th and that may be the game I work!! You remember what happened last year when they played? I will be delighted to refresh your memory about the last :80 seconds of that game…
The Brandeis Broncos had a 9 to 7 lead over the O’Connor Panthers. Everybody was standing and cheering!! O’Connor recovered a Brandeis fumble near midfield with 1:20 remaining. The Panthers kicked what I thought would be a game winning 29 yard field goal with :08 seconds left in the game and led 10 to 9. All they had to do was kickoff and defend one play…sounds easy?
The Broncos got the ball with :06 seconds left and 74 yards of field in front of them. O’Connor was defending for a pass and they had men 50 yards down the field. The Brandeis quarterback threw a short pass to a wide receiver who lateraled it to another player (at this time, the clock showed triple zeros and the O’Connor players ran on the field to celebrate a 10 to 9 win). I was up in the press-box and I also was giving O’Connor the win as I thought the Brandeis player got tackled out of bounds.
I then saw a Brandeis player running with the football (the O’Connor players who ran on the field had to quickly get back to the sideline). That Brandeis player was finally tackled at the 35 yards line and oh no, a yellow penalty flag is on the field. The penalty was on O’Connor for a sideline infraction which gave Brandeis one final play with no time on the clock. OMG!!! Brandeis kicked a 30 yard field goal and nailed it and they won the game 12 to 10!!!
It was by far the most unbelievable finish I have ever seen in a High School football game and I got 18 years of this so that says a lot!!!
After the game ended, a nearby Whataburger got the “food fight of the year” as students from both schools took their frustrations out on each other with food!!! WOW and YUCK and WHAT A GREAT WASTE OF FOOD!!!
Next Thursday, I will be at Alamo stadium for the Highlands Owls and the Sam Houston Hurricanes.
Even though I got to photograph the extensive renovations to Alamo stadium and share it with you, this will be first time at the Alamo stadium this season and dude, I can’t wait!! I really hope and want our TNL producer, Brian Watts, uses some of my photos!!
On Friday, I am taking the day off from work and the night off from football to celebrate my 4 year wedding anniversary to the greatest woman I know. I don’t even want to think of the possible game for that evening…Southside at Somerset. Both teams are undefeated and the Somerset quarterback is Koy Detmer, Jr (in 5 games this season, he has 926 passing yards with 15 touchdowns and 1 interception). If the last names sound familiar, it should!!! Football is is the Detmer pedigree…his Dad is a former NFL quarterback, Koy Detmer, his uncle is Ty Detmer who is also a former NFL quarterback and Heismann trophy award winner, and the grandfather is Sonny Detmer who also happens to be the head coach at Somerset along with Koy Sr.