Man, wanted to share how I put together the West Carrollton High School football update this week. Figured folks wanna know how the boys are doing.
Step one was just getting my butt out there. Drove over to the school grounds on Friday night, game was already kicking off. Grabbed my cheap folding chair and thermos – gotta have that coffee, nights are getting chilly. Found a spot kinda near the 50-yard line, tried not to get trampled by the marching band parents.
Started scribbling notes like crazy right from the kickoff. My cheap notebook got all rumpled fast. Mostly just short stuff:
- #22 got tackled hard on the first play, hope he’s okay.
- Fumble! Ball went everywhere, looked messy.
- Field goal attempt – nope, went wide right. Dang.
- Scoreboard still stuck at 0-0 forever.
The rain started halfway through the second quarter. Notebook got soggy. Had to cram it in my jacket pocket. Switched to typing junk into my phone notes app, fingers slipping all over the screen. Mostly swear words when the refs made a questionable call against us.
Halftime hustle. Dodged the concession line (hot dogs smelled way too good, had to resist) and hightailed it towards the team bench area. Coach Wilson is usually decent for a quick soundbite if he’s not screaming at someone. Caught him gulping down water. Just barked “We’re fighting hard, gotta clean up the mistakes in the second half” before he ran back to the locker room. That’s it. Got a couple words from one of the assistant coaches about needing better blocking. Nothing fancy, just the obvious stuff.
Second half was rough. Pouring rain now. Phone battery dropping fast. Trying to shield it under my jacket like some weird hunchback. Saw linebacker #45, Mike Richardson I think, limping off the field holding his arm. Didn’t look good. Made a note. Their offense started finding holes, scoring points. Our offense sputtered like a bad engine. Scraped together points where I could:
- 3rd Quarter: Opponents score a TD. 7-0.
- Us: Finally get a field goal! 7-3.
- 4th Quarter: They score again. 14-3. Ugh.
- Last ditch effort by us, fumbled again. Game over.
Final Score: West Carrollton 3, Opponents 14. Not pretty. Record ain’t looking good now.
After the game, hung around near the parking lot exit. Flagged down Coach Wilson again. He looked beat down. Confirmed #45 Richardson took a hard hit, shoulder injury, probably out next week maybe longer. Mentioned QB #10, Jackson, got sacked a ton but stayed tough. Highlighted some good plays by the kicker, basically saving us from a shutout. Basically gave the “young team, growing pains” speech.
Putting it all together when I got home was a mess. My notes were half blurry scribbles, half damp phone ramblings. Had to piece together what actually happened between “REF YOU BLIND!” and “SNACK BAR CLOSING??”. Wrote up the score, the obvious key plays (fumbles, field goals), the injury news on Richardson, Wilson’s quotes about the QB and the kicker, and that depressing final record update. Didn’t sugarcoat it. Loss is a loss. That’s all I got.