Michael, Tim, and the rest of their team
won their Championship game today!
I’ll get to that soon, but let’s try to do
this update in order.
My wake-up call came way too early, but I
was still fired up and ready to go right away too. It’s not as though I hadn’t known it already,
but it definitely sucked to start out my Black Friday with a bowl of microwaved
oatmeal cereal and a bagel instead of getting to enjoy the breakfast buffet at
the Inn. Unfortunately, we – the cheerleaders
– were on the road for the State College stadium by the time the Inn opened for
business.
Rowen and I were in a minivan with
Anna-Marie Palmer and Erica Bassett this time because Jenny was with Tammy and
her family today; since Tammy’s brother, Jeff, had a big group of family
members at the stadium today to watch his last high school game. That worked for us, and we had a blast
hanging out with Michael’s cousin and Josiah’s sister. It’s funny that I’ve been a cheerleader with
them for three months now, and still think of them that way instead of as
friends, but other than cheerleading and after-game parties; we don’t exactly
hang out together. Two years is still a
big deal when the younger teens are in Grade Nine.
The two and a half hours we spent on the
road were uneventful; though we did keep ourselves entertained. I even got to do a little future plans ‘work’;
though that isn’t exactly the right word for it – I mostly just nudged the
conversation in directions I wanted it to go a few times and encouraged some
education and career ideas for Anna-Marie and Erica. I won’t be the only person doing that over
the next year or so; though I don’t think we need to actually do much with that
– other than make sure that all of the teens around town are aware of all
opportunities available to them.
Michael, Tim, and the rest of the guys had
left more than an hour and a half before we did, and by the time we were in the
stadium; they’d already done their walk-through; and were having their turn at
on-field warm-ups. Grand Summit got to
have the better time slot for that because they had the better record. We were led on a tour of the stadium too; but
used other rooms in the building for our own warm-ups. We had to share change rooms with other
squads for all of the games; including the Grand Summit squad; but it was just
our two groups there up until about an hour before game time when the next pair
of squads arrived to start getting ready for the game after ours – and probably
catch some or all of the first match too.
Getting to meet the other girls was fun, and there was some good-natured
rivalry banter; but we were all also really busy and didn’t have too much time
for that.
The last half-hour or so before game time
was just a blast of activity as we got set up on the side-lines – at the same
time the volunteers were doing the same for our team while Coach Robinson was
busy in the locker-room with his players.
All of that was a lot different than last year, when Rowen and I were
spectators; and it was really amazing when we were surprised with our own,
personal fan club. Okay, not all of us
were surprised, since I knew when Dad and Ethan were no longer in Witch Falls
and on their way here; but it was still awesome – and they brought some of the
other guys from our families with them in two vehicles. I’ll guess that the parents got together and
bought a block of seats again this year, because they were all in one area, and
while buying tickets wouldn’t have been a problem even right up to the start of
the game; it was nice having a lot of the cheering for our guys coming from one
place.
In addition to Dad and Ethan, we had Uncle
Rick, Uncle Blaine, Chris, Martin, Jonathan, Patrick, Jayden, and Aiden at the
game. They were all there to support
Michael and Tim too, but our boys actually had fewer of their own relatives at
the game. Tim’s Dad was there, but his
Mom stayed to help out with the big shopping day at the dealership. Michael’s cousin, Ryan, got a ride with a
group of Bassetts and Palmers, including Josiah, who were there for him and
Caleb; but none of his Stone family cousins wanted to spend another five hours
in the car today on top of the rest of their travel time this weekend. I get that, but still wish that even one of
his cousins had cared enough to make the extra effort anyway – especially since
this really was a big day for Michael.
That brings us to game time. Watching my boyfriend getting introduced with
the rest of his team on a big stage was really thrilling. The pre-game festivities don’t take all that
long for a high school Championship, but that was a fun little blast of action;
and then, almost too-suddenly, the game was on!
We lost the coin-toss, and Grand Summit
deferred so that they could receive the second-half kick-off; so our team
started out on offense – and probably had Grand Summit wishing they’d made a
different choice. On our third offensive
play of the game, Michael caught a pass from Jeff Morris and then ran it down
the field for a sixty-one yard touchdown.
That first drive took less than a minute of clock time; and set a trend
for our team – and for the game.
Though Michael’s quick touchdown had
shocked the Grand Summit players and coaches, they recovered quickly enough;
and their offense marched down the field and scored on their first drive too –
and on every other one all game except for three out of the last four drives of
the game. Defense might normally win
games; but it didn’t today. I’m not
saying that defense didn’t play a role at all, because it did; but just not in
any way that showed up on the scoreboard.
For Grand Summit, there defense practically shut down our running
game. Unfortunately, they didn’t have an
answer for Jeff Morris and his two, comparatively diminutive, freshman
receivers. Considering the fact that
they did win their game against us in the regular season, you’d have thought
that they’d be ready for that; but I guess that Michael and Tim did have an
especially amazing game today compared to that one.
On our side of the defensive game, we did a
fairly decent job keeping the Grand Summit receivers from earring any
big-yardage plays on the outside, thanks mostly to Michael, Tim, and our
safeties; but we got killed on the ground and up the middle of the field for
most of the game – at least until the wheels started falling off for Grand
Summit in the fourth quarter. Without
Kyle on our team, we weren’t surprised that Grand Summit went after us there;
but the one big factor that was a game-changer with the differences in our
offensive successes was that Grand Summit used up a lot more clock time than we
did – mostly because our plays either ended out-of-bounds or with
incompletions. They chewed up clock time
with every play that didn’t end in a first down or touchdown.
Getting back to the game in progress part
of the report, we basically exchanged touchdowns with Grand Summit; and Michael
and Tim took turns earning all of ours while Caleb and Lucas were pretty much
stymied on the ground game. They did
eventually run up nearly one hundred yards between them; but it was mostly nickel-and-dime
yards that they had to fight hard for – and usually run a lot farther
side-to-side to get even a couple of positive yards gained. For our side, Tim scored our second and third
touchdowns, Michael had our fourth, and then Tim added a fifth to give us a
seven point lead going into half time.
Rowen and I had a blast cheering for our
boys on the sidelines, and while we couldn’t exactly run into the end zone to
give our heroes hugs and kisses after each touchdown; they knew that we were
very proud of them – we were literally jumping, dancing, and flipping for joy! That brings us to our half-time routine, and
while I’m sure that mash-ups are big with cheerleaders everywhere right now,
Dani picked the music from the Pitch Perfect competition finale for our routine;
though our actual routine didn’t resemble that stage scene in the movie –
except for the looking to the left and right thing. We had a bigger audience, and they seemed to
enjoy the routine; but I don’t think it was quite as popular as our ‘Do You
Want to Build a Snowman’ routine was when we did it at home. We had fun, though, and earned some cheers
and whistles; so I’m a happy camper – and Dani was thrilled to have pulled it
off as our senior captain. Grand Summit
has a bigger cheerleading squad, and I liked what they did too; but I’ll give
the half-time win to our squad – even if I am biased.
Grand Summit tied the game on their next
drive – the first of the second half – and then we were right back to
exchanging touchdowns. Since Tim had
earned three of our first-half touchdowns, Grand Summit tried to clamp down on
him in the second half; which just allowed Michael to score our next two
touchdowns in a row – both of them on long, fifty-plus yard catch-and-run
plays. We were tied at forty-nine when Tim
earned his first touchdown of the second half to give us a seven-point lead
again, thanks to another defensive shift that tried to stop Michael with a
double-team on him; and it was shortly after that when the wheels fell off of
the game plan bus for Grand Summit.
We were just into the fourth quarter by
the, and Grand Summit had returned up the field again fairly quickly after Tim’s
touchdown, but had a couple of dropped passes deep in our red zone and found
themselves facing their first fourth down of the game. Instead of kicking a chip-shot field goal and
cut our lead to four; they went for it – and failed. We took over on downs; Jeff Morris hit Tim
with a fifteen-yard pass on our first play that Tim then ran all the way to the
end zone at the other end of the field for his fifth touchdown of the game; and
we were suddenly up by fourteen instead.
Grand Summit came roaring back to score another touchdown; and then Michael
returned the favor while keeping up with Tim and earning his fifth touchdown of
the game to – on another drive that took less than two minutes.
At that point, we were up seventy to
fifty-six; time was running out; and Grand Summit was getting desperate. They blasted down the field; got stopped on
another fourth-down incompletion; and then Jeff hit Tim for another long pass
and run that Tim slowed up and ran out of bounds for – as per orders from Coach
Robinson. Jeff took a knee for three
downs to run the clock down as much as we could; and then Jason kicked his one
and only field goal of the game to give us the seventy-three-fifty-six lead
that we’d end the game with. Grand
Summit still had a little time left after that, but we all knew the game was
over by then despite the fact that they ran the ball down the field again until
losing yet one more fourth down attempt in our red zone with just seconds left
on the clock. There was one more
offensive play for our team, with Jeff simply taking a knee to run out the
clock; and then the celebration was on.
The game stats were so crazy that it was
almost scary. We had over seven hundred
yards of offense to go along with our ten touchdowns and one field goal; with
more than six hundred of those yards through the passing game. Grand Summit had more than half again more of
the clock time on offense, and five hundred plus yards of offense; their stats
would have looked great too if it wasn’t compared to our results today. I know that their players, coaches, and fans
were really disappointed; but they did play a great game where the major difference
between winning and losing really game down to a couple of pivotal plays in the
fourth quarter.
In a Championship tournament like this one,
big celebrations after the game aren’t an option because the field needs to be
cleared for the next game fairly quickly.
Rowen and I got to have a little bit of time with Michael and Tim after
the game; but then we were all off and running again to hit the showers and get
our gear packed up and into the bus or vehicles before we went back into the
stadium; met up with our families and friends; and started watching the next
game already in progress. Most of our
fans didn’t stay for all of that game because they wanted to be home in time
for dinner; but Michael and I did get to spend some time with Dad, Ethan,
Aiden, and my uncles and cousins before they left for home.
We stayed and watched that second game, and
then went over to our hotel. The
check-ins for the team and cheerleaders was already taken care of by then, so Rowen
and I got our keycards and went straight to our room to get changed and ready
for the evening events that were hosted by the high school football league –
though our school pays its share of those costs the same as every school does –
or however that’s actually done through the combination of school taxes and
sports fees. We met up with Michael and
Tim in the lobby, because they were ready first – as were most of the guys; and
then we were off and running again.
It was very different from last year to be
part of the football festivities instead of being on our own for dinner and the
evening; but we had a great night; and I especially loved getting to spend that
time with my friends. Michael and I got
to sit with Rowen, Tim, Rebecca, Lucas, Jenny, and Lance at one table; and our
group had a block of tables, so we had other friends we could talk with too;
though not with everyone because we were one of the tables on the outside edge
of the room. I’m definitely getting
spoiled having so many meals cooked by Michael’s father; but I doubt that
anyone in the room would actually argue with me about how mediocre the meal was
tonight. It wasn’t bad; just not at all
memorable.
Fortunately, the dinner conversation was
fun; and I really loved getting to celebrate a championship with Michael, Tim,
and Lucas. Jenny was happy too because
Lance had come along to spend the day – and night – with her; but he felt a bit
out of place being the only non-footballer guy there with us. Rebecca was officially at the game and
evening events in her capacity as reporter for the school newsletter and
yearbook, so while she had fun with us too; she also needed to take pictures
and videos for her ‘job’ too. She also
recorded the entire game plays; but that was entirely so that Jacob and Miranda
could watch the game later to see just how great their son played today. She’s also sharing a room with Emma Norton
tonight; so she’s earning some bonus points there with her boyfriend’s sister
too.
For the guys, the obvious highlight of the
night was getting their Championship trophy, though Coach Robinson received
that at the podium on his own while the guys were only asked to stand and
accept the congratulations. Jeff Morris
earned the Most Valuable Player honors for our game; thanks to his ten touchdown
passes and having more than six hundred passing yards. I think that he deserves the award, but
Michael and Tim deserved more attention than they got too – especially since
more than five hundred of those ‘passing’ yards came after the catch – and Michael
and Tim split that fairly evenly between them.
A running back with five touchdowns and two hundred and fifty yards on
the ground would have made a much bigger impression. Michael and Tim don’t have to get those yards
by running through the defensive line first; but they have their own challenges
too.
Moving along, some people in our own group
seemed surprised at Jeff’s award, but they shouldn’t have been – he’s quiet;
but goes out and gets the job done. One
guy actually seemed to be put-out by Jeff’s selection; and there’s a good
chance that Jason Johnson actually believes that he was an equal star today
with thirteen points on eleven kicks to go along with the rest of his stellar
season. I haven’t really paid attention
to the in-school awards for any sports, let alone for football, and I’m sure he’ll
win some this year; but I don’t see how he can argue with the league judges’
pick for the MVP of our game today. I
don’t, and think there’s a case to be made for Michael and Tim sharing the
title with Jeff – a fact that he pointed out modestly in his acceptance
comments. Maybe that’s why Jason looked
upset – for not being singled out by Jeff too instead of being lumped in with
the rest of the ‘team effort’ part of Jeff’s remarks.
There was a social time after the awards
were presented, but no dance or major party action. Going out after that was an option for the
older teens, but the rest of us came back to the hotel to either hang out in
our rooms or go for a swim in the pool.
Michael and I were with all of our friends for that, and we also had
other teens that hadn’t been able to go to the dinner with us too – including Emma
and Benjamin Norton, and Sally, and Joshua.
We swam for nearly an hour; and then headed for bed – mostly.
Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I might have
gotten mixed up with our room destinations for a little while before getting
that straightened out again; but we weren’t the only couples doing that – and there
were more than a few senior teen couples who didn’t get into the correct rooms
before dawn. For us, it was enough to
have an hour or so of quality, clothing-optional make-out time. Michael helped me out of my wet swimsuit, and
while his dried above the tub in the bathroom, we played on the bed and then he
eventually helped me to get dressed again – this time in a night dress that he
really wanted to get me out of again about five seconds after I was in it. We didn’t do that, but we did play right up
until it was time for Rowen to get back to our room. We’d opted for that so that Michael didn’t
have to worry about walking into his room and seeing anything he shouldn’t, but
Rowen waited an extra five minutes; and I’ll guess that was for the same reason
– especially since Tim walked her back to our room.
Did I mention that I was in a night dress
by then? A short, fairly sexy one? ;^)
Tim’s open-mouthed reaction had Michael
both laughing and pretending to try and hide me from Tim, but while I’m not
into public displays of nudity or anything; I just thought it was funny because
I had less on when we were swimming in the pool. Rowen had less on right then – under the wrap
she had on over her swimsuit – which had also apparently had time to dry while
she was away. It was obvious from their
smiles that they’d had fun too; but I won’t include any details here about
that.
I will note that we already knew by then
that Jenny did not stay in her room with Tammy Morris tonight. Lance was on his own for room reservations,
so he didn’t have a roommate for them to worry about; and Jenny wasn’t worried
about getting caught – despite having several of her mother’s teacher friends
in the hotel and semi-supervising. As I
already mentioned, they weren’t the only couple doing that either – just the
youngest. That’s the extent of my
comments about that, though; since I’m sure that Michael and I will be members
of that group on future trips – even if we’re not ready to go there quite yet
despite the fact that we love getting to cuddle together all night. Our experience with that is, admittedly,
limited; but we’ll be happy to work on that as we go along!
Michael and Tim stayed for a chat and drink
before Rowen and I took care of the goodnight hugs and kisses with our
respective boyfriends; and then Rowen got changed, and we took turns using the
bathroom to finish getting ready for bed.
It was time for a nice long girl chat by then; and it’s taken us more
than an hour to do that while I’ve been busy with my nightly bedtime computing
and Rowen’s been surfing and watching YouTube videos. I didn’t have a lot of actual family business
work to do, but there were a lot of email; and news from home to talk about.
While we’ve been in football mode, we
missed the buffet breakfast; an amazing Black Friday shopping adventure that
included all of the other girls in my family getting to explore the new
second-hand store on top of the other usual stops; and all of the rest of the
fun that’s been going on at home. I
haven’t mentioned it yet, but the weather was awesome today too – into the
fifties by game time and sunny pretty much all day. That made for a great play day at home
too. In addition to the shopping, there
were big family lunch and dinner meals; play time at the park; and even a small
canoe ride adventure. With quite a few
of the guys away for the football game; there wasn’t even much of that going on
until after dinner; so the women actually got to relax in the afternoon and
watch chick flicks – or just have naps.
Uncle Adam and Uncle Mark didn’t come for
the football outing because Aunt Leanne is having the ongoing issues with
morning sickness and Aunt Grace is due any day now; so they also helped out
with kid control after the shopping. Uncle
Nick stayed home too, but nobody had expected him to go – man-laws are superseded
when it comes to things like having newborns in the house – and he’s smart
enough not to risk earning the wrath of his wife, their mothers, or any of the
other girls in his family. Give it a
year or two, Uncle Nick, and then you and Uncle Adam and Uncle Mark will be
wishing that man-laws didn’t rule when you’re taking your toddler sons on trips
like this one – and spending five hours in the car with them just to watch
football for a few hours.
Finally, on the email front, there were a
handful of congratulations email that were more for passing on to Michael and
Tim than for Rowen and me; but that was fun too.
It’s time to wrap this up, and not only
because Rowen and I need to get some sleep – I want to give her a bedtime
birthday gift too – though Michael and I will do our main gift with her in the
morning at breakfast.
Or I’ll wrap this up right now because
Rowen just saw that last comment as I wrote it and is now very excited about us
putting our computers away so we can get to that.
I love you Rowen!
It’s been fun, but I have to go now; so,
until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
