This has been one very crazy-busy day, and
there’s a lot to write about tonight; but I’d better start with the football
news since that is the biggest story in town tonight.
Our team is the talk of the town tonight
not only because they won their game, but also because they did that mostly on
offense; coming from behind after spotting Clairmont a two-touchdown lead in
the first quarter. That was big news
because we were expected to lose the game, and maybe lose it big. Clairmont is a perennial contender for the
small-school state championships; we messed up their attempt at four
championships in a row last year; and they definitely wanted to avenge that
loss. I can assure you that they were
talking big before the game – and during the first half; including some
not-very-sportsmanlike trash directed at our players – particularly when we
were on defense.
They should’ve paid more attention to our
offense.
Yes, we did give up two touchdowns in the
first quarter and did basically nothing on offense; but the second part of that
was because we weren’t on the field much while Clairmont was on two very long
offensive drives and didn’t get anything done on our one offensive chance
between those drives. What the Clairmont
players and coaches didn’t seem to take much notice of was that Michael and Tim
managed to break up every long play attempt with their wide receivers, and
while Jeff wasn’t able to get them the ball in the first quarter; they both did
good jobs running their routes and getting open. What we were missing was exactly what
Clairmont planned for exploiting tonight – the lack of anyone on the offensive
or defensive lines to replace Kyle.
That’s the main reason why Jeff didn’t get
much going at first – he didn’t have time to throw and our run game got
stuffed. While that probably seemed like
the worst-case worries come true for some of the senior guys, our fortunes
started to change in the second quarter when Michael pulled in his first official
high school football catch that was good for eighteen yards; Jeff went right
back to him on the next play for another eleven yard gain; and then hit Tim for
twenty-five yards when Clairmont finally started to take notice of our
comparatively small wide receivers. Caleb
Palmer ran for the short touchdown that finally got us on the boards; and then
Clairmont came right back with two more scores – the second after getting an
interception from Jeff deep in our end of the field. That put us down by twenty-one; but we came
right back at the end of the first half with Michael, Tim, Caleb, and Lucas all
helping Jeff to get us down the field quickly and ending the drive with Tim’s
first high school touchdown.
That really had him fired up – and Rowen
too. Since we’re up to half time in this
part of the report, though, let’s talk cheerleading for a bit. First of all, while it wasn’t as if Rowen and
I didn’t know that we could get rained on; we had hoped that wouldn’t happen at
our first game. The fact that it did was
both a good and bad news story. Being
wet off and on during the game wasn’t all that exciting, and that made it
challenging to smile and cheer our heads off; but it was very cool getting to
use our rain-themed cheer routine when Dani decided it was the perfect
opportunity to do that tonight during the halftime show.
We may not be anywhere near as flashy as
the big school, competitive squads, but we had a lot of fun tonight; and even
the Clairmont cheerleaders were impressed with our halftime routine. So were the spectators watching the game –
including all of the members of my family that were at the game by then –
though that wasn’t everyone. Mom and Dad
had brought Ethan and Ehlana to the game; though Mom went home to welcome our
family when they got to town before returning with Uncle Rick, Aunt Melissa,
Dawn, and the boys shortly before the end of the first half. I’ll get to the rest of the family news
later; but let’s stick with the cheerleading and football news for right now.
The rainy-weather routine that Rowen and I
came up with was based on a ‘Glee’ mash-up that we saw a YouTube clip of while
looking for music for our original routines.
I put the music mix we used together on my computer, and changed it up a
bit; but this clip will still give you a good idea of what we did for our
routine tonight – though I won’t suggest that we were that good!
While we may not be ready for prime time,
so to speak; that was fun – and so was cheering for our team during the
game. That was particularly true for
Rowen and me; and we had a lot to cheer about in the second-half of the game as
our boyfriends were a big part of the comeback story for our team. We scored three touchdowns in the third
quarter, with Caleb and Tim each getting their second touchdowns of the game
and Michael earning his first. Clairmont
scored a touchdown and field goal, so they still had the lead; but that was
down to just three points going into the fourth quarter. They scored another field goal and then we
took our first lead of the game with another touchdown to put the score at
forty-two to forty-one. That was Tim’s
third of the game; and that had his taller, tougher Clairmont defender looking
more than a little angry and at least a bit stunned to find himself getting
out-played by a ‘kid’. We then proceeded
to lose that small lead after giving up another field goal with just a couple
of minutes left in the game; and then Jeff used Michael and Tim to get us down
the field again with the goal being to get in position to kick for the
win. While that was the plan, Caleb
broke through the line for a touchdown run instead and handed us the forty-nine
to forty-four win.
Whatever happens during the rest of the
season; our players are not going to forget how it felt today to earn this
win. Caleb and Tim – and to a lesser
extent, Jeff and Michael – were the heroes tonight; but it really was a team
effort and all of the guys are really proud of their collective effort. I’d say that sentiment applies to our
cheerleading squad too; and Rowen and I are particularly happy that we didn’t
have any major mess-ups with any of our cheers or the halftime routine. I know that Dani was very happy with us; and
we were given lots of compliments after the game by our families and friends.
Michael and Tim were very popular after the
game too; So Rowen and I didn’t even get to spend much time with them until
later – once we’d all hit the showers and gotten changed. The rain had thankfully ended by then; and it
was nice to be warm and dry again. We
didn’t have much time to hang out together then either, but that was because
Rowen and Tim needed to go to her house while Michael came home with me for a
while. I’ll get to that part of the
story soon too; but let’s back up for a bit now and cover the rest of the day
before going there.
With just six campers this morning, and
five out of six of us needing to be at the school early for football and
cheerleading practices; it was a pretty quiet, but still busy start to the
day. Michael and I joined Mom and Dad
for Tai Chi by the river, and then we took turns working; getting ready for the
day; and having breakfast. Rowen and I
only had a comparatively short practice this morning that was mostly just a
chat and minor workout; and then we were set free until needing to be at the
school again an hour before game time.
Michael and Tim had a longer practice that took most of the morning; but
they also only had a light workout and spent the rest of the time having a game
plan meeting.
Michael had to go help out at the Inn once
he was set free, and I spent most of my late morning and afternoon mowing the
lawn and weeding the gardens to get that done and out of the way for the
weekend. While I was doing that, Mom was
busy with her weekly shopping and errands; and the twins were at KidZone with
Naomi and Aiden so that she could do that work more easily. We weren’t having a Friday night dinner and a
movie this week, but Aunt Leanne did host dinner for the family – a little
family barbeque that I missed out on while getting ready for the game with
Rowen, Jenny, and the rest of the girls on the squad.
Instead of doing that, I grabbed a shower
after finishing my yard work; had a snack dinner; and then met up with Rowen so
we could do our hair together using those tips that Liz and Vicky were so nice
to share with us. There were some other
tips for us too, but I don’t plan on going into that except to say that they
were all about making sure that our cheerleading efforts remain family-rated;
if you know what I mean. Since neither
Rowen nor I have any interest in becoming even inadvertent exhibitionists; we
took those warnings and tips to heart.
Our first pre-game fun with the cheerleaders included a good warm-up;
and group pep talk; and a little bit of work as we got everything set up for
the game – including getting music to the audio booth and hauling our gear out
to the field.
We also had a little meet and greet with
the Clairmont cheerleaders, and even at small schools; that can get a bit weird
– at least from my fledgling perspective.
Rowen was comparatively quiet while we were having that little meet and
greet, but I was pretty much my usual hyper-active self; and we were both
entertained while meeting the girls from Clairmont and watching some of the
drama between girls on both squads that had already met over the past two years
at the championship games.
By the way, I didn’t mention that, but some
of the players and cheerleaders were looking at this game as a tie-breaker
match after each school had a championship victory. I asked Michael about that after, and our
guys weren’t thinking about that at all – or they weren’t until after the
game. The Clairmont players aren’t very
happy tonight, but that’s probably more due to the fact that their expectations
were too high; and that happened because they seriously underestimated our
team. Of course, I’d say that it’s fair
to suggest that our own guys and coaches were underestimating us too; so
finding out that they could still play with the ‘big guys’ tonight was
surprising for them too.
Back to the cheerleader meet and greet, I
wouldn’t say that Rowen and I made any new friends in those short before and
after game visits; but we did like some of the girls we met – particularly the
Clairmont freshmen girls. We needed to
get to work warming up the crowd ahead of game time, and my favorite part of
that was seeing Rowen transform from quiet and shy to cheerleading dynamo. She hasn’t gotten over being shy,
particularly when it comes to being at the center of attention; so that should
tell you how badly she wanted to do this – both for her and Tim.
There isn’t really much more to add that I
didn’t include in the game report already.
The sideline competition between our squad and the Clairmont
cheerleaders was energetic and entertaining; and I already mentioned that our
halftime routine was a hit. Clairmont’s
halftime show was good too; and what I really loved about my hometown friends
and neighbors was seeing them support both squads in our efforts. When I have some first-hand experience with
away games; I’ll let you know whether that happens for us at other schools.
Moving this along, the post-game action
including a bunch of cameo moments with our players, and Michael and Tim in
particular for Rowen and me; our family and some other spectators; and another
round of fun with the Clairmont cheerleaders and players. Packing up our gear again; heading into the
school to hit the showers and get changed; and hanging out with the boys while
having a bit more social time as everyone got ready to go home – or hop onto
busses for the ride back to Clairmont.
There wasn’t an after-game party tonight because of the holiday weekend;
but I would have needed to skip it anyway even if there had been one. Michael and I stopped in at his house on the
way home so that he could drop off his gear and give his parents a quick game
recap before they headed off to bed and we moved on to catch the tail-end of
the Proctor-Rice family bedtime snack break and chat.
Chris and Martin were already in the lounge
playing video games by then, but we went into the living room to hang out with
the parents, Dawn, Ethan, and Ehlana for more than a half hour before the adults
were ready to go to bed. Michael, Dawn,
and I took care of getting my brother and sister tucked in and off to bed; and
then we came up to the lounge to hang out with Chris and Martin. Michael joined in for the gaming for a while
and Dawn and I mostly just watched them play and had a long chat about what we’d
each been doing since her vacation here.
Chris and Martin gave me their summer reports too, but that took them
about a minute each – they worked; hung out with their buddies; and chased
girls – with the third part of that having a firm catch-and-release rule that
they thought was hilarious.
The only thing I have to say about that is
to advise Michael that he shouldn’t try that at home! ;^)
Michael had an extended curfew tonight, so
I walked him home at a quarter to one so that we could share our goodnight
kisses in relative privacy. That was
fun, and so was the more entertaining girl chat that Dawn and I had after
hopping into bed with Mandy and closing the doors to the lounge so that the
boys could keep gaming as long as they wanted.
Dawn might find her brothers’ girl chasing rules stupid, but I noticed
that her own thoughts on how she and Jillian plan on dealing with boys and
dating this school year is actually not all that different. They are interested in dating; but not
getting serious with any specific guys – at least so far. I hope that Tommy Reynolds isn’t expecting
Dawn to fall all over him this weekend; because she’d moved on within days of
getting home again. I’ll keep you posted
if there is any news on that.
Dawn and Mandy are both sleeping now, and
since I have a busy day and a championship ball game to play, I should be
sleeping now too; so it’s past-time to wrap this up and join them in la-la
land. I haven’t had much family time
yet, but this weekend has started off about as perfectly as possible with the
big football win and an amazing start to our cheerleading careers for Rowen and
me. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep that
awesomeness going with our baseball play; and then have some fun with our
families for the rest of the weekend.
Stay tuned – it should be an amazing
holiday!
Until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of
the Light!
