Our Friday the thirteenth has turned out to
be very unlucky for our football team tonight; and our season came to an abrupt
end.
Congratulations to Hillcrest – their team;
and their faithful fans!
The toughest part of the night for me wasn’t
the loss – it was not being able to be with Michael to help him deal with the
disappointment nearly as much as I would have liked after the game; and during
the trip home. We did spend a bit of
extra time together after we got home; but I’ll get to that part of the report
in a while.
Since football is the top story of the day,
though; let’s get all of the bad news out of the way – and cover the good parts
of the game and trip too; since it really was a good game despite the loss for
Michael, Tim, Lucas, and a few others. The
final score was fifty-eight to forty-nine for Hillcrest. While the score was close during the entire
game, they had the first touchdown; and we never even managed to tie the game
even once through to the end. Hillcrest
won by three field goals, but we matched their seven touchdowns; and didn’t try
for any field goals because we always needed touchdowns.
Michael scored three of our touchdowns; and
he was the star of the game for our team – though since Tim had two touchdowns;
it’s more fair to say that they were co-stars.
All five touchdowns included long runs after the catches; and they were
quick scores. We did not do well on most
drives without those big plays; partly because Ray had a fairly low completion
percentage today and also gave up four drive-ending turnovers. Lucas earned a running touchdown that was
from just a bit over twenty yards away; and Reid scored once too on one of the
trick plays that he’s become really good at pulling off. All of the big plays and scoring on both
sides was exciting, and while I’ll point out that our Raiders weren’t ever in a
great place for a serious comeback; it wasn’t a blow-out either; and our guys
never gave up.
Hillcrest was definitely ready to take
advantage of our weaknesses, and while they did earn three of their touchdowns
and all three field goals on ‘normal’ offensive drives; the two interceptions
and two fumble recoveries their defense earned off of Ray gave them well-timed,
short-field opportunities that they turned into four touchdowns. We managed a couple of turnovers too, but
neither was picked up with good field position; and defensive turnovers are
definitely not a strength for us this season.
The last point I’ll make before moving on is that Hillcrest played
better than we did as a team. They also
didn’t have any real stars – except possibly for their quarterback and a couple
of guys that played on both their offensive and defensive lines. That was the biggest difference tonight.
Rowen and I didn’t hear about it until
after we were home and on our own with the boys; but Jason and the other
seniors were apparently quick to blame Friday the Thirteenth for our ‘horror
story’ loss, and Jason had other targets for his post-game ranting; but
Michael, Tim, and Lucas weren’t on his hit list tonight because there wasn’t much
he could say about their play when they were so obviously having a great
game. Michael and Tim are as
disappointed as everyone else on the team, but then they were better-prepared
for the loss since they hadn’t expected another championship this season. Tim even admitted tonight that he hadn’t
expected our team to do as well as they did.
We – the cheerleaders – didn’t have any
blame-game action going on during our trip home. We had a good game too; had lots to cheer
about during the game; and our half-time routine was yet another hit for us –
always a good thing when we’re the visitors.
We didn’t have summer-like weather for the game, but the sky was clear;
the temperature stayed in the fifties until after the game; and the wind was much
calmer compared to the higher winds we’d been dealing with at home over the
past couple of days. That worked out for
us, and since the weather might not be nearly as nice during the last two
rounds of the playoffs; I’m not entirely disappointed that we won’t be continuing
to the next round. That extra ten or
fifteen hours a week will come in handy now too – especially when we’ll soon be
spending more time getting ready for all of the Christmas parades concerts, and
shows.
I can start thinking about all of that
tomorrow, but I’m tired out now; and it’s time to speed this up so that I can
get some rest.
We were late getting back to the school;
Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I all helped out with the gear before heading
home. Rowen and Tim walked with Michael
and me; we stopped on my front porch for a chat; and then Michael came in with
me for a while and Rowen took Tim over to her house. It was too late by then, and Michael should
have gone home; but we came up to the lounge and enjoyed a very minor make-out
session. The cuddle and talk time was
more important for both of us; and I’m glad that I could help Michael with the
first steps of his football loss recovery.
Okay, he was taking it pretty well anyway;
but why mess up a perfectly good excuse for staying out for more than an hour
past what should have been his game-night curfew? At least we didn’t shoot for another sofa
sleepover! ;^)
Yes, we’re saving them up for the holidays;
but won’t mention that to the parents either.
I’ve skipped over the rest of my day before
the football game and trip to Hillcrest, but to be honest; I don’t really have
anything to write about. It was a fairly
normal Friday, and the only non-school chat topic was the football game. While I was away, I missed the dinner and a
movie night that Uncle Nick and Aunt Deborah hosted this week, but while I’m
sure they had fun; I seem to be getting used to missing out on family time like
that now that I’ve been doing it for a couple of years.
Michael went home shortly before two; I got
ready for bed; and got started on a bit of bedtime computing while cuddling
with Mandy and talking to her. I’ve only
done the basic computer checks and dealt with one email that needed to be
answered before getting started on this journal update. That hasn’t taken long, but it’s still past
two-thirty; and I’m not going to get much down time before I’ll need to be
awake again and ready for another yard and house chores day. Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I talked about
getting together tomorrow night during our little front porch visit, and we
might even see about putting together a sleepover; but that’s just an idea
right now; and would need all of the parental approvals first – not to mention
a location and possible expanded guest list.
I’ll let you know how that goes with the
next report, but for right now, it’s time to crash and nap; so, until next
time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
