Friday night lights
We’re finally there ... Week number one of the 2010 high school football season! Even better is that we get to host this year’s opener with traditional rival Elkins.
While I like and enjoy most all sports in general (sports with Blackhawk participation in particular) I really look forward every year to football season.
The sport that costs the most to operate and boasts more participants than any other, football is as much a socio-economic phenomena as it is a sport.
Come up to the game this Friday, and you will see a whole lot more than just a football game.
For instance, you can see, hear and smell some really good food cookin’ (you should drop the “g” in cooking if its down-home style), so an early arrival can take care of your dinner needs as well as securing for yourself the vantage point you hope to gain for yourself when the game does start. You can also add to your fall wardrobe with all the Blackhawk gear on sale by the concession area and there’s evena little flavor of “Vegas” in the air as tickets are sold for a drawing, with proceeds split with the lucky winner and the high school AP travel program. If you don’t want to miss out on a possible profitable evening, look for a really tall man walking around with raffle tickets.
However, the greatest off field experience that goes on is the camaraderie and friendship you can see at every turn. Blankets laid out, tail gates pulled down and folding chairs set out kind of gives the stadium an atmosphere something akin to a reunion of sorts. For a lot of people, attending ’Hawk games isn’t so much like going home as it is being home. A crowd will be there long before kickoff and it always takes a while to empty the venerable facility known as Blackhawk Stadium.
Beside the 44 players that will be decked out in black to take on the invading Elks, lots of other people will be engaged in one thing or another. The cheerleaders will be working the sidelines, with lots of other kids filling supportive roles in other areas.
You will see the Blackhawk band which has been toiling away the past few weeks preparing for musical action during the half-time festivities. In addition, dozens of kids and adults are working concessions, helping with parking, and working in the press box.
And, of course, there is the game itself. Second-year coach Tony Travis has rekindled pride in Blackhawk football but faces the daunting task of playing in a tough 4A conference with the youngest and least experienced roster of any team on the PeaRidge schedule. I believe that every single publication or news outlet has been picking the ’Hawks to finish 1-9 in 2010.
Based on the youth and inexperience that Pea Ridge has, those predictions were probably decided many months ago.
This is a different team, though, than in past years. There will probably be more players that will be logging playing time than has been seen here in a long time. It’s a fact that there aren’t any ’Hawk players being named for pre-season honors, and that the competition for starting spots on the team is hot and heavy at every position.
Travis is rebuilding for sure, but with plans and “blueprints” that will bring Pea Ridge back to the upper echelons of competition.
Part of those plans includes using as many players as possible.
If players were robots, you could probably always know what to expect. Human beings operate differently. Motivated players can beat unmotivated ones, even if they have less talent. Tired players can get outplayed by fresher ones, even if the tired player is a “better” player. Just plain hard work is usually the most significant aspect in how well teams and programs do. As former Hogs basketball coach Nolan Richardson aptly said, “You have to be lucky to win, but the harder youwork, the luckier you get.”
Now to the game, we are hosting long time rival Elkins who used to be a district foe before we moved up to the 4A-1.
We had the unusual experience of both losing the last game of 2008 and the first game to 2009 to the Elks. The 2008 affair was a game in which the ’Hawks clearly outplayed their rival but lost a close game after an avalanche of turnovers did them in.
They should have won the game last year, and would have were it not for some very strange officiating.
The Elks were 4-5 last year but have most of their offense and defense back. They are looking to have a very strong line this year with about half of their 30 man roster expected to see significant action playing in the trenches. Their backfield is goodbut with not much depth. Expect Elkins to pass the ball a lot as they have several capable receivers. They are and have always been a team than makes good use of whatever gifts that come their way via the turnover route.
The ’Hawks have two players competing for the quarterback spot. Sophomore Austin Easterling and junior Bo Rylee are both taking reps at the position though both will play somewhere whether they become the number one quarterback or not.
Senior Jase Sharp is anchoring the linemen with senior Andrew Woollard expected to be perhaps the ’Hawks’ top running back. Senior defensive backs Scott Fisher and Colton Holtgrewe will be seeing a lot action Friday if the Elks take to the air as much as expected, with sophomore Braxton Caudill and senior Dalton Fisher expected to get involved in a lot of tackles from their linebacking positions.
No matter how the won-loss record turns out in 2010, things are looking up for the ’Hawks of Pea Ridge.
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Editor’s note: John McGee is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The TIMES. He can be contacted through The Times at prtnews@ nwaonline.com.
School, Pages 8 on 09/01/2010