Friday, August 16, 2019

8/16/19 Football Is Heating Up?

    That is all I can think of, the heat.  Man!!!  Javalina had his first game today and it was a weird game to watch.  I don't know if he got hit hard or was concussed or his pet hamster died right before the game (he doesn't own any pets).  There was a visible hesitation on his part.  Before the game even started, I got there and they were already warming up on the field.  He hadn't mentioned what number he was going to be, so that made it a little harder to figure out who I was looking at.  I settled on #63 and stared at him for awhile as they came off the field to drink water.  He stared back without waving or anything and I decided to look away.  If it wasn't my boy, it would be hard to explain why I was staring so hard at a kid, plus he looked back at me with attitude, not in any way friendly.
Once they all ran out on the field, I was sure that was my boy.  I recognized his husky jog.  He was blown back about 7-8 yards on the first play, but then he was much better after that.  I asked him about the first play and he said he was double teamed which is why he got pushed back so far.  After that, he seemed to settle down for awhile.  He was involved on 3 tackles in the first drive and that is good.
    I still don't know if it is good for them to not have a freshman squad and to be mixed in with the ,Junior varsity team.  He was starting on both sides of the line (for a freshman playing with upper classmen, that is great) which seems good, but you need to be in great shape and he really isn't.  He seemed to be taken out after the first couple of sets (they took turns running ten plays per side), but he told me he was asking the coaches to take him out because he was burned out.  I thought he was done every time, but they would want him back after a couple of plays.  Towards the end of the game, he even went and sat on the bench where the fan was blowing misty cool wind and the coaches called him yet again to go get on the field.  I could tell the hesitation in his movements, like he was a step too slow all game long.
    I don't think the huge ego of the boy can admit it, but I do believe the bigger boys might have hit harder than he was expecting.  He is a little bruised but if he can learn from it, then all the better.  He lost a great opportunity to get ahead over the summer when he could have hit the weights and gotten into conditioning since June.  I know it sucks to be outside in the heat, but that is what it will take for him to be better than the kids around him.
    I didn't mention much about the game because it was only a scrimmage and it was discussed that they wouldn't keep score.  They were pretty even, I believe Crockett scored 3 times and Burnet twice, but there was no kickoff, they would just start the 10 plays from each other's 30 yard line, so it was hard to say which team won.  Crockett needs a definitive running back.  Their best plays were when the QB would scramble and get free for yardage.  He also had a handful of decent passes for 20-30 yards.

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