The mighty Crockett Cougars played their last game of this shitty 2020 Covid-19 stricken season and I say good riddance. I am honestly confused how a school of around 1500 students can barely eke out a team of 22 players. There are a good 750 boys at the school, there should be no shortage of would be heroes, but no, for some reason, the more kids the more apathy. There is something to be said about small town life, they show up in numbers to support their own. Growing up in Crystal City, our teams were mostly mediocre to bad, but it didn't seem to matter, the stands would always be filled to capacity. It was that way with some of the teams, like Liberty Hill, which for some reason is in the same district as Crockett, they had an almost filled stadium, even in the middle of Covid. It has pretty much been the same when the Crockett boys played at other small towns.
It is bad enough the team finished the season with twenty two kids, I don't think there were twenty two sets of parents in the stands to cheer for the boys. This is disconcerting, it hurt me a bit to see the boys give it their all, and I don't care if they win or lose, but seeing them give it their all, I feel it would be nice to see the people that these boys belong to seeing what they do. I don't think I appreciated what student athletes go through, I was in band and although I put in many hours outside of school, football players put their bodies on the line. I see my son after every game and luckily he has walked home "uninjured" every time, when he takes the pads off, he always has scratches, bruises, and stories of mishaps of how his body is pulled this way and that. I can only say that he really plays for the love of the game.
It was a bad loss, for sure, 47-0, and I didn't see much in the way of positive things to say. Wife had said prior to the start that Marble Falls was like Dripping Springs in that they played dirty, but the team on the field played it pretty clean. They just had more energy and a hell of a lot more of everything. The team was over 70 students strong so there were probably backups for every position. Poor Baby A finally got his position back starting at right guard but he was also gifted the starting position of nose guard as well. He played pretty decently, getting his name called on at least three solo tackles and we could see he was in on many other group tackles as well. Although they are losing almost half the team because they are seniors, at least a handful of guys are classmates with Mijo and they will be around for two more years.
I know Baby A left an impression with his teammates, he works hard, shows up ready, and has a good attitude. He kept his mouth quiet, listened to the older guys and did what they said. He said after the game, one of the senior linemen on the team pulled him aside and gave him his "good luck" towels he carried in games as a sign of camaraderie and a way of passing the torch. Baby A told him thanks and that he would not let him down. The guy also threatened Mijo to join the wrestling team to make him a better player on the field for next year, jokingly of course, so he feels like he has to do it now.
Our son was very vocal and definitely acted like a team captain in 8th grade and even his freshman year on JV, he was comfortable telling people what to do. This year was a learning experience and I think he will be contributing as a leader the next two years as an upperclassman. I am very proud watching from the sidelines, it has been a treat to see him going from a clumsy "fat little boy" at the start of 7th grade unsure about the violence in this sport to this metamorphosis in process as he becomes a man who fights hard and has a dominating presence without raising his voice or resorting to theatrics. He is becoming a fine young man and I can only thank the coaches and the sport that are helping me shape him for the future.
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