Memories from in MY High School Career

As I wrote my blog entry on the alumni game, I was taken back to the glory days when I wore the blue and gold. My career was quite inconsequential, but we hd some fun along the way. Here are my top 10 high school football memories from Foley High School. And now, the bottom 5.

10. Defeating Escambia High School (FL)
This game sticks out because it was the first game that I ever started. We actually played the game on a Saturday night because the rain was so bad the Friday we were scheduled to play. Another memory of that game was we played against Emmit Smith's brother or cousin. He was a great athlete but made some mental errors and we won the game 39-17.

9. Season of Rain
The entire season of 1993 seemed to be on a rain soaked field. We went 9-2 and the two losses were games that it hadn't rained during the day or during the game.

8. Uh oh...
We were playing in yet another soggy game at Ivan Jones Stadium battling the #1 team in the state, the Blount Leopards. On a fourth down play our all-state punter Jeff Randa was hit in the leg after a punt off a bad snap. He rolled around on the ground in pain. Guess who his back up punter was. That would be me. I was scared to death but would not have to punt, as Jeff recovered.

7. One week, two losses
The week of the Escambia County (AL) game, I suffered the loss of my mother to cancer. It was tremendously hard for me as she passed on the Tuesday night before our game. The emotions of losing ones mother is difficult to bear, especially on a 16 year old boy. Football kind of helped me get through the time before her death, but when she died it was time for grieving and family. I missed 3 days of practice, school and camaraderie with my teammates. However after practice on Wednesday a bunch of them showed up at my house and we played the most intense game of touch football I had ever been associated with. Those guys had busted their butts at practice, but still came by to support their teammate.

The game was forgetful, as we lost 27-42 in a game that we should have won. One of our linemen were called down field on a pass that would have tied the game 28-28. Bogus call by the official as the tape clearly showed no one was down field. I did win lineman of the week, grading at 92% for blocking.

6. The Great Wall
Baldwin County was one of our fierce rivals. They were perennially good and we had success at the lower levels against them. We beat them in middle school, junior high and j.v. In 1993 they were particularly good, especially on the defensive line. The two guys they had in the middle were like a immovable wall. No one could block these behemoths but we still managed to win 23-10. The two men in the middle went on to play at Troy and had decent college careers.