Final Football Game

Billy had his final 9th grade football game of the season last night. It seems like just yesterday when he first played in the 3rd grade. He was kind of a little punk in 2003.

The first year that he played one of his assistant coaches was a former NFL player, Viking Scott Studwell. We thought that was pretty cool....well, I thought that it was pretty cool. I was a pretty big fan of his back in the day. When I saw him helping my little guy get his helmet snapped on, I couldn't help but take a picture.

The boy has grown a little bit since then. He had a game on Tuesday last week...the one that the grandparents saw. He played well, but the team lost. Here he is trying to block a punt....# 86 in white.

It was a cold, damp day....not raining, but almost.

His team looks cold. Billy is the tall one in the middle. How did that happen?

Billy made one play that made the trip more than worthwhile for his grandparents. This season he played wide receiver on offense. The team didn't throw all that often, but sometimes when they did, good things happened. This ball was a little under thrown...

...the corner back was sort of tall.... they both go up.....

...the ball is bouncing around between them.....

...and Billy comes down with a thud....and the ball!

Tangled and twisted they rolled....

...and Billy hung on!

Nice catch Billy!!

Making the catch made the aching back not quite as sore. Having a friend to celebrate with helps too.

The boys were disappointed in their loss...but as a mom, all I remember was that catch. :-)

Billy's team had a game on Monday too. He caught the ball on a kick-off for a few yards...

...and made another catch late in the game. But it was too late....the team ended up with their 2nd loss....and lost their chance to be the champions of their conference. Bummer.

Their last game of the season was against the best team in the league. Tough to come back from a couple of losses in a week to play again so soon. It was cold and rainy....again.

Billy had to punt this one away.

But this was a special game. They even had cheerleaders.....

....cold, wet and shivering cheerleaders. YEAH EAGLES!! GO TEAM!!!!

And go they did. Billy had a nice block on this scoring drive....hey buddy, let go of my boy!

They were ahead 14-0 with the time winding down. They brought Billy in for an extra series on defense at the end of the game.

And they held on for the win. All that was left was the shaking of hands....

...and just like that the season was done. The kid survived the strength training, the hot two-a-day practices in August, and the after school practices. Seven games, a record of 5-2, some really hot, some really cold, and some really wet....and he came out of it all smiling.

Just like when he was a little punk. Nice season Billy....

...you sure do make us proud. And yes, I'll go and get you some more food now.