Regional Track, Day 2...

The second day of regional track started early. I had to shoot a couple of the early field events before the running started in the afternoon. The good part about this was I'd be able to edit all the field event photos before the running got started, less to do after the meet ended. And since I had a 150 mile drive home afterwards everything I could do to save time was a good thing.

Normally there is a little bit of emotion at the end of some of the races, but the people who are expected to win their races aren't much for celebration. Either they were expecting to win anyway or have been to state already, etc. So, the few times there are nice celebrations at the end of races I make sure not to miss the shot. When it's a local kid doing the celebration I get pretty excited, mostly because I have the chance to make a nice image. So, when the Abilene High kid in the 800m made up a lot of ground after getting boxed in and moved from 7th place to 2nd in the last 300 meters there was a great celebration after he qualified for state for the first time.

District Track...

It's never been a secret how much I've enjoyed shooting track. The last few year, though the only meets I've been able to shoot have been the regional and state meets. And, while those are usually the best ones photo-wise, it's always nice to get a little practice in beforehand. So, I got sent down to shoot the District 2-5A meet in San Angelo. I've only been tot he Angelo State track a few times, but have always liked it. The track is sunken into the ground so there are some nice high angles to shoot from.

I only shot the last day of the meet which was just the running finals, all the field events had finished the day before. They also had the whole JV meet at the same time of the varsity finals. At first it seemed like it was just dragging the meet out longer. But, there towards the end it made for some nice time to be able to download and edit my photos, so hopefully I wouldn't be there all night. So, between 2 heats of the JV boys and girls 1,600m runs and mile relays, I was able to get most of my photos edited and cropped and toned. So, at the end I only had two races to edit and then caption photos and send. It made life a lot easier, though the track meet ending an hour earlier may have done all the same things.

Playoff Opener...

For the first round of the girls basketball playoffs, Abilene High was playing El Paso Bel Air in the bi-district round. It was the first time in a while that they had made the postseason and the last time they did they lost huge. So, this game was their chance at proving they belonged in the playoffs.

The game started out good, they were in the game the whole first quarter but things started to get away from them in the second quarter. Bel Air ended up getting a pretty big lead and things weren't looking very good for the Lady Eagles. But, in the fourth quarter they started looking really good and after going down by as much as 20, they came storming back and cut the lead to to 10. It looked like they were going to come back. However, once they got it within 10, the Lady Eagles went cold, then their two best players who were in foul trouble and ended up fouling out. After that there was no coming back, but at least it turned out to be an entertaining game.

Crosstown Hoops...

The local crosstown basketball games between Abilene High and Cooper pales in comparison to the crosstown football game. In the football games there is usually a district championship on the line, in this game it's lucky if there is even a playoff placement on the line. However, that doesn't mean there are no decent photos to be made. At least the rivalry between schools is still there so there's that. Even though this town isn't exactly known as a basketball Mecca, there is still a rivalry between the north and south side high schools and it doesn't matter what the sport is.

Best of the Best...

When the time came this year to decide who was going to be on our All-Big Country Super Team, I knew this was going to be tough. Our area was just loaded with talent this year, especially on offense. In the past we've had some really good players, but there was always a couple that just rise to the top and had stand out years making the choices pretty simple. This year, however, there was no way around leaving out some really good players just based on how many great players we had. It made for a really fun year to cover. Having four teams win state titles, however, at this point, it became really hard. In the end the votes were tallied and the group we had were some really great players, then I had to get them into the studio for portraits. That was the fun part. I decided to go with colored backgrounds in the teams' corresponding colors.

Last Second Dissappointment...

After watching a good playoff game between Stephenville and Wylie in Wichita Falls I headed down to Justin for undefeated Abilene High's playoff game against Waco Midway, who was also undefeated. After the week the team had gone through with young Rex's funeral the previous day it was obvious who they were playing for.

The Eagles came out looking really good but Midway was a tough team and was answering. At the end of the first half Midway took the lead with a long field goal. Then in the second half Midway extended the lead. In the fourth quarter Abilene High came back, getting its running game going and the short passing game was looking good. A touchdown and a good defensive stand put AHS ahead by 4 points and gave them the ball back. They drove the ball down the field and with a little less then 2 minutes left they they were in field goal range... then things started to fall apart. They missed the field goal that would've put them up by a touchdown. Then they had Midway with 4th and 24 deep in their own territory and Midway converted. It was all down hill from there. Another couple passes and then they scored on a long pass with less than 20 seconds left. It was a real heart breaker of a game.

RIP Rex...

I've said plenty of times I'm not really a fan of kids. However, Rex Fleming would be the exception to my rule. He may be one of the strongest kids I've ever met. And for the last two years he had been battling brain cancer. Everyone around town seemed to know who Rex was and about his situation, the Abilene High football team and coach Steve Warren had pretty much adopted him as well as the Abilene Christian University football team, where is father is the sports information director.

On his 10th birthday, in October, he was at the Abilene High practice, like he would often do. I was there shooting practice for another assignment but saw that Rex was there and coach Warren let him give the team a pep talk before practice and he hung around with Warren the whole time. I grabbed a few shots and emailed them to his dad, not thinking much about it, I'd do that for any of my friends or coworkers.

Not long after I saw Rex at practice I read on his father's Facebook page that he went back for a checkup and found out the tumor in his head hadn't shrunk. They were giving him only a few more months to live. I can't imagine how devastating it must have felt for his family. But looking and talking to Rex, you'd never know, the kid was never without a smile on his face. Only occasionally, would he even complain about the headaches he had.

On Nov. 3 for ACU's football game against West Alabama, they let Rex toss the coin before the game, he also got to make the call for ACU (he won the toss) and call the first play of the game. The call was the same call he always makes "go deep."And it worked out, ACU had a big play. This time I had shot the photos for a story we were doing about Rex. Not long after that, Rex had taken a turn for the worse, and his time was looking a lot more limited. With his parents' blessing we ended up running the story in the newspaper the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Sadly, that same night that the story ran, he passed away. Something I didn't know, was before he went in for his brain surgery, he told his dad, "I'll live to tell the story," something his dad wrote on a napkin and always kept with him. Rex did just what he said he'd do, he lived to tell the story and touched plenty of people's lives in the process. Rest in Peace Rex.

Back to Football Doubleheader, game 2...

The nightcap of the Arlington football doubleheader between Abilene and Arlington was Abilene High playing Arlington Lamar. On paper this game wasn't going to be close at all Abilene was coming in with an unblemished record and Lamar had a .500 season and barely squeaked out a win in their previous playoff game. But, like they always say, that's why they play the game instead of just playing it on paper.

Lamar came out in the game swinging. With their two big wide receivers they were able to move up and down the field. The Abilene High defense was playing well and the Eagle offense was moving the ball pretty well too. But Lamar was making it a game. A few key turnovers were what was keeping the Eagles in the lead at halftime, but Lamar didn't look out.

On the opening kickoff of the second half Abilene High took the kick and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown to open things up. That pretty much turned the tide of the game. After Lamar got the ball back they didn't look the same. Abilene then started to move the ball really well both with short passes and grinding the ball out on the ground. The final score was 53-34 with AHS winning the game pretty easily. Looking back the game never really felt in doubt, but up until the latter half of the third quarter Lamar never seemed to be out of it either. It made for a really entertaining game.