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.

Soccer Season...

So, I've neglected my blog long enough, it's time to get back into the swing of things and start attempting to find some decent photos again, and try and get back on pace. Here I am nearly a month behind again. I shot the championship match of the West Texas Invitational Soccer Tournament. Cooper was playing Granbury. It is kind of crazy the difference a year makes. Last year Cooper was horrible and only won a handful of games all year. This year they open the season winning all four games in the local tournament and didn't look too bad in the process. They ended up taking Granbury to a penalty kick shootout.Well, at least it made for a few nice photos.

Back to Football Doubleheader, game 1...

So, after taking the first week of the football playoffs off to cover state volleyball I was itching to get back to shooting football. The playoffs are six weeks long, but they always seem to fly by, probably because of all the travel and how busy I am. With Thanksgiving coming earlier than normal this year, we were in the second week of the playoffs and most of our 11-man games were being played on Friday. The great part about the Friday after turkey day is since there is no school there are usually afternoon games to cover as well, which means nice light.

Cooper and Abilene High (they're a later post) were playing a doubleheader against a pair of Arlington schools on Friday in Arlington. Cooper had pulled the harder of the two draws playing a good Arlington High team. It was back and forth the whole game and it never looked like the Cougars were able to get into a decent groove. However, they did make quite a few nice plays, which made for some nice photos as well. One of the biggest problems with these games is the light. On one side if the field it is fabulous, then going the other way it is awful. Going into the nice light I didn't have to do much work at all. though when I was looking into the sun, it took a while to get the photos toned right and there were a couple areas of the field I just couldn't shoot at all, that's a pain, but something that needs to be dealt with.

Even though Cooper ended up losing the game 27-20 it was back and forth the whole time, which always makes for a more entertaining game than a blowout, going either way. They had the lead for a lot of the game, but a few stalled drives just couldn't make it work out of them in the end.

Another Blowout...

I found lately that no matter which side of a blowout you shoot, there aren't a whole lot of great photos to be found beyond the second quarter. Mostly because the starters have already been pulled from the game and the guys that are in are just there to kill the clock. The crowd is usually bored, if they haven't gone home yet. So, I need to make sure I get everything I need in the first half if thing are looking lopsided, Cooper's game against Odessa Permian was just like that. I made a few decent frames, but am looking forward to the playoffs in a couple weeks for some closer, more competitive games.

Friday Night Football

For the real opening night of Friday night football, Cooper was playing at home against Wichita Falls Rider. On paper it was looking like a good match up. Cooper a good 5A team and Rider the #8 team in Class 4A. After kind of a slow start both teams moved the ball really well and Cooper's special teams looked really good with a couple long kickoff returns including one for a touchdown. It was looking like a game that was going to come down to the last team with the ball. And, it almost was. Rider scored with about three minutes left and converted a 2-point conversion to go ahead. Cooper then scored with a minute left after another good kick return. Then on the final drive with time running out Rider got a little too desperate and turned the ball over on downs. For the first game of the year it didn't turn out too bad photo-wise. There was a few decent frames I made and a nice facemask shot.

Baseball...

There is nothing better than shooting baseball on a nice sunny afternoon. Even if the team I'm covering isn't having a good day. Cooper was playing Midland High and the game started out looking like it would be a good game until the third inning when the wheels fell off for Cooper and it was all downhill from there. The game ended up with Cooper losing 17-6, and I did end up making a few images that I liked and the one of the kid missing the ball in the outfield about summed up the game perfectly. Well, at least it was a nice day.

Blowing in the Wind, Part 1...

Saturday was a rare home playoff doubleheader both Abilene High and Cooper were playing home playoff games and oddly enough against two Mansfield schools. Both AHS and Cooper won the home-and-home coin tosses. Abilene High had the early game Cooper had the night game. It was also the coldest game of the year. That couple with 30+ mph winds all day made for not only miserable shooting conditions, but also awful playing conditions. It also negated both teams' kicking games and made passing the ball a helluva lot tougher.

Cooper had been playing everyone of its playoff games this year down to the wire. Their first game they won on the last play of the game, so who was to think this one would have been any different? So, when Cooper went ahead of Mansfield Timberview with just more than 2 minutes left in the game everyone in the stadium knew this one wasn't over, it was just a matter of whether Cooper's defense would be able to hold on long enough to either kill the clock or make a stop. If it wasn't for a really dumb late hit penalty and some bad missed tackling on a really tough touchdown run for the winning touchdown Cooper might have made history having another home game the following week, but it just wasn't meant to be.

Crosstown Blowdown...

On paper, this was going to be a great football game. Finally, we were going back to the good old days when Abilene High and Cooper were a great matchup, sort of like the way the game went last year, a good tight game that was going to be a toss up as to who won. And then... they kicked off. Well, it wasn't quite that quick but Abilene High did move the ball down the field and score on their first drive.

Then Cooper got the ball back and the first wheel fell off. Abilene High scored again, only a field goal, but you just kind of got this feeling the momentum was on their side. On Cooper's first four possessions they turned the ball over three times and punted once. It was ugly, really ugly. The score at halftime was 42-0.

I really hate covering blowouts, especially when all signs were pointing to a great night of football and the game was decided in the first 5 minutes. Because, you know any chance of seeing really great action was starting to slip away. The winning team is going to start playing conservative and not trying to run up the score. The second team players get put in the game to get reps and during the second half I'm just hoping for some decent frames to fill out my online slideshow. Overall, it was a pretty big disappointment, luckily I did make a couple of nice frames, but when players are making 50-yard touchdown runs without ever getting touched, you just leave the game with kind of an empty feeling, knowing you potentially missed out on some really great frames.