Six-Man Thursday Night Football...

I don't shoot a whole lot of six-man football, it just doesn't work out either with the timing or there aren't any decent matchups when I can get there. Not to mention most regular season six-man games usually just suck. The talent gap between the good and bad teams especially at this level is huge, and it's usually the third or fourth week of the playoffs before the talent gap narrows. So, when Ira was playing Aspermont, both teams undefeated, in a Thursday night game on the final week of the season for the district championship it was almost a no-brainer to cover the game.

I ended up having to shoot two assignments before heading out and had to write a photo column then make the 90 minute drive to Ira for the game. All that together put me about 15 minutes behind, so when I got there Ira was already up 14-0. Uh oh! Then in the couple minutes it took me to go from my car to the field Ira scored again. One of the cool things about going to these small towns is seeing a few hundred fans cheering on their schools. That number may not sound that big, but when you realize that the combined enrollment of these two schools is less than 200 it really makes it kind of cool.

Well, the game was pretty much a blowout. Ira led 44-0 at halftime and tried to kick a field goal as time expired in the half to end it (in six-man football if one team goes up by 45 points or more the game is over at halftime or after halftime when the team goes ahead by 45), but the kick was blocked. So, basically, I had to wait through halftime for Ira to score one more time. Aspermont got the opening kickoff of the second half and started driving the ball pretty well for a few plays and was looking like they'd be at least a little pesky for the second half. But, that didn't last too long. They ended up turning the ball over on downs, then Ira just marched the ball down the field to end it. This game that was supposed to be pretty good turned out to be kind of a flop, too bad, I was hoping for one of those great high scoring games... oh well, maybe during the playoffs.