Football in a Monsoon...

Last week between Thursday and Sunday morning the Abilene area received a little over seven inches of rain. I'll add, that this rain was badly needed for the area lakes and agriculture. I just wish that it didn't have to happen on Friday night during football, as well as a few other really cool events that ended up getting cancelled in the process. But, it did and there's nothing I can do about it now.

So, the game I was covering was Cisco at Stamford. Now, when I'm covering games in the rain like this my number one priority is keeping my gear safe. Over the years, I've found the perfect set up for this is gaffers taping an umbrella to my monopod so, as long as the rain isn't coming down sideways on me the camera and lens stay well protected the whole game. My second camera I will usually put around my neck or on the front of my body to keep as dry as possible (that works ok, but not the best way). My camera bag (a Think Tank beltpack) is the easiest of all since Think Tank makes awesome equipment, the rain covers are built into the gear, I just pull out the covers and put them on and everything there is protected.

With all that done it was time to cover the game. And what a great game it turned out to be. The weather I'm sure played a lot into it staying so close and dictated keeping the ball on the ground. I figured this was going to play into Cisco's advantage, but somehow Stamford managed just enough passes to make things work out. Then, late in the first half, Stamford's all-state quarterback ended up hurting his throwing hand and the backup had to take over. I was afraid this game could get ugly real quick, however, after a little growing pains on the first two drives he settled in and brought the Bulldogs back and ended up throwing the game-winning touchdown pass, late in the fourth quarter. Cisco had a chance to drive down the field to win it, but the soggy weather and a couple nice plays by the Stamford defense sealed the game in a close one. Despite the nasty weather and me feeling like I'd just taken a shower when I finally got to my car to edit photos, it was a great game to watch.

Bonus Football...

I love Thursday night football games, it's sort of like getting a bonus game. It's even better when the game is in town and I don't have to drive all over the place to shoot the game. Cisco was playing Clyde in the first game of the Champions Classic. Clyde was putting in a new offense and Cisco went to the state title game last year and had a bunch of players coming back. So, on paper, it wasn't looking too good for Clyde.

In the first quarter things were looking pretty good for Clyde. Cisco was having a hard time holding on to the ball, plus the Clyde defense was looking pretty stout. Then towards the end of the first quarter Cisco broke a few big plays and then the wheels fell off for Clyde. In the second quarter it was all Cisco on both side of the ball and by halftime the game was pretty much over. Clyde ended up scoring a couple touchdowns late to make things look a little better, but the game was already decided by then.

State Track, Day 1...

I always look forward to shooting the state track meet every Spring. Even though there have been some year the officials seem to have a bigger bug up their ass than others in trying to flex their muscles and show who's boss, the meet is still one of the best run track meets in the country. Not to mention Texas has some of the best track and field talent in the country competing in this meet.

The biggest thing I try to show while shooting this meet, or any track meet is there is more to it than just kids running, throwing and jumping. And having a photo page to display my work as well as an online slideshow is not only a great way to show it, but also shows a need for more than just the standard action photos. Of course, there are plenty of those to show too, but my favorite photos are always the emotional shots, especially those who weren't expected to win their respective races or events.

One thing I have been trying to do for years is the hurdles shot of the runner in the blocks while framed by all the hurdles from the finish line. There are still a few things I don't like about it, but at the same time I liked it enough to publish... I'll try again in a couple years and hopefully shoot it better.

Players of the Year...

This week was our annual installment of our All Big Country football players of the year. I was thinking I wanted to change things up, but the problem is with all these kids and the coach coming from all over the logistics of it make it kind of a pain to shoot in a location other than a studio setting. The other reason and one that I often preach to others is even though I've seen these style of photos before many of these kids haven't let alone been the subject of these images. I's kind of let that slip out of my head until I was shooting the photos and seen most of their faces and some of their parents' light up at how cool they looked in the photo when I showed it to them in the camera. After doing that, even though the shots looked similar to previous years I was happier with what I had.

State Championship Battle: Good vs. Evil...

I've said this plenty of time before, there are only two times I believe in running up the score: 1) Video Games and 2) When the other team is intentionally trying to hurt or has hurt your players. So, when you look at a team's scores for the year and they are beating teams by 60-70 points every game including one that was 93-0. Refugio was gunning for a national scoring record and didn't care whether they were doing it with class or not.

In the Class 2A Division II state championship game Cisco and their ball control, ground and pound offense was basically going to have to play a perfect game to keep Refugio under control. On the first drive Refugio took the ball and looked pretty unstoppable on offense. Until they got to the red zone, the Cisco was able to stop them on a fourth down. The Cisco offense took over and pounded the ball with their zone read running game, and a really nice deep pass to set up the first score of the game, while at the same time chewing up the clock.

It was kind of funny watching the game. Cisco would get the ball and slowly move it down the field on long drives zapping the clock. The Refugio would get the ball and score in 2-3 plays. Cisco's pass defense just couldn't contain the receivers. The one thing that was missing, sort of like I was afraid may be a problem when I started shooting them three weeks earlier was the kicking game. PAT's were an adventure every time for Cisco, and on the first try of the day the kicker sent one wide. That was the difference at halftime with the score 14-12.

In the second half it looked like Cisco was about to fall apart and the 48 points Refugio needed to set the record was going down. A costly fumble on their first drive of the second half and a quick score, then a punt and another quick score and things were starting to look really bad. Refugio ended up going up 36-19 and was looking completely in control. Then in the fourth quarter on a kickoff Cisco returned a kickoff for 86 yards for a touchdown and on the the following kickoff Cisco pinned Refugio deep.

With the touchdown and pinning them deep the Cisco crowd returned and got loud, then another stop and a bad punt. Cisco got the ball back with good field position and was able to march the ball for another score and they were right back in the game with less than 5 minutes left. This was turning out to be a great game and looking like Cisco could shock the state. After the next kickoff it was obvious Cisco had the momentum and the crowd knew it too, and was getting louder. The crowd from the next game was even getting into and making noise. The Argyle fans were pulling out their propane tanks filled with ball bearings and making it nearly impossible to hear from the sideline... I guess no one likes to pull for a team that likes to run up the score.

The Cisco defense held in their own territory and forced Refugio to punt. Taking the snap inside their own 10 yard line, the Refugio punter ran the ball out the back of the end zone for a safety to close the score to 36-35. That was as close as things were going to get. After fair catching the free kick and moving the ball to mid-field Cisco faced 4th-and-3 with just over a minute left and came up about a foot short of the first down. Well, good doesn't always triumph over evil, but at least Cisco kept them 12 points short of the national scoring record. They were a fun team to cover for the past few weeks and as young as most of the team is there I wouldn't be surprised to see them back again.

State Bound Loboes...

Well, for the third week in a row I was following Cisco, this week in the state semifinals against Mildred at Vernon Newsom Stadium in Mansfield. Normally when I go to shoot high school games I try to get to the stadium at least an hour early, it allows me to get all my stuff set up, type in code replacements and just kind of unwind and clear my head before the game.

Well, every once in a while I can't get to the game when I would like to for one reason or another. Last Friday was one of those nights. I had to go shoot an assignment in Dublin on my way there and ended up getting a late start. Then my GPS ended up taking me a different way than I had planned and I didn't notice until it was too late and ended up getting stuck in traffic. Ironically, the last time I shot Cisco in the state semifinal game a few years ago I ended up getting stuck in traffic and got there 15 minutes before the game, just like this time. So, maybe that was a good sign, for the Loboes, at least.

It ended up taking me much of the first quarter to finally get my head straight to where I could totally concentrate on the game, plus for much of the first half Mildred was keeping Cisco in check. The zone read wasn't working, Mildred was stopping them on every play and the passing game wasn't working either. Then during the second quarter it looked like Cisco was putting things together and threw a long pass that got intercepted. Then two plays later the Mildred running back got stripped of the ball and the Loboes recovered. A couple plays later Cisco scored right before the end of the quarter and the momentum shift was pretty obvious.

Cisco got the kickoff in the second half and came out looking old school lined up in the I-formation and pounded it up the gut. It wasn't really pretty, but really effective. There were getting 4-6 yards a carry and just dominating the line of scrimmage. On defense, the momentum was carrying over and the Loboes were making great stops then turning it around with long, clock-killing touchdown drives. Going up two touchdowns with four minutes left it looked over. Mildred though, didn't believe that. Marching down the field and scoring a touchdown with less than a minute left. Then Mildred recovered the onside kick down only seven with less than a minute left in the game. It certainly added excitement to the game, but the defense was able to hold. It turned out to be a really great game, Cisco did what they needed to do to make adjustments at halftime to win. The photo we ran as the lead on sports was the fumble which was pretty much the defining point of the game. After Cisco scored from that turnover they never looked back.