I've been covering high school football a long time and let me tell you, as most of you already know, Thursday had to be one of the most miserable I've seen in awhile. Cudos to everyone who went out and stayed out in the wind driven rain to cheer on the mud caked players. The weather took me back to the early 80's when I was at a Putnam-Plainfield game and the rain that was falling gradually turned to ice and then snow over the course of the game. Although yesterday may have been a little worse due to the wind.
One thing about weather, it's a great equalizer and can certainly change the complexion of a game. If you had a big back and a big line that could move straight forward, you probably did well yesterday as opposed to those teams that relied on their quickness and cutting ability.
NFA's win over New London could be directly attributed to that, Griswold was helped by the field conditions and so were RHAM/Lyman and Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech.
Speaking of the Tigers, they and Woodstock had the honor of playing in one of the games that many didn't talk too much about because of their records. Tourtellotte/Ellis Tech finished 2-7 and Woodstock 0-9 so maybe Matt Wendorf of the Tigers hit it right on the head when I asked him if his team's win yesterday made things a little better.
"It almost seems like the season doesn't matter any more because it's Thanksgiving and it's just great to be around family and friends."Wendorf said to me.
That, my friends, is what Thanksgiving is all about.
See you at the Ledyard-Fitch game today.