It was week three of the high school football season and, personally, I had the chance to go to the best game I've seen all year.
It wasn't perfect, Norwich Free Academy made its share of mistakes, Plainfield made some as well but as far as sheer intensity- this one had it.
I knew it would be close and it was as close as the 20-18 score indicated with NFA putting together a last minute drive that saved its third consecutive win of the season. But the Panthers did everything they could to put a "W" up on the board as well and Plainfield coach Pat Smith could only praise his Panthers for a good Saturday morning's work.
"Kids never quit here, we battled and we told the kids all week that we had a chance to play with this team and the kids believed it," Smith said.
"We proved something to ourselves although two points short of our goal but we're a good football team. We play extremely hard and people who come to Plainfield are going to know that they have to play a good game to beat us," he added.
There were no real upsets this past week although some would put Killingly's one-point win over St. Bernard in that category. I had that one as a toss-up although I did pick the Saints to come out on top. The Redmen will do OK against their ECC Small Division foes.
Waterford also put up a good fight against Windham but fell five points short.
This week gets a lot tougher with NFA at Windham on Friday and Ledyard vs. New London on Saturday as games that immediately stand out.