Tournament Play

Aaron's team played in a tournament over the weekend. Here's how they made out.

GAME 1

We played a very large private school. Almost all their players were juniors and seniors. We lost 88-37. Aaron continued his streak as second leading scorer with 6 and took 3 charges. As usual, they gave 100% the whole game.

GAME 2

This was a game we should have won. Instead, we lost, 48-37. We were 5 of 20 from the free throw line and it killed us. The game was close until the end when we started fouling to try to get the ball back. Aaron's streak continued again. Second leading scorer with 11, breaking double digits for the first time this season. He also took 4 charges.

GAME 3

We ended up having to play one of our district rivals in the third game. They had a run of fast breaks in the 2nd quarter that we never recovered from. We lost 66-39. This game ended Aaron's streak of second leading scorer. He only had 3 points. It also ended his streak of multiple charges in a game. He only took 1 in this game--at least only one that was called! Still, the boys continue to give effort and, as the coach says, they improve with every game. Coach puts them at "mid-November" in development since they have had so few practices and games.

We will get a couple of practices in before heading into district play on January 6. Hopefully we'll have some bright spots as the season progresses.

Christmas Recital

For those of you who couldn't be here, this is Nathan's performance at his recital. (I FINALLY figured out how to do this!)

 The first song, a jazzy version of Good King Wenceslas, has a few rough spots, but the duet, Deck the Halls, with his teacher, is not to be missed! (Forgive the tapping. That's me hitting the camera. My video camera is on the blink and so I took this from my regular camera, which wasn't working right, either!)

Merry Christmas!

Off the Bus, Onto the Court

Five of our eight varsity players got home from a week-long mission trip at 2pm. They met back at the school to leave for a basketball game at 6pm. A week of no practice and an eight hour drive don't make for success on the court! On top of that, our big guy--a junior, our leading scorer and tallest player--was gone on a family trip. Hmm. A five guard offense.

Again, our boys played with lots of heart and hustle but took a beating in every other way. Aaron tied for second leading scorer (again) with his nice 3-pointer in the 3rd quarter. He again took two called charges! Now our league mandates no practice days through Christmas week. We return to play next Saturday. In a tournament. Against bigger schools. Yikes! Our boys need some consistent practice time, but because of football playoffs and now holidays, that hasn't happened yet. 

We're just glad for a week off from everything. 

Merry Christmas to all!

Another Hard Game

Nathan's team played the team that demolished them a few weeks ago--the one with a former NBA player's son on it. While they would have gotten whipped up on no matter what, the extremely poor officiating didn't help. It was so bad I was yelling at the ref when he was calling fouls on the other team that weren't fouls!

Nathan proved himself, yet again, more like Elizabeth than Aaron. He hates losing those kinds of games. He gets all huffy. You can't say a word to him--especially not "good game." But, like Elizabeth, an hour or so later he was back to his normal self. 

We get to do varsity boys again tomorrow, then a break until after Christmas. Yippee!

Like a Different Team

Tonight, Nathan's team played the team they played in their first game just a couple of weeks ago. That game, played just one practice after football ended, was a squeaker, decided in our favor by four small points. This game, after a couple of weeks of practice, was a blowout. We ran the floor almost without impediment. Toward the end, our young guys got to take the court and practice their game skills.

Nathan had 5 points, several assists, and even a steal. He made one of his two free throws. My mom took this picture of him from our seats on the upper deck. 

All-District Honorable Mention

I just found out that Aaron received Honorable Mention in district as a kicker! On our senior heavy team, he was one of our two sophomores to receive Honorable Mention. The first team kicker was a senior who has an incredible leg and is being recruited by major colleges. The second team kicker kicked for the team that beat us at state (I think he's a junior). 

We are certainly proud of all Aaron accomplished on the gridiron this year!

PROPs Drama Workshop

Apparently Elizabeth was one of two drama students in charge of yesterday's day-long drama camp for elementary students. I didn't know this until Friday when an elementary mom mentioned it to me. When she came home from her long day, I found out more. She and her friend Jordan, both members of the drama club at school called PROP (Performers Realizing Our Purpose), each wrote and directed a short Christmas play for the kids. At the end of the day, the kids performed it for their parents. Elizabeth's was based on High School Musical.

I wish she had told us the whole extent of it. We would have loved to have come see the play, the culmination of her creativity and leadership. Instead, I'll track down one of the myriad elementary parents who caught the performance on video. I'm so proud of her! This is a huge task in the midst of all her other things and she apparently did well on both the writing and the directing of the kids. It's always good when she can channel her drama queen tendencies into something productive.

Two for Two

I wish the title meant two wins for two games played. It doesn't. But I really didn't mean it as two losses for two games played, either, although we have that. I was referring to more personal accomplishments for Aaron.

I am so amazed at his confidence on the court this year. I don't know if it is simply being a year older, a good bit taller, or closer friends with the older boys on the team. Whatever it is, I like it. Confidence + tenacity (which he has always had) = something very good.

Aaron again took 2 called charges in this game. Refs don't really like to call charges, so for Aaron to have two committed against him in each of the two games played is pretty amazing. He has also scored three-pointers and a free throw in each of the two games, 1 of each in the first game, 2 threes and a free throw in last night's game. And he is two for two in being the second leading scorer on the team.

It's fun to watch, even if we aren't winning. And he is having so much fun--except for the losing part!

Not Pretty

Varsity girls had a game tonight--without Elizabeth. It is very hard--nay, nearly impossible--for us to play well without BOTH Elizabeth and Audrey on the court! But that's okay. This is the last game until district play starts in January and Elizabeth's cast comes off just days before the first game.

Varsity boys also had a game tonight. Of course, five of the eight players just finished football on Saturday and have practiced basketball all of about an hour and a half! Given all of that, they did okay against a really good team. Aaron played well. I think he'll see some court time this season. He scored 4 points, committed 3 fouls, took 2 charges, and a partridge in a pear tree! Seriously, he was majorly aggressive and has grown tall enough to at least give some of the guys out there a run for their money. Oh, and he actually took a third charge that wasn't called. He'll be sore tomorrow! He might even wish football back. At least then he got to wear pads!

End of a Great Season

It's been a great ride--not just this year, but the past four years. Our group of six seniors, who all played both ways, has been to the state championship game three of their past four years. I love these boys, all friends of Elizabeth's since 6th grade. My heart broke for them in this final game.

They all played great. In fact, going into the 4th quarter, the score was tied at 48. But then the other team scored--and we couldn't find the end zone. We lost 70-48. I was so proud of them all. Of course I was especially proud of Aaron who ended on a high note, making 6 of his 6 kicks. Truly grace under pressure.

My favorite part about watching him kick, though, is watching him AFTER the kick. He makes a point to slap each player on the back who blocked the line that gave him the time he needed to get that ball in the air. He did it every time. He knew his success depended so greatly on those boys in front of him. He is truly a team player. He knew he couldn't have done it alone.

I loved being a part of this team--who will always be champions in my book!

Put Her on the Injured Reserve

As you can see, Elizabeth won't be playing basketball for the next four weeks. Yesterday at practice she fractured her hand on the base or pole of the basketball goal (I'm unclear on the exact details.) Anyway, the cast went on today and comes off January 2. 

This is the first time in our seventeen years and (almost) nine months of parenting that we've had a child with a broken bone. And given their activity levels, that's pretty amazing. Fortunately, she only has one more week of school, then the winter mission trip to Amarillo, then Christmas break. The hardest part will be showers and hair-washing and cooking--trying to keep it dry and clean in the hand area. 

All in all, she's a trooper. But that is really no surprise. Jeff even had a hard time believing she'd done anything serious because she didn't show any pain. And, being Elizabeth, she'll milk it for all it's worth, both with us and with her friends, and tell the story with pride in years to come. 

Shootin' Hoops

Two games already this week. Nathan played last night. He played well, had a nice drive to the basket for 2 points, but his team got trounced. 

Elizabeth's team got trounced, too, but she played great. Fifteen points. Several rebounds. Only 2 fouls. And best of all--SHE PLAYED WITH A BOW IN HER HAIR!!!! Be sure to notice it in the picture!

State Bound

The boys won big on Saturday. They have looked great the past two weeks. The perfect time to peak! We ran all over the other team, literally. Aaron missed his first PAT to the left, but nailed the next five. On the final play of the game (we were 44 ahead in the beginning of the 3rd quarter), Aaron went out to kick the PAT. The other team called timeout. Aaron went out again to kick. The other team called timeout again. A third time Aaron walked out on the field, kicking air, getting ready. They snapped the ball, the holder (our quarterback) stood and dumped a pass into the end zone for the final point of the game. It was awesome! 

Everyone is so excited. Our seniors are in the state game for the 3rd time in their four years on varsity. They--and their fans--want this so badly! Here are Elizabeth and her friend Lauren grinning after the win. It will be a crazy, fun week!

GO EAGLES! WIN STATE!

On to the Semis

As you can see by the scoreboard, we won! It was quite a game. The other team opened with an immediate touchdown. We answered with 56 points, ending the game with 1:15 to go in the 4th quarter. The boys played great. 

Aaron hit 5 of 7 point after attempts. He missed to the left on his second one. On the final one, the one that would have put us up by 46, thus ending the game, the kicked was blocked. He HATES being the one that keeps the team from ending the game early. But coach let him make it up a few minutes later. Our boys drove to the five and were stopped, going nowhere in three downs. So on 4th and goal, they sent in Aaron to kick a field goal! Field goals are extremely rare in 6 man football. I thought for sure it was a fake and Zach, the quarterback and holder, would toss one in the end zone to put us up over the 45 point limit. But no. Aaron kicked! And made it! It was a 24 yard field goal and it ended the game. He was so happy.

Now we go to the semi-final game against a team we didn't expect to see (they beat the favorite in their regional game). All I can say is we are so proud of our team. They work hard, never give up, and truly personify team play. 

Stompings

It wasn't such a great night for basketball last night. Two games, two locations. I'll start with the one I didn't see.

Nathan's team lost 52-29. He didn't score. The other team had a nearly six-foot sixth grader, son of a former NBA player. That's all I know!

Elizabeth's team scrapped their way to a 34-9 loss. Elizabeth had 4 of the 9 points. She was 2 for 2 on free throws. It's a hard thing to be 6-8" shorter than the girls coming at you. It's hard to shoot over them or to block their shots. But the girls all worked hard and afterward, Elizabeth could laugh. That's good. That's progress. 

A NIght of Basketball

We had our first home basketball games tonight. 

Nathan's team played first. They won 20-7. Not a great shooting team, but I love how they work the ball around and how they play together. Nathan was 1 for 4 shooting but had some good defense and some great ball handling as point guard.

Elizabeth's team played next. The varsity girls may be small, young, and inexperienced, but no one can say they aren't scrappy! They lost 33-19 (I think). Elizabeth had 8 points and several rebounds. She played well but her shot isn't falling very well yet. It will get better as the season goes on. She is the tallest on the team and plays post and center this year instead of guard as she has all the years in the past, so she is learning new things. Besides Elizabeth, there is only one other senior--the point guard. All the rest, the 5 other players, are juniors and sophomores. All except one, who played in middle school, have 1 or 0 years experience at basketball. Ever. In their lives. So the fact that they even stayed close in the game was a victory. But I think they all had fun.

Bi-District Champs

I guess the title says it all. We won on Saturday, 76-30. Aaron played well, making 8 of 10 extra points. He even got to kick off once and was in on the tackle. (Okay, so he said he got pushed into the pile, but he was still there!) 

One funny story from Saturday: as Aaron was ready to take the field for the final extra point try, Coach calls him over, looks at the scoreboard and says, "If you make this, we get to go home." (There were about 

4 minutes left in the game. If he missed, the spread would be 44 points and we'd have to keep playing. Did I mention the wind chill was around 40 that day?) Anyway, poor Aaron. No pressure or anything. Just a freezing team and freezing fans who wanted the game to end with the 45 point mercy rule!

Thankfully, he made it.

The boys all played well and we're looking for them to do the same at the Regional game this Saturday. 

Go Eagles!

Bouncing Into Basketball

The Middle School began their basketball season tonight with a win, 15-11. That's right, 15-11. Not a typo. It was a hard-fought game--literally! One ref, calling very little. But I still liked what I saw from our team. Especially considering they just started practice on Monday!

Nathan is point guard on a starting team of four 8th graders and one 7th grader. They moved the ball well, were aggressive on defense, and worked as a team. Now if they can just make some shots! Nathan scored once, a nice shot from the top of the key. He missed two other times. He turned the ball over twice, both at the end of the game when he was tired, and had a steal or two as well.

I'm excited by what I see. It should be a fun season, at least with this team. 

A Heart-Wrenching Loss

Our biggest rival. Two teams undefeated in district play. At our home field. And we couldn't pull it out. We lost 70-40. (But we looked GREAT in our new jerseys!)

We haven't had to watch many of these types of games over the past four years (this group of seniors has only lost 6 games, I believe, in their four years, counting runs to the state game or semi-finals the last three), but we did have to watch a similar loss last year in the semi-finals against this same school. Our team, very equally matched with our rival opponent, just couldn't find the win. But hope is not gone. We still make the playoffs, just with a harder row to hoe. Two of our 6 seniors (who all play both ways) got a bit banged up in this one. Hopefully they won't miss next week's game.

Aaron had his worst game. He was only 2 for 6. Of the four he missed, two were blocked. I don't know if it was nerves or the cold or what, but it will be crucial for him to get back in the groove for next week's game. 

Mission Trip Fundraiser

Last night we had our 2nd annual Mission HCA Chili Cook-off to raise money for the kids who want to go on the summer mission trip to Ghana. Elizabeth made chili, which, frankly, isn't her forte, but she also made one of her cheesecakes for the dessert auction.

Things were going well overall, and then her award-winning cheesecake came up for bidding. The numbers went higher and higher until it was sold for $500! Wow! Most exciting for her was the ability to contribute so significantly to the total raised for the night--$3300--which will be split among the 13 high school kids signed up for the trip. That's nearly $300 each! 

So her fundraising has begun and she is excited to return to her friends in Ghana this summer. If you want to help her go to Ghana, she is selling her cheesecakes ($30) if you are local, but she is also selling t-shirts ($15) and African coffee ($10) to raise the funds she needs. Of course you can always just give money. :) 

Contact me or her if you want more information on any of these opportunities to make a difference in the lives of the Ghanaian people through helping her make the trip.

Last Middle School Football Game Ever

They did it. An undefeated season. 10-0. And the final game of Nathan's middle school football career was a doozy!

The game didn't begin until about 4:40 at a park field with no lights, so we knew it would be a short game, given that the sun is all the way down by 6:00 at the latest. The boys went out there with little stretch or prep time, received the kickoff and went 4 and out. Very disappointing. So they charged in there on defense--and Nathan intercepted the first pass! Very exciting. He caught it near the ground, but it was definitely a catch.

After that, it was back and forth scoring as the shadows crept closer, covering the field. Nathan snagged another interception on defense. Offensively, he threw a couple of touchdown passes and some other nice passes as well. He also had a great block that allowed our running back to score at a crucial point in the game. Finally, with all the fans at the sidelines so we could see in the dark, we held them on their 5 yard line, took the ball down and scored to put us up by 2 touchdowns. Game over. 38-25. 

It was our last middle school football game as parents of a player. Nathan did us proud, but we are so ready to move on up.

Middle school basketball starts Monday. We'll see how that goes.

A Well-Fought Fight

We actually had some competition last night. Remember when we go beat by the #1 public school 6-man team? The team we played last night got beat by them by almost the same score as we did, so it looked like it would be a good matchup. And it was.

The first half went back and forth. We scored, then they scored. Back and forth until the half ended with our team scoring in the final 15 seconds to go up 40-32. After the half, we scored again, but Aaron missed the kick. (He was 5 for 5 in the first half.) That was bad, because the other team had a great kicker. They scored twice--and made their kicks, inching ahead of us 48-46. But our boys fought back hard from there to the end of the game. We won 66-48. Aaron struggled in the second half, only 1 of his 4 kicks going through the uprights. Not sure what happened, but at least it didn't cost the team the game!

It was a well-fought contest and a good warm-up for the district championship game next week.

Another Win

The Varsity scored another district win today, 58-20. There were blocking and snapping issues during the 1st half on extra point attempts, so after getting knocked down on his first kick (they called a roughing the kicker penalty), Aaron still only went 2 for 5. But in the second half they got things together. He had good blocking and managed to hit all three he attempted. 

It was a hot game, which was not what we were expecting, especially after freezing through the JV game on Thursday night. It was one of those autumn days in Texas where it warms to around 80 and the sun blazes down unabated and it suddenly feels like June, but you are dressed for October! 

Next week, a tough non-district game then back home for the district showdown with our rival school. Should be a fun one!

Middle School has a week off before their last contest. Elizabeth will start basketball soon since the volleyball team lost their playoff match. No rest for the weary!

Great Aunt March

We were right! Elizabeth will bring all her talents to the roll of Aunt March in Little Women, The Musical. It goes on stage the end of January, so they will work hard and fast but I'm very impressed with the cast list and looking forward to their production. 

Elizabeth is happy. It really is her kind of role--one that can have a comedic element and one that gives her lots of room for characterization. And I don't think they are going to do Aunt March's song, so she won't have the extra stress of that, which is good since the whole thing coincides with her last basketball season. 

She's gearing up for a busy, busy winter, but then she is like me in a lot of ways and sometimes keeps up with her life better when she has more she has to do!

JV Rolls to Victory

We drove 3 hours, round trip, to find a JV team to play. We finished them off near the end of the third quarter, 48-0. 

I love watching JV games because Aaron and all his friends play. (Of course varsity is fun because all of Elizabeth's friends play!) He had a good game, even though his PATs were only 2 for 5. In his defense, his regular holder wasn't there and the snaps weren't the best. On the 6th attempt, the snap sailed over the holder's head. Aaron picked it up and threw it in the end zone where his friend Asa caught it! So, in essence, he made that PAT happen, too!

He didn't have any passes thrown his way, but he did have a three yard run on offense and a great shoe-string tackle on a kickoff that prevented a touchdown. Mostly, though, our strength (and speed) came from a new freshman (just transferred in therefore ineligible for varsity this year) who was almost unstoppable when he touched the ball. It bodes well for next year's varsity!

I was glad they got to play one last JV game, but it was a hurried and harried trip for the parents given that the game started at 7:30 and the boys all have a 9 weeks test in their math classes today! Hopefully winning on the field won't hurt them in the classroom!

Audition Time

It's that time of year again--time for musical auditions. With a girl-heavy drama class, the new drama teacher chose Little Women, The Musical for this year's production. Jeff and I saw it a year or two ago and I was pleasantly surprised. The biggest problem? Elizabeth has wanted to play Jo in some kind of production of Little Women since her freshman year. But this Jo sings throughout the whole show. And while Elizabeth's singing is better, I really don't see her as up for this part. 

Anyway, she had her audition yesterday. Here was her report: My monologue was good. My song was better. But my improv ROCKED! She said the music teacher was in tears she was laughing so hard!

The cast list goes up tonight. I think she'll still be a bit disappointed when she doesn't get Jo (you know how you know something won't happen but a part of you still fantasizes that it will), but she knows there are stronger singers and she will be okay with it. I'm thinking she'll get Aunt March, which could be a very fun role if she makes it that way. 

Tune in tomorrow for the big announcement!

Last Middle School Home Game

Well, Nathan did himself proud today. Of course, it was against a very young, very weak team, so the glory had a bit of taint to it. 

In the 36-14 win, Nathan threw four touchdown passes and ran for one touchdown. He also had a interception hit him in the hands, but he couldn't hold on. They managed to play the whole game (not 45 them) because they played the 7th graders a lot. It was quite amusing, really. They'd put them in on offense and it would be 4 and out. The first team defense would come in and actually push the other team so far back it was as good as an offensive drive! But at least the little guys got some experience that will help them next year.

Middle school has a bye next week.

Next up: JV!!!

Homecoming:Part 2

Elizabeth's hair was truly a work of art. This picture doesn't do it justice!

Lana and Aaron

Dad crashes the picture. I wish the shadows weren't on their faces because I loved this picture!

Aaron and Elizabeth

Brandon and Elizabeth

Everyone looked great and had a good time at the dance. Next year won't be quite so hectic without a girl to get ready. Aaron dressed 10 minutes before time to leave. Starting with the hair appointment, Elizabeth's was more like a four hour ordeal!

Homecoming: Part I

It was a busy but fun day yesterday. Everything really began with the all-school pep rally at 2:30 and pretty much didn't end until nearly midnight last night! The games both went well. Both middle school and varsity actually played full games! Nathan had two touchdown passes and a couple of long runs. He made one solo tackle that I remember. They won, but I can't remember the score!

The varsity won 68-24. Aaron was 7 for 9 in kicking. The JV offense went in for a drive. Aaron switches out at wide receiver and actually had a good pass thrown to him, even had the ball in his hands, in spite of a defender right on him, but before he could grip it good he got bumped by a second defender, bobbled it and dropped it. There is actually a JV game on Thursday, so he'll get some real playing time then.

Of course the pinnacle was halftime and homecoming court. In our small school all the seniors are on the court, so that's why in some of the following pictures Elizabeth is in her formal gown.

Elizabeth and Jeff. It's hard on her daddy that she is growing up!

Elizabeth with her friends Leah and Roxanne. All the girls looked so beautiful last night!

     This is Aaron and his good friend Lana, who is his homecoming date. 

                         Aaron and Elizabeth before school Friday morning.  

The dance is tonight, so look for more pictures and updates tomorrow.

Early Exit

Nathan's team played well again, winning over another very good team by the score of 51-32, even with one of our two-way starters out hurt. Nathan caught a touchdown pass and threw some good passes as well. His tackling on defense was the best he's done all year. But in spite of all the good, Nathan made an early exit from the game. In the 4th quarter he got sacked hard. Hit his head on the ground and got up woozy. Now he truly knows the meaning of "getting your bell rung."

He sat on the bench for the remainder of the game with a monster headache, but all in all, he's fine. The homecoming hoopla will kick in and he'll be more than ready to play the game on Friday.

Piano Competition

Nathan had the first of his several piano competitions scattered throughout this school year. He came away with a Superior +. Can't do much better than that! It's been awhile since he received marks that high. He was very pleased. And, of course, it helps that he has worked very hard on this piece. It's amazing what that child can do when he puts a little effort into it.

And Our Team Keeps Rolling On

Another big win for the varsity last night, 62-12. The game ended at halftime. Aaron didn't have such a great game, though. He only made 4 of 8 point after attempts. One hit the crossbar--again. How do you do that TWICE in one season? But his dismal performance wasn't completely his fault. The six in on those PATS are all non-starters, mostly sophomores. Last night, their blocking wasn't all that hot. In fact, Aaron actually got knocked down--twice. One of those times we got a roughing the kicker call. Anyway, as you can see it really didn't affect the outcome of the game, so that's good.

Next week we have two middle school games, the varsity game--our first district opponent, and all the homecoming activities. We'd better get rested up this weekend!

Hard-hitting marathon

The middle school played again today. It was a hard-hitting game against a big team, but we still won. I can't remember the exact score but it was in the neighborhood of 60-36. Nathan's stats didn't look so good today. Lots of dropped passes. A couple of fumbled snaps. Several missed tackles. And an interception. But he did catch an extra point pass and threw one touchdown pass. He had a couple of good blocks, too. And the game lasted 2 1/2 hours, which is long for us. Since he plays both ways, he came home exhausted. 

Next up: varsity game on Friday night. And next week--homecoming week--middle school plays on Tuesday and then again on Friday, before the varsity. It will be a busy, busy week!

Homecoming on the Horizon

Homecoming is a week and a half away and we have dates! Woo-hoo! Actually, this isn't/wasn't/hasn't been a problem for Aaron. There are any number of girls at school willing to go with him. His problem is the asking! But we finally browbeat him into it. At least, Elizabeth did. He asked a girl in his class who he is good friends with.

Elizabeth is always harder. Usually she balks at asking someone from outside of school, yet no one at school asks her. But this summer, when she and Aaron worked at a camp for refugee children, they met a guy (also a senior) who goes to our rival school. In fact, he's their quarterback! He is good friends with some of the guys at our school and his best friend is going to the dance with one of Elizabeth's friends. She asked him and he said yes. 

Come Monday, the week of festivities will begin, culminating in the dinner/dance on Saturday night. You can be sure I'll post pictures!

More of a Game

The middle school team actually had some competition today, but the outcome of the game was never in doubt. In a 63-40 win, Nathan threw 3 touchdown passes and had one interception. He made a couple of good open field tackles and made at least two blocks that freed up the running back to score a touchdown. His one kick attempt failed. 

The thing I'm most proud of this season is the way he shakes off broken plays or mistakes and gets back into the groove. It shows he has matured some. The season is far from over, but so far, I like what I see!

Double Header

The pictures are both of Nathan this week. He's #11. He's doing great on both offense and defense!

It was a beautiful night to watch our "double header"--first the middle school game, then the varsity game. We played on astroturf for the first time as our home field. The field we usually rent from the school district was unavailable, so we used their practice/soccer field.

The middle school didn't have much of a contest again. The score was 46-0 at the half, so the game ended. Nathan had a few good tackles on defense and on offense he threw two touchdown passes--the last one to his cousin! That was fun!

The Varsity took the field about an hour later. It was a quick game. A half, to be exact. With a great hook-and-ladder fake as the buzzer was sounding, we made it 60-13. Game over. Aaron was 6-for-6 on point after attempts. He is currently the second leading scorer on the team since all his PATs count for 2 points.

Middle school plays again on Tuesday, hopefully some competition this time. Varsity has a bye this week. 

She's In!

The first college acceptance letter arrived while I was gone. I was so sad to have missed it! It came from Nicholls State, in Thibodaux, LA. Now we wait on Johnson and Wales in Denver. Then she has to decide!

Yeah, Elizabeth!! 

JV and Varsity

I'm finally home and got caught up on all the stats of the weekend.

JV game: Aaron was 4 for 5 on PATs and caught a touchdown pass.

Varsity game: Aaron was 4 for 5 on PATs. 

You can't say he isn't consistent!

This week we get a 2-for-1. Middle School plays on Friday before the Varsity game. I'll try to get some pictures at those.

A Crushing

Our poor middle school team! They were pumped for their game against our biggest rival school this afternoon. But all the excitement fizzled as they took the field against a bunch of sixth graders and a couple of eighth graders who'd never played football before. It was pitiful, one of those games where you feel bad clapping for your team. We managed to stretch it into the 3rd quarter before we 45'd them, but they didn't make it easy! Even our little 7th graders made big plays against these guys!

Nathan did well. He had two good runs from scrimmage, threw 2 touchdown passes, caught an extra point conversion, and made a couple of good blocks and tackles. 

Sorry, no pictures, though. The sun blinded us most of the game. Not very conducive to picture-taking.

I'm off to my writers' conference on Thursday, so I'll report about the JV and Varsity games next week after I get home and hear all about them!

A Perfect Ten!

We played last night, due to the impending landfall of Ike this weekend. We won 86-44. For those of our family that don't know, six-man football is very fast and very high scoring!

And last night's leading scorer was . . . (drumroll, please!) . . . AARON! He was a perfect 10 for 10 on extra points! Three of our seniors had 18 points each, but since kicked extra points in six-man count as 2 points, Aaron had 20.

He was really in the groove, all of his kicks flew high and straight. On the eleventh extra point try, the snap was bad and the holder missed it. Aaron picked up the ball and heaved it into the end zone, but the it got tipped away. So he was 10 for 10 on kicks, and 0 for 1 passing!

JV players even got to run a drive, but Aaron missed the pass Colton threw to him.

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see his proud Daddy on the sidelines keeping stats!

Mudfest

It rained much of the day today, but game time was a lovely 80ish degrees with sun breaking through the clouds. So of course the boys had a great time wallowing in the mud--I mean, playing their game. They won, 46-20, but it was a harder fought game than the score might indicate.

Nathan was off on his kicking game tonight. He only made 1 out of 4 extra point attempts. As quarterback, he got knocked down several times, had a couple of passes deflected and threw a couple away. He made a few completions and had some good blocks after hand-offs.

On defense, he made one really good tackle along with several assists. One time he wrapped his arms around the ball carrier's waist and got dragged a good 20 yards! It wasn't a pretty game, but it was a win. And they are learning. His cousin Chris did make an interception near the end.

Next up: Varsity game on Thursday at 6 pm in Temple, TX, three hours south. (This was originally scheduled as a Saturday game in a town near San Antonio, but Hurricane Ike is threatening, so they moved the game time and place in an effort to get it played and get everyone home again!)

Aaron (#3) and Colton (#21) Watch from the Sidelines

This is Aaron and one of his good friends.

#1 versus #1

Our varsity football team is ranked #1 in the state among private school 6-man football teams. Last night we traveled three hours (each way) to play the #1 public school 6-man football team in the state. 

We lost. Were 45'd, actually. (6-man football has a 45 point mercy rule. Usually we are the ones 45ing teams.) We expected all that. What we didn't expect (but did hope) was that we could hang with them for awhile. And we did. The game didn't end until the third quarter was 2 minutes from over. 

Aaron went 1 for 2 on extra points. The second one hit the crossbar of the goal post even though Calvert's whole line had broken through in front of him! He did get to kick off once and got in on the last of the tackle on the return.

We were proud of our boys. But it sure will be nice to go back to playing teams we can beat!

Here's Aaron's game-saving catch--much closer to the goal line than I remembered! Elizabeth actually took the picture. She was acting in her "yearbook" capacity. And am I glad she was!!

Just for you!

I decided to create this new blog so all of our family and friends can keep up with what is going on with our kids (and sometimes us.) This will be our family blog. I will still blog at www.fivebazillionandone.blogspot.com, but it will be more about life and relationships and writing instead of the specific goings on in our house.