Beginning with a Win

We started basketball season tonight, after only one practice. Eight of our eleven players have been focused on football until last week, so their basketball skills were a bit rusty. And in the first half of the game, that was quite apparent. But the boys came out for the second half and turned it on a bit. At the end of the 3rd quarter, we had pulled to within 5. With less than 5 minutes left in the game, we went ahead by 1--and managed to hold on. We won 41-35.

Our boys did well. Aaron finished with the third highest rebounds but also tied for most turnovers (all coming in the first half). But he led in assists (including one to his brother!) and even had a few steals. He ended with 2 points. All in all, pretty good considering that coach sat him halfway through the 2nd quarter when he got called for his third foul. (He didn't pick up his forth foul until there were 11 seconds left in the game, in spite of playing every minute of the 2nd half.)

Nathan did well, too. He scored more, ending with 5 points. He also had a couple of rebounds as well as a couple of turnovers.

Now if we can get some practices under our belt, this might be a much better season than we've seen in the past couple of years!

The Final Football Game

Here are my boys one last time, after their last game on the same football team.

We ended our season with a heartbreaking loss, 36-24. Heartbreaking because we hung in there so long and finished so close. Our opponent was undefeated, ranked number one. They hadn't played an entire game all year long. We took them to the very end and, in truth, we just had one too many mistakes. We could have beat them, but we beat ourselves with mistakes.

Still, it was quite a season. To watch this group of seniors who stepped onto the field as juniors, most with zero experience in a varsity game, compete at this level was quite amazing. I'm so proud of them for how far they came in such a short amount of time. And the younger guys who played will walk into next season with confidence, experience, and a hunger to go deeper into the playoffs.

Aaron ended with a good game. No catches. Some good tackles. One missed kick due to kicking into the swirling wind. Nathan played well too, cool under pressure, though throwing a very uncustomary for him interception. He tried to connect once with Aaron, near the end zone, but it just didn't quite happen. It was too bad, too, for it would have been a game-changing play.

We cried many tears afterward. I'll miss watching them on the field together next year. After all, they started playing on the same soccer team when they were 3 and 4! But of course there is still basketball, which will begin next Monday.

One Round Down

After our dismal performance in last year's playoff game, this team redeemed itself with a decisive win, 54-7. The game ended at halftime.

Aaron played almost the whole game, with another solid performance on defense. He caught a touchdown pass (thrown by our other quarterback) and had a pass from his brother knocked out of his hands almost in the end zone. He hit 6 of his 7 PATs, with the last one hitting the upright and bouncing back. (That's the third time he's hit the post this year. What's with that?)

Nathan got to play a bit. He threw four beautiful passes, the only one not going for a completion was the one to his brother. :)

Next round the opponent gets much more difficult, so we'll see what happens!

2nd in District!

Tonight we had a big win. Not just in points, 68-28, but big in the sense that it gives us 2nd place instead of 3rd in our district. These boys have made a HUGE turnaround since last year!

Aaron had another great game on defense, including a knocked down pass in the end zone in the last couple of minutes of the game. He had a couple of passes thrown his way on offense, but neither was catchable. He kicked 7 for 9 on PATs and he had kickoff duty tonight as well, hitting his long ones and his on-sides ones very nicely.

And I realized that tonight was his final Friday Night Lights, which was kind of sad. But at least we still have two more years of Nathan.

Oh--Nathan actually got to play a bit again tonight. He did very well, but he didn't get a chance to throw the ball. Hopefully this means he'll get a bit of playing time in the playoffs, too.

All in all, it's been a great season. We'll see what happens next!