2020 Week S14 (New York City)

2020 Week S14 (New York City)

I wasn’t expecting any more football for the 2020 season. It was already the end of May when I found out that I was wrong. And I found it almost entirely by accident. After Section 6 of New York had completed their season on the 15th, I was mildly curious if any other sections had yet to finish their season. I was certain that the state as a whole had set the mid-May deadline for games in the Fall II season. But, I went to Maxpreps of all places and searched for NY schedules.

And one came up. Tottenville had a home game for the following weekend. They were the only game listed. So, I was thinking maybe it was some type of off-season scrimmage or 7-on-7 game. There were a few states on Maxpreps that had listed 7-on-7 games as actual games.

But, I went to the PSAL site to confirm and yes, there was actual high school football games going on. It was too late to plan for that weekend. But, I did see that there was a Friday game the first week of June. And a plethora of Saturday options. I had intended to call on the Tottenville game. After all, they are one of the ‘stalwarts’ of NYC public league ball. And it was going to be a good matchup. But as I started looking around, I decided to focus elsewhere on Staten Island.

The Friday game was at Abraham Lincoln, on Coney Island. Though not really an island any longer. It was, strangely, a stadium I had anticipated seeing one day a few years ago when I was researching how the PSAL operated. One being a lot of Sunday morning games. Which is a bit unusual compared to other associations. Abraham Lincoln’s field is just a few blocks north of the boardwalk. It’s a nice stadium. Simple but fairly large for being in NYC. It sits right behind the school with the entire visitor side dwarfed by it. Built in 1930, and with football starting in 1932, it’s definitely a relic of its time. I checked with both schools and confirmed games on Tuesday.

So, Friday morning, I left home at just after 6am for the 4:30pm game. My car was running pretty good. Just had the oil changed, thinking I wasn’t going to be road-tripping anywhere for the next couple of months. I got as far as Milesburg before stopping for breakfast. After just getting back on the road, I had my first snag. My left front tire went flat. At 70mph. So, not exactly a fun morning. I also had to come to a stop along a ridiculously long stretch of guard rail. I didn’t want to risk the rim driving any further than I had to to get over.

Luckily, i do keep a full size jack in my trunk. A standard practice of mine the first time I ever needed to use the cheap, factory included scissor-jack. It’s come in handy. So, as I’m getting the donut out of the trunk, I realize that my right front tire is also showing signs of separation right near the bead.

I called a tire shop in Lamar, and they could get me in, but they had appointments booked. So, I checked with another shop. They didn’t have my tires in stock. So, back to the first shop. Luckily, they were able to get me in quickly. Or, rather, they changed both tires in their parking lot. I tipped the tech that did both tires and paid the shop for the tires. In all, I only lost an hour of time between changing the donut and getting the two tires replaced. And only out about $256.

After that, I made it into New Jersey before stopping to get gas. Fun when in New Jersey all pumps are full service. After the brief stop, I headed down I-280 through Jersey City and along the street level past the NJ Turnpike to the entrance to the Holland Tunnel. I’ve only ever been in the Holland Tunnel once before. Luckily, traffic was moving briskly as I made my way through the boulevard of lights west of the toll plaza.

After getting into Manhattan, I followed Laight St to the 9A/West St, following the edge of Manhattan by the Hudson down to Battery Park and the previously named, though I refuse to call it anything else, Battery Tunnel. Following that south along the Gowanus Expressway. Then following southwest along Belt Parkway past the Verrazzano where I stopped at the little pulloff for a photo:

After the bridge, traffic was heavy and slow through Brooklyn to my exit for Ocean Pkwy. I passed the field and the school before being able to park just behind the field and school. Got there about 3pm. Started to plan for a game. Knowing a storm I had just driven through was trailing me.

And then it hit…

The game was at risk of being cancelled. Previously arranged scheduling of the game on Friday for personal reasons on Saturday prevented the game. And due to previous agreements with the school, the game needed to start by 6pm. And with the ilghtning protocol in place, the last lightning would need to be before 5:30pm.

Luckily, the game was cleared to start by 6pm. Bringing the players back out to warm up. The game started about 6:15pm. It was still quite bright as the sky cleared completely. It was hot, humid, and yet the field itself felt incredibly dry. The field is setup north/south with a baseball diamond present in the southwest corner. The home plate and pitchers’ mound were dirt cutouts of the field turf. The rest of the infield is turf with no lines or different colored turf.

#128 – Abraham Lincoln v. James Madison

The game started with some sloppy play. But, Lincoln punted the ball down to the 2 in a battle of field position. But, that didn’t matter to Madison. Who had a one-play 98 yard TD run. Also got a 73 yard TD pass and 96 yard kickoff return. But Lincoln made a show of force in the second quarter to take a narrow 33-30 lead at the break. Second half was all Lincoln as their trudged through the game, getting two TDs while Madison was unable to overcome a much stingier defense. Abraham Lincoln 46, James Madison 30.

Overall, my first game in New York city was a fun one. The quality of play was a bit higher than I had expected. Very fast, with good passing games. Form tackling was a bit weaker, and ball handling was a bit suspect. But, these teams could play and the game was fun.

After the game, I took a drive up the Belt Pkwy, past JFK, and found a KFC that was open for the drive-thru. I ended up getting a hotel room at the Super 8 just outside JFK. Could’ve booked it cheaper a few days earlier. But, i wasn’t really 100% certain the weekend would happen. So, waited until the day of. And honestly with the tire, I was glad I had waited. Though, that meant the room was much higher than before, at $116 total. Still cheap for NYC. But not as cheap as I could’ve gotten it.

It was a fairly nice hotel. I had only slept 3 hours the night before, so I was hoping to sleep in. But, by the time I finished pictures from Friday’s game, it was almost 3am. And I was up at 930am. But that was barely enough time. I was only 25 miles from my Saturday game. The projected forecast was just over an hour to get there. Mostly from slowdowns along the Belt Parkway heading to the Verrazzano. However, it took a lot longer than that. Over 1h40m to get the 25 miles from JFK to New Dorp.

New Dorp is a community located along the south shore of Staten Island. It’s dutch for New Village (Nieuw Dorp). One of the first settlements founded in 1671. Heading off the Staten Island Expressway just past the Verrazzano one neighborhood blends into another. Along the shore and on Hylan, but the area just around the school is very distinct area. The school and field sits just one large municipal park away from the beachfront.

It was about 89F at kickoff. With no cloud cover. The wind was intermittent and not nearly comfortable. I arrived fairly close to kickoff that never stopped anywhere for something to drink and had no water on me. I would go through the game on the sideline dry.

#129 – New Dorp v. Susan Wagner

This was Wagner’s first game of the season. Their first three games were canceled. New Dorp was 1-2, and looking for their first home win of the season. New Dorp’s passing game was sketchy at best. And Wagner’s field position battle was working. Their kicking game consisted of short squib kicks on kickoffs and deep booming punts when drives stalled. This finally got them set up for two touchdowns in the second quarter to lead, 14-0. However, New Dorp got a deep drive on a long pass to the three with just a few seconds left on the clock. A TD push up the middle made it 14-6.

The fourth quarter was wild. After tying it in the third, New Dorp gave up the lead early with a long TD run. And when one of New Dorp’s late drives stalled, it looked like the failed fourth down would be it for the Cougars. But, fate befelled Susan Wagner, fumbling the ball on the first touch from the QB on the snap and New Dorp recovered. Their QB got a TD on the ground with less than a minute left to tie it.

Susan Wagner then through an interception. And New Dorp moved quickly upfield. With one second left, they had one shot at a TD to win it. But, they too were intercepted in the redzone. Heading to OT, New Dorp got the ball first. The PSAL also starts at the 20 as does the rest of New York. A ten yard run and an 8 yard run set up a 2 yard TD push up the middle to get the lead. And a 2 point play to go up 30-22. Susan Wagner would convert a 2nd and 6 into a 16 yard TD pass. But, their run to the left tackle was stuffed, and New Dorp’s sideline exploded in jubilation with their come-from-behind victory. New Dorp 30, Susan Wagner 28 (OT).

After the game, I did get some water on the sideline and drank 3 bottles in about 90 seconds. The AC in my car is temperamental, and so I drove a car sitting out in the sun for several hours, with leather seats, to McDonalds and got two sweet teas, two cups of ice, and a slushee. I then headed out along Hylan to Richmond, and took that to the unfinished Parkway extending east from the Outerbridge Crossing. I’ve only ever once been across this bridge before. The furthest southern bridge from NYC to New Jersey. With only the GW, Lincoln, Holland, Bayonne, Goethals, and Outerbridge, I’ve only ever yet to cross the Bayonne.

Zipped through industrial New Jersey along the shore of Keasbey, Edison, etc. And along I-287 that continues from the Outerbridge where it crosses the NJ Turnpike. Stopped again at a McDonalds for two more sweet teas and two more cups of ice. I didn’t finish them. But that about had me finally feeling hydrated.

After that, it was a straight shot home. I did stop for gas one last time in New Jersey, in Hope, and then for dinner around 8pm in Clearfield. A small BBQ stop that’s part of a gas station where the cut across from I-80 to US322 is located west of Phillipsburg called Gio’s. Had ribs.

I got home just before 11pm. All tolled, my trip was $296.90. Of that, was $37.57 for tolls including the Holland & Battery tunnels, and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. As well as reentering Pennsylvania on I-80. Hotel was $116.73, food was $78, and gas was a simple $64.60. Total trip was 938 miles.

Photos of the Week

2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City

2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City
2020 HSF Wk S14 New York City

Next Week

So, I wasn’t thinking I’d have more games this season. And, honestly, I’m not sure if I will next weekend or not. I was invited back to Abraham Lincoln for their Friday afternoon game. There is a Thursday afternoon game at Fort Hamilton, and there’s an array of games available on Saturday. One of which I am quite interested in. The Thursday game would be against Erasmus Hall, a school that, originally constructed though undergone many changes in structure since, was originally founded in 1786 and became a NYC public school in 1896.

But, I’m not quite certain I will go. Just yet. If I do, I’m 99% certain that would be the end of my extended 2020 season. I’ve already seen more games this season than in any previous season. 129 now eclipses the 127 I attended in 2014. But that was in far fewer weeks. But this season has been in a lot more interesting and diverse venues.

2020 Statistics

129 Games
231 Teams
92 Stadiums
15 States

129 New Teams
81 New Stadiums

1,293 different teams
415 different stadiums

1,167 total games

For more, and larger, photos from this weekend, click HERE.

For photos from previous weeks and seasons, visit http://www.flickr.com/sykotyk/sets/

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