Documenting my travels and thoughts from around the country
Pennsylvania (Week 12)
Once again, I’m not sure why I can’t seem to find the time to make an update. But, I’ve mostly seen Pennsylvania games the last five weeks, including three this past weekend when I decided a 340-mile round trip to New Philadelphia from where I am this weekend would be just a tad too much for the Big Red game.
Pennsylvania (Week 7)
Unfortunately, despite having the time to see the number of games, I haven’t had the time to write recaps of my weekends. But, I also haven’t traveled much for games. I’ve only seen games in four states so far this year and all of them bordering Ohio (Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia).
Before recounting some games from elsewhere around Pennsylvania from earlier this year, I’ll give a run-down of this week.
Kentucky (Week 0)
Alright, this is a little late, but I felt like getting the ball rolling for another year of high school football.
Unlike in previous years, my schedule will let me be home every weekend (or virtually every weekend) this fall. One of the benefits of working for yourself.
But, I still like to see games.
And this year is no different. My season started earlier than ever this year as I drove down to Kentucky to take in two days of ‘bowl games’.
2011 Year in Review
I figured I’d do another year long recap as I did at the conclusion of the 2010 season. Akin to last year, I’ll write up some statistics before moving into my opinions of high school football around the country and the fan support.
In total, I’ve seen 73 different high school football games this year. I saw games in 16 different states and games in 17 of the possible 18 weeks that high school football is played throughout the country. I’ve seen games in 40 different venues in 40 different cities. I’ve seen 134 different teams play.
Georgia (Week 16)
I intended to write up something for Week 14 when I was home in Pennsylvania. I saw five games. The District 10 Class A Final from Hermitage’s Hickory High School’s Hornets Stadium between the Sharpsville Blue Devils and the West Middlesex Big Reds.
On Saturday, I was in Pittsburgh at Heinz Field for the four WPIAL championship games. As with last year, the WPIAL finals weren’t really that big of an atmosphere. The 4A game between North Allegheny and Upper St. Clair proved very entertaining as it went to overtime before defending state-champion North Allegheny prevailed.
And last week it was the OHSAA Championships in Canton and Massillon where I witnessed, at the time, the best game of the year I’ve seen between Creston Norwayne and Kenton. That was until this Friday afternoon.
Oklahoma & Texas (Week 13)
Once again, I’m going to keep this brief. After determining I’d see the quadruple-header at Cowboys Stadium, the only question was what game or games I’d see on Friday. And, that left me a few options in the Sooner state.
I chose the small town of Caddo, Oklahoma to be that game. An 8-man second round game featuring Caddo and Fox.
Colorado & Texas (Week 12)
Well, this will be a brief update as I’ve been busy all week and don’t have time to recap a lot. This weekend, I hope to be in Texas for the at least four games. Either in Arlington at Cowboys Stadium (2 games Friday, 4 games Saturday) or maybe Plainview and Odessa.
Wyoming & Colorado (Week 11)
This turned out to be an entertaining, albeit tiring weekend. I saw three games in 27 hours spanning 551 miles of high country. The reason was Wyoming’s willful disregard for Saturday games and Colorado having one decent game on Saturday afternoon.
North Carolina (Week 10)
Alright, this promises to be a short update for a few reasons. First among those, I have no photographs or any documentation of what took place in the game other than a few thoughts on the finish. It was a wet, cold night and my phone decided it didn’t want to keep running. So, no notes. Very few pictures, and it was a miserable environment. Secondly, I didn’t make it in time for kickoff. Give credit to North Carolinians, they don’t understand that 5pm means quitting time. So, I was busy up until almost 8pm for a 7:30pm start. And lastly, I only saw one game this weekend.
North Dakota & Montana (Week 8)
Alright, well this is a little late coming out. Mostly because I tried to squeeze one more game in on Wednesday night in Bismarck. Then, it was dealing with getting home in time for the Steubenville-Massillon game. So, I’ll keep this brief.