A Disappointing End

We wrapped up two sports this week.  We knew that field hockey would come to an end this week.  We did not expect the same of football.

On Thursday we gathered with the field hockey team for the banquet.  For us the banquet was held at a super location as it is in the neighborhood right across the street from ours.  The kids ride the bus to and from school from this location, and they have all walked home from there.  A very convenient option when you have to get one child home from football just before the start of the banquet.

 It was fun to catch up with Julia's preschool teacher as she also has a daughter on the team, so we sat with her.  The food was very yummy.  If I had any future events in mind that would need a caterer, I would definitely have noted the name of the caterer.

The freshman girls

McKenna and Savannah - team big sis and lil sis

Our super goalie Allison with Savannah...these girls have gotten to be good friends this year.

The field hockey banquet came just in time for club play to start.  Savannah has her evaluation on Monday night and will start playing a couple of days a week and conditioning on the off days.  She loves field hockey and may just continue to only play club.  The school season was not really positive this year.  Savannah is not a quitter.  I worked really hard to try and talk her into quitting mid-season which is not usual for me either :)

Football also ended this week.  We played the second game of the playoffs last night.  Zach had quite the fan club when his Aunt Tiffany, Aunt Tara, Uncle Jonathan, Austin, and Logan showed up to see the game.  We had the lead going into half-time, and the game took a dramatic turn in the second half.  It was a very disheartening game.  Illegal plays from the other team that were ignored by the refs may have determined the final outcome on this one.  Going into the second half, it became very clear that our opponents were hungry to win no matter what.  We watched them tackle a player by the collar who had already gone out of bounds, several face-masks, and the worst was rolling on the leg of one of our players who wears a brace and just returned from injury. They also tried to pick a fight with our guys twice. It was clear that they sought injury as a way to get the advantage.  We were heartbroken to lose this game as this is the last year of Zach's high school career that our team would have the home field advantage all the way through the regional championship.  The game was close, and Andy observed that Zach played his personal best game yet.  Andy writes the team articles, but another parent keeps the stats.  Mr. L sent the stats to Andy with a note that he too observed that last night was Zach's best game yet.  In any case, you win some, you lose some.  Our boys are taught to play clean.  We made costly mistakes last night.  The hardest part of losing to this particular team is that they have traditionally been poor sports and have not played clean.  One of our parents reminded us that they are all kids, but this one is hard to swallow.
Parents always gather on the field after the games to congratulate the kids and hang out until the boys go to the locker rooms to change.  I did not take pictures as it was far too emotional.  Emotional teenage boys do not want that recorded for posterity.  Zach is so upset as he plays the line with a group primarily composed of seniors and feels it an  honor  to play with them.  It is hard to say goodbye to a great season.
A cool but beautiful fall night allowed us to enjoy watching two sacks, four tackles and numerous assists for Zach.  For the first time ever, the announcer referred to Zach as Bonecrusher Page when announcing his feats on the field.


Our activities continue as Wyatt played his first ever indoor soccer game this morning at 7:00a.m.  Ouch!  This momma likes her sleep on a Saturday morning.  Tonight, Julia will hit the gym to see if she can still nail a back handspring on the trampoline and will start cheer practice on Tuesday nights.

More to come from the busy Pages!

Monday update:  After reviewing the game film, Andy is convinced that our opposition was credited with a TD that they should not have had.  He reviewed this with a former football coach as well as high school football refs.  When this sort of thing happens in the regular season, it stinks.  In the playoffs, it feels like robbery.