Editorial Note: Title of post inspired by the song Blue by Tim Krekel and the Groovebillies.
I don’t have a picture to share. This past Friday night was old school. Very old school.
Most of the regular readers of speaktherights.com (the site’s counter is not functioning right now so there are really more than 7 of you), know that I have an interest in high school football that goes beyond mere interest.
Though the years have crept upon me, some not so stealthily as others, it has been 30 years since I had a uniform on and stood shoulder to shoulder with some of my dearest friends into adulthood as the band played the National Anthem before game time. I always enjoyed that tempered quiet time as the band played to a boiling crescendo and the last syllable ended just before the last note of that great song. There was always a great deal of emotion that came out following the edict of being still as a seventeen year old ready to knock somebody’s block off. To this day my anxious meter runs higher at the end of that song than at any other time as I watch a high school game being played out in front of me.
Friday night…was one for the ages if you wear North Harrison Cougar blue like I do. Like I did.
On Friday night the North Harrison Cougars defeated the Brownstown Central Braves. Big deal? Yes. It was a very big deal. The last time the North Harrison Cougars had beaten the BCHS bunch was when George Bush was President. Uh, the one before Bill Clinton. The fall of 1992 was the last time The Cougars beat the Braves. That game was played in Brownstown. Friday night’s game was played in Ramsey, the home of North Harrison High School. You need go back to 1987 to a 15 to 13 victory by North over B-town to find the last time NH beat BC at home. As much as those numbers seem a little numbing, I can get it. It is when I put them in the context of when I was seventeen years old that makes me open my eyes wide and throw my head back just a little bit. This is what I mean:
In 1984, I played a part in a 59 to nothing shellacking of the BCHS Braves in Brownstown. Had someone come up to me and said that was the first time we had beat them there since 1956, I would still be reminding people of that every day. I can proudly report that the 59 to 0 pasting we put to the Braves remains the worst defeat they have ever suffered at home. But this post is about today…not yesterday. What we have here is context. We have something to compare it to. Twenty-eight years is a very long time. These two teams have played 36 times. Brownstown has won 29 of them. Ironically, North has registered five of its seven victories at Blevins Stadium in Brownstown. I am glad to say the two trips I made up there as a high school player in 1982 and 1984 were victories.
Back to the Future.
The 2015 North Harrison Football team is a special bunch. They have a great coaching staff, they have players that have obviously put in the time and effort needed to be what they have proved they are….winners. They are not just winners on the field. They are also winners off the field. I walk down the hallways as a school counselor to these players and I can tell you that I am proud of the way they comport themselves off the field just as much as when they are on it. That can’t be said about every high school football team.
On Friday night I was on a hill to the South side of the football field. The Braves bench was in front of me. The Braves coaching staff is peppered with guys that I am very familiar with. They are old friends. Friendship aside, I was ready for the Cougars to play disciplined hard-nosed football and that is what we got with every snap of a 38 to 30 victory that was one for the ages.
Disciplined football teams win games. Understand there is a chasm of difference between discipline and camaraderie. Don’t mistaken a team going to the barber shop and cutting their heads to the scalp to be a form of team discipline. That is a nice gesture of unity. Don’t mistaken a team slogan or a team handshake or a way they take the field as a sign of team discipline. These things are elements of togetherness and camaraderie.
Someone out there is saying…so what is a disciplined football team smarty pants?
Witness the North Harrison Cougars 2015 football team and you will witness a well-disciplined football team. Why? They don’t make mental errors. They don’t jump off-sides on defense. They don’t rack up false start penalties on offense. They don’t fumble the ball. They protect the ball. They know what they are doing when it is time to run some play clock to eat away some precious moments the other team desperately needs. They do a few things and they do them so well they dare the other team to stop them. They play smart football regardless of whose hair is the longest or the shortest. They worked hard in the off-season to be prepared to do the things they have had to do to get here. That is team discipline!
Where have they gotten? Today I looked in the paper and saw North Harrison sitting atop the standings in the Mid-Southern Conference for the first time ever 5 games deep into the season. That is a nice day for this old Cougar and a great day for a bunch of young ones.
The Brownstown game is always special for me. My Dad coached the Cougars a long time ago and he coached the Braves a longer time ago. I grew up on both of those football fields. It was sure nice to drive a few miles home after the win instead of 50 miles. Can you imagine how long a ride it was for the Braves heading home Friday night? One thing that crossed some of their minds on the way home is revenge. There is a chance the Braves could play the Cougars again in the playoffs at the end of the season. That would be fun.
As I sat on the hill Friday night, I had my Dad with me. My brother Darrell was there. My brother in-law Stevarino was there. My friend and Alabama fan (sorry and Hotty Toddy!) Brother Tim was there. And a we had a special guest also. My friend Adam came to witness his first game from the hill. We worked together at Medora Schools for many years. It was great to have him out there with us. Adam is an old Brave. He did not cheer when we did. Alas, he is forgiven.
Beyond the long awaited victory, the best thing I got to see Friday night was my Dad hugging the necks of former players…both Blue and White and Red and Black. Dad was so fired up by the Cougars win, he had a hard time getting to sleep. So did I. Long after the game, and after I took Dad home, I made my way back to a dimly lit North Harrison track around the football field. One lap into my “Magnificent Mile” the lights were all gone. I looked at a crescent moon in the western sky and smiled. To say I am a blessed man to have so many great experiences with this great game would be a gross understatement. But I guess that is the best I can do. I doubt that I deserve all that has been bestowed upon me. I didn’t earn it like the Cougars did Friday night. I’ll just say thanks and move on. I thank God that I have this story to tell. It’s been fun.
The Cougars? Well, at this point I am not going to single any player out. I am going to leave them and their coaches a big THANK YOU for putting in the effort they have…and being that well disciplined team they are…and tell them to keep it together, don’t stop now, there is always more work to be done tomorrow…another wood pile with their name on it.
Speaking the Rights…
Danny Johnson
