The Ultimate Sports (Photography) Weekend

For those who don’t know, my blog actually started out as a way to share my photography, specifically my sports photography, with the world.  It evolved into mostly a health and fitness blog when I changed my lifestyle and lost the weight, because it allowed me a place to chronicle my journey from lazy, chubby girl to fit marathon runner.  🙂

But photography is still my first love, and last weekend I had a chance to really put my passion into action.  So I’m taking a break from health and fitness to tell you the story of my weekend as a true “sports mom”—with lots and LOTS of pictures to illustrate!  I’m going to warn you right now, this is a novel, but if you like a good story, I would humbly suggest you take some time to read this. (Or skim, if you prefer.)

Jamie had the ultimate test of his abilities this past weekend: we’d known for several weeks that he would be playing in two football games on Saturday, but then, just last week, we learned that his hockey team had been entered into a local tournament.  When the schedules were ultimately finalized, we were looking at three hockey games and two football games in 36 hours!

The tournament wasn’t anything spectacular, but the football was a pretty big deal.  To understand, I need to first set the stage: Jamie attends a little country Catholic school in Monroe County, we’ll call it SCS.  The entire 8^th grade class at SCS consists of 15 students, ha ha!  Jamie and his classmates will be the 101^st graduating class of this school, which I think is pretty cool. 🙂

The football team has 20 players, some of which come from 7^th grade, and some others that come from a few other county Catholic schools that didn’t have enough players to field their own team.  Almost all the boys in Jamie’s class play football, and I’ve discovered that they take football pretty seriously in that little parish school!  We are one of the few Catholic elementary schools in all of the Detroit area to have our own football field; other teams have to rent out their high school field (and then charge admission to the games :p).  Our school is actually getting ready to tear down the 100-year-old “old school” building, and when they put the addition on the “new school” (not so new at 50 years old), it will be where the current football field now sits.  They’ve already started building the new football field and everyone is excited about it. 🙂

The coaches for Jamie’s team have been together for many years—the head coach has had that job for 20+ years, and his oldest son is only in 4^th grade, ha ha!  But they love football at SCS and I’m pretty sure every coach is a former student, or if not, they at least had a son on the team at one time.

I have to confess, I was not a fan of Jamie playing football; in fact, I said “no” for the first two years he was eligible.  It’s not that I don’t like football (I actually love it), but with him playing travel hockey, I knew that trying to juggle the two schedules was going to be difficult.  My husband, however, was captain of his high school football team, and needless to say, he was angling for Jamie to play. They finally wore me down two years ago, and Jamie played in 6^th grade.  He loved it, but I sure didn’t love the logistical nightmare of trying to juggle two sports. :/ Thankfully, his football coaches were very understanding of his hockey commitments, and we made it work (mostly me, since my husband works nights and weekends).  I got roped into letting him play in 7th grade, and again we struggled through 2 ½ months of dual sports.  I dropped some hints at the end of that season that maybe we would take a pass for eighth grade, but one of the coaches actually approached me at the school auction in the spring and did a sales job on me. It’s hard to say no when someone is telling you how much they love your kid and want him on the team. 😉

So now, here we are in eighth grade, and Jamie’s team determined that they would enter the Detroit CYO league (CYO = Catholic Youth Organization). That used to do a Monroe-County only league, but they didn’t have enough teams this year, so the two teams that did form chose to play in the larger Archdiocese league. This league is so large, they have six divisions…for middle school football! 😮

The Detroit league seemed like they didn’t know what to do with us, the two little rural schools from Monroe County. They assumed we weren’t all that good, and they put our team (SCS) in the fifth division, while they put the other county team (MES) in the sixth division.

Turns out, we were a little better than they thought. 😀

Our school is small but mighty, and, to be totally honest, we plowed through that division, winning every game, and by a large margin. A part of me hates seeing another team lose that way, because we’ve certainly been on that team in our hockey careers, but the other part of me really enjoyed watching our boys shine. Even our second string did well, and we easily won the division, going 5-0. Then, there was an exhibition game against a team from the top (A) division. I believe that team was actually close to the bottom of the first division, but still, they were in the top division, and I’m sure they probably thought a game against the a FIFTH division team would be a cakewalk. Yeah, no. 😉 We beat them 33-18, and, amazingly, our little SCS boys were 6-0.

The benefit of playing in the big Detroit league was that they have something called the “Prep Bowl.” This league includes all of the Catholic schools in the area that have, including high school teams. They have a big event to showcase all the division winners from all of the different age levels, and it just so happens to be held at Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions. Not too shabby, I’d say! Because we won our division, we were seeded to play in that Prep Bowl, against a team that took second place in the third division. To say our boys were excited was an understatement. In fact, to say our coaches were excited was an understatement. 😉

The only downside was that it was at 8 AM on Saturday the 24^th, and it just so happened to be on the same day that they were playing the “Monroe championship.” When we used to have enough teams from our county, there was always a championship game in the final week.  Because it’s a tradition, they agreed to hold it again this year to allow the two Monroe teams to play each other, pretty much just for bragging rights. Still, although it wasn’t official or anything, it was a pretty big deal for both teams, because they both wanted to be the “kings of the county.” :p

Still, our team wasn’t going to turn down a trip to Ford Field, so obviously we were going to play two games in one day.  The Ford Field game was actually just a “showcase game,” with a 20-minute running clock, so not a full four-quarter game. Of course, it was at 8 AM, which was not ideal, but anyway…  😉

The head coach called me the day he found out about the Prep Bowl and asked if I wanted to attend as the team’s official photographer. Um, yeah! I was so geeked, I made arrangements to rent a lens from a place in Lavonia, a nice high-powered one that would help me with the “dome” situation.  But the week before the game, he got the official rules from the CYO, and not only was there not an option for a “team photographer,” you weren’t even allowed to bring any lenses longer than 5 inches. 🙁  The lens I had rented, a Canon 70-200 MM 2.8, was much longer than 5 inches. But to get pictures at a place like Ford Field, I needed that kind of a focal length, and I sure as heck wanted that nice, wide aperture to help me get some light on these kids.

I picked up the lens on Friday morning, and the guys at the shop told me that the restrictions were probably more for official events like concerts, not middle school football showcase games. They encouraged me to just take it and see if I can get away with it. Of course, if you know me, you know that I am an incurable rule follower, so the thought of trying to sneak something by anyone, especially someone official like Ford Field security, had me pretty much hyperventilating. :p

We had hockey Friday night, and I took advantage of the lens and shot some pretty decent pictures at the game. Unfortunately, the game didn’t even start till 9 PM, and it was way out in Chelsea, so by the time it got done and we got home, it was after 11 o’clock. I had planned to run on Saturday morning, and that meant getting up at about 4:15, so that wasn’t ideal.  I managed to make it work, though and by 645, we were out the door on our way to Ford Field in the dark.

Unfortunately, it started raining on our way up, and by the time we parked, it was a full-on downpour. The one day I forget my umbrella, of course. We hurried in the pouring rain to the entrance, and my heart was pounding the entire time. I had the lens in the bottom of a makeshift camera bag, which was actually one of the kids’ diaper bags from years gone by.

The material we had been given had strict regulations about the size of bags we could take, and this diaper bag fit their requirements, while also allowing me to put my camera body and my normal 18-135 MM lens inside, and then the big lens underneath those two items. Because I was so nervous, I had conned my husband into being the one to hand the diaper bag to the security guard for the search.

When we walked up, still in the pouring rain, the man told us we had to get tickets at the box office first (at $10 each! To watch middle schoolers play football for 20 minutes! After having already paid $6 to park!). My husband did not look amused, since we were already running late, but he went and got the tickets, and then came back.  I handed him the diaper bag, and he then handed it to the security guard.  I held my breath as he took his little stick and poked around. After a moment, he handed it back to my husband and said, “You’re good to go.” It was hard not to do a little dance for joy, but I kept my cool and acted like it was no big deal. 😉

Once inside, we headed towards the stairs to go down to the main floor seating, with Jamie and Jason going down to the field itself. Since my husband is a paramedic, the coach was able to get him a pass to be the team “trainer” or something, I guess so that there was medical presence on the field. Or maybe the coach just likes my husband, I don’t know. 😉  The coach was there on the field at the railing, ready to hand Jason his orange pass, and of course, Jamie was able to get on the field because he was wearing football gear. (Maybe next time, I should try that.)

We only had about 15 minutes to game time at that point, so I started putting my stuff together… and that’s when I realized I had left my SD card in the big camera bag in the car. 😮 And by the way, once you leave, there is no reentry without once again paying $10. :/

So here I was, with less than 15 minutes to game time, and without a way to take pictures using this lens that I had paid good money to rent. I grabbed my jacket with my keys, along with the $19 I had put in the diaper bag, shoving the money in my pocket, just in case.  I then ran all the way up the stairs (a lot of them) to the mezzanine. I had already run 6 miles that morning, but I definitely got my hill workout. And then I realized I had grab JJ’s jacket, not mine. So, back down the stairs I went, grabbed my jacket, and ran back up again. Hill work times two!

I ran through the stadium to the entry doors, where I stop to show the ladies my blue ticket and asked if I could come back in because I had forgotten my SD card in the card. They looked at me very sadly and told me that there was no reentry. I looked at them in panic and said, “Please! I’m coming right back!” They looked really sad to have to give me the news, and then one of them pointed to a large, scary looking man to my right. “You’ll have to talk to him.”

So I approach what I could only assume was the Guy In Charge and pleaded my case. He looked down at me with a frown and said, “I’m sorry, ma’am, there’s no reentry.”

I stared at him, and said, “And…?”

“I’m sorry ma’am, there’s no reentry.”

I put my hands together as if in prayer, stared up at him with my baby blue eyes, and wheedled, “Pretty pleeeeease?”

He glared at me out of the corner of his eye, sighed heavily, and then inclined his head toward the door. “Go.”

“God bless you!” I called as I ran out the door into the pouring rain once again.  I ran in the pouring rain to my car (more calories burned), grabbed the SD card, then headed back into the arena, bypassing the turn style as directed by one of the ticket takers.  As I ran back down the stairs to the first row of seats above the field, they were just beginning to do the prayer. (Catholic league, remember.)  I got my camera set up as they played the national anthem, and then it was game time!

We were playing against a team from Oakland County, and specifically, a pretty wealthy area of Oakland County (which is already one of the wealthiest counties in the country!).  We’ll call that team OLOR.  The game was simply a matter of who could score the most points in the 20 minutes given.  Each team got one 30-second timeout, but other than that, the clock just ran for 20 minutes, and the one with the most points when the clock ran out was the winner. They had four of those games scheduled between 8am and 9:30am, for the different divisions, and they were strict about adhering to the times so they could get them all in.

Because the time was so tight, I didn’t want to fuss with manual settings with this new lens, so I just set my camera to sports mode and starting shooting.  The lens was pretty awesome, and even though I wasn’t on the field, I was able to get some awesome shots.

Our first touchdown, scored about 4 minutes in.

The other team scored on their opening drive as well, and was able to kick the extra point.

In that league, it’s kind of backwards from traditional football…running the ball in gives you one point, while kicking it (which is certainly harder for this age group) gives you two. Thus, after two possessions, the other team was ahead 8-7.

Luckily, we have some pretty big (and pretty fast!) backs on our team.

I was happy to see I picked the right end to sit on…the end we were scoring on!  I loved being able to watch the coach talk to the quarterback.

I’ll admit to only marginally understanding the intricacies of football, but it was really exciting to watch them line up on the Ford Field turf and execute their plays.

That touchdown came at about 9 minutes in.  They once again decided to try for the extra point on the ground instead of kicking.

And they made it!  Score at that moment: 14-8, SCS on top, right about halfway through the 20-minute game.  Possession goes back to the other team, and it’s time to defend the field.

One of our guys hits the quarterback as he’s releasing the ball…

And—wait, what’s that?

Interception! High fives for everyone!

There’s still 9 minutes left, though.

These OLOR kids are tough!

Our kids won’t give up, though!

But unfortunately, we can’t get the first down.

OLOR gets the ball back with about 4 minutes left, down by 6.  Our boys are doing their best to hold them.

Check out the height that this player of ours was able to get!

Another incompletion for OLOR, and there’s about 2 minutes left.

Dang it. They fooled us.

OLOR gets the touchdown, and the score is now tied, pending the extra point.  Check out how intense all of our SCS boys are on this extra point play.

They’re like tightly-coiled springs, waiting to pounce!  OLOR takes the snap and gives the ball to their #28…

Stopped a yard short of the goal! You can’t see him, but my son is in on this tackle (you can see his leg poking out from behind the OLOR player).  I was so proud of him!

So now we’re looking at this:

Remember, that’s a running clock, so it was ticking down even as I was snapping that picture. Hurry, run to line of scrimmage!

Pass play!

So close. But we still have 67 seconds and one 30-second time out. By the time the quarterback talked it over with the coach and got the team to the line of scrimmage, they’ve got 38 seconds.

Running play.

No luck. Time to use that one and only 30-second timeout, which stops the clock with about 26 seconds.

After 30 seconds of strategy, it’s back on the field.  They’ve got 26 seconds, no timeouts, and they’re at their opponent’s 37.

Have to go for the pass play.

And it’s caught!

He runs as far as he can before being taken down at the SCS 35.

They have 14 seconds left, clock running, time to line up for one more play…

They get it off with exactly one second to spare…

The quarter back tosses it back to the corner back (who is also our backup QB)…

He throws it with everything he has…

It’s in the air…

He catches it at the 15…

And runs…

And…

He’s in! Touchdown!! My favorite part of that picture is the coaches and players from the team on the sidelines that’s waiting to play in the next game.  Do you see them cheering? They’re as excited about it as we were! 🙂

The receiver jumps up with the ball and celebrates…

Then he takes a moment to stop and reflect.

Being a good Catholic school boy, I have no doubt he was offering up a prayer of thanks. 🙂 But then, it’s all celebration from there.

Don’t you love our little ball boy? He is the youngest son of one of the assistant coaches, and also the first-string quarterback’s little brother.  Awwwww…

I love that one—see how the great big receiver is getting a bear-hug from the assistant coach? 😉

Lots of high-fives and celebration after that, but the team was rushed off the field to make room for the next game.  After the post-game talk and prayer, the coach lined them all up so I could take a team picture from the stands with my fancy lens.  Then, we had an hour to kill before the presentation of the trophy.  We had one corner of the field to ourselves, and my husband suggested I have the coach line the kids up to each pose for an individual shot.

I thought it was a brilliant idea, but then one of the coaches took it as step further: he wanted me to jump over the railing onto the field!  I of course said no way—that’s against the rules!  But then two other coaches and a few of the parents in the stands all started chiming in, and before I knew it, someone grabbed my camera, handed it over the wall to my husband, and I was being picked up and lowered down into the arms of one of the coaches on the field.  It was actually kind of scary for a second—it was kind of a big drop for a short girl! 😮 I was totally panicked to see if I’d get caught, but our game was early enough that the security didn’t seem to be too strict at that point, and voila—just like that, I was on the field! No orange pass or anything. 😉

I hurried up and took individual shots of all 20 kids, and I have to say, they turned out pretty awesome. We have some mighty fine-looking young men on our team, and I’m not ashamed to say that this one is my favorite.

I wish I could show you some of the others, because they are so handsome, but alas, I did not get permission, so I won’t.  As much as I was totally panicked for much of the morning, it was a great day, and I’m so glad I a) rented the lens, and b) broke all the rules. 😉

The day was just beginning at that point, though!  We then drove out to hockey in Chelsea, and for once, we actually made it a bit early, ha ha!

I have often wondered if the boys on Jamie’s football and hockey teams even care about all the pictures I take, but lately I’ve learned that while they may not say anything to me, my pictures do turn up on teenage Instagram accounts—a lot. 😉  Right before the hockey game started, I was walking down the aisle by arena, and Jamie’s team came out of the locker room and waited for the Zamboni to finish.  I heard one of the players say, “Oh, there she is!” as he looked at me, and then a few of them called out, “Hi, Mrs. Hawkins!”  It looks like they’re starting to notice whether or not I’m there—with my camera, of course. 😉

The boys put forth a good effort for that game, but it didn’t quite turn out the way we hoped. They tied 1-1. I did enjoy a second day of using the 2.8 lens for the game. I was up to about 1500 pictures just for the day. And I still had one more sporting event to go!

The final game of the day was the “championship” football game for the Monroe Catholic league. As mentioned before, it was basically just a game for bragging rights among the two teams in the county, but it was a pretty big deal to a lot of people. I personally felt like we’ed already won our “championship” that morning, having beaten a team two levels above us, but Jamie and pretty much all of the boys were anxious to beat their crosstown rivals. I was a little concerned, because that team was a division lower than us, and had not done as well in their division as we did. I don’t like giving a “beat down” anymore that I like receiving one, so I was just hopeful that it would be a good game, and that our boys would be respectful.

When we arrived at the field, it was drizzling a little bit, on and off. We all talked about the rain that was supposed to be coming, and hoped that it would hold off. The game started about 6:30, and that was a bit challenging for me. Even with the high-powered lens, lighting was an issue, since it was late and cloudy. I just went ahead and set it on sports mode, figuring that would be easiest. I was thrilled to be able to shoot from the sideline, since the coach was more than happy to let me be on the field for the entire game. 🙂

The game started, and, as I suspected, our boys were able to stop the other team on their first possession. I had to laugh when the other team punted the ball, because for some reason that I still don’t understand, our players were supposed to not touch the ball before it stopped, and the way the coaches made sure all the players knew not to touch it was to scream out “Poison! Poison!” as loud as they could and as many times as they could until the ball stopped.

 

 

From my vantage point, it was pretty funny. 😉 But it worked!

At that point, our boys went down the field and scored a touchdown.

 

Unfortunately, they were unable to score the extra point.

 

You can see that it’s starting to rain harder at this point, and I don’t doubt that had a factor in it.

The other team got the ball, and began to drive down the field as the rain continued to come down harder.

 

 

And then, as the other team was making their way closer to our goal line, the skies opened up.

 

 

 

At this point, I put away the big lens, because I couldn’t take the chance that it would get damaged, and pulled out my 18-135 MM.

 

 

It got so bad, I finally just gave up and went to stand underneath the overhang of the concession stand and waited for the rain to stop. When I finally got back out on the field, our boys were able to stop them from scoring, and possession turned over to us.

 

 

Unfortunately, the boys fumbled it twice on that possession during the snap due to the terrible conditions.

 

 

We were unable to score on that drive, and the other team got possession again. On that possession, the other team scored a touchdown, and they got the extra point. So now we were about midway through the second quarter, and we were down 7-6. :/

By this time, it was fully dark, and I was really struggling with the lighting in settings on the camera, even with the high-powered lens.

 

 

I did ok if they weren’t moving, though. 😉

 

 

The game was a real battle at this point. Both teams’ offenses struggled. They were soaked and tired, and slipping and sliding in the mud with every play.

 

 

The fourth quarter started, and our boys were still down by 1.

 

 

Things weren’t looking good, but we still had a full quarter to go, and we had the ball.

 

 

The boys kept working, and a few first downs later, a running play…

 

He breaks one tackle but can’t break the other.

But it’s first and goal from the 2.

 

Another running play and…

 

 

Second and one.

Another running play…

 

And…

Touchdown!! Now we’re up by 5. Can we get the extra point?

Almost…gotta go for the extra push…

And he’s in!! Score is now 13-7! We just have to hold them off for four more minutes. Both teams were fighting for every yard…

By this time, I’d given up on the automatic setting and had switched to my old hockey standby, shutter priority mode. It seems like sports mode was trying to slow down the speed to allow more light in, but that was making things blurry. I set my speed to 1/200 and ratcheted the ISO up to 3200, and that allowed the camera to pick the best aperture. Since it could go as low as 2.8, it provided a good balance of light and clarity (not ESPN quality, but good enough), so I left it like that until the end of the game.

 

With the clock winding down, the other team turned it over on downs. We got the ball back, still about 2 minutes left, but the other team had all their time outs. We just had to focus on getting the first down.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t. 🙁 It was fourth down and time to punt.

Their receiver catches it near the 30, but we bring him down.

They throw a pass…

And it’s caught. First and goal at the 5.

And…

They’re in for the touchdown. It’s tied at 13. Can we stop them from scoring the extra point?

No, we can’t.

Now, it’s crunch time.

We’re down by a point, with three time outs and 33 seconds.

And there are no field goals in middle school football. :/

We get the first down and then another.

We use our last timeout, and there’s six seconds left on the clock. It’s most likely the final play of the game.

The ball is snapped and given to a our running back.

He takes every twist and turn he can.

He gets blocked by a defender…

And does everything he can to get around him…

 

 

But he just could not.

 

I didn’t take any further pictures at that point, but I watched that player lay on the ground with his arms covering his head for almost a full minute. I don’t doubt that his tears were mixing with the rainwater on the muddy turf. The remaining players on our team looked devastated. More than a few of those tough little 12- and 13-year-old boys had tears streaming down their faces as they walked dejectedly off the field. It was heartbreaking.

Meanwhile, the players from the other team cheered their unlikely victory, the underdogs overcoming the heavily favored “golden boys.” Their elation was uncontainable. As it should be, I suppose.  It was a huge win for them.

Our coaches did their best to hide it, but it was clear that they were as devastated as the boys. It was the second year in a row that our team had won the division, only to lose to that same team in the championship. As I’ve said, this is a long-standing rivalry, the country kids against the city boys, as it were, and it was undoubtedly a bitter pill to swallow a second time.

They did what coaches are supposed to do, though: they rounded the boys up, congratulated them on their incredible effort, and then herded them to the middle of the field for trophy and medal presentations. Each player got a participation medal, and I took some pictures then. I was stunned later when I looked at the picture of Jamie going up for his medal.

 

 

He looks so grown up! He was working so hard to hold it together for the ceremony, and with his jaw set so firmly and his gaze so serious, I would swear I’m looking at a high school version of my son. 😮

After the ceremony, the coaches took the boys off to the side to do a full post-game talk. By then, many players were openly crying. The head coach, who isn’t that old (he’s younger than me!) commanded their attention and then spoke in solemn tones.

“Yes, we lost. Am I disappointed? Yes. You boys worked your butts off all year, you worked your butts off tonight, and you deserved to win this game. But you know what? It’s JUST a game. Just one game. You still had a great season. Last week, you beat an A-Division team. This morning, you went to Ford Field and won. Don’t let one tough loss determine how you view yourselves. You had a great season, and you should be proud.”

I was really impressed, not just with what he said, but how he said it. All season long, he’d been a pretty laid-back coach, and I kind of thought he got off a little easy…it’s pretty easy to coach a team that wins. 😉 But that night, he really showed his true coaching abilities, and proved why he has held the job for 20 years, even as young as he is.

When the coach was done, there was one last huddle:

 

–

 

There wasn’t quite as much enthusiasm in the final rallying cry, but they did it. Afterward, I found Jamie, and to my shock, as soon as he saw me, he burst into tears. 🙁 I pulled him close and let him cry on my shoulder for a few minutes. I tried to console him, but he was pretty dejected, so I just let him be as we walked to the car.

Back at home, he took a shower before we headed to the annual post-championship barbecue at the coach’s house. I mentioned to my husband that I was shocked at how upset Jamie was. He’s not usually my emotional kid. Jason pointed out to me that I’d never played a team sport, so it was hard for me to understand. He explained to me that those boys probably would have cried even if they’d won. Most of them had played under that coaching staff for 5 years, and that was their last game under them. It wasn’t just a loss, but the end of an era for them. It made more sense when he put it that way.

Later, though, at the bonfire, the boys seemed to perk up. They seemed to enjoy rehashing moments of the game, and trash-talking the other team. Which is kind of funny, in a way. You see, there’s only one Catholic high school in our county, and so most of the 8^th graders from both teams will be playing on the same team next year. 😉 (A team that, by the way, won the state championship last year. Told you they take football seriously in my county.)

We stayed too late at the bonfire, but Jamie and I still managed to get up on time to make it to Ann Arbor for hockey. We played at Yost Arena, home to U-M hockey, and that was a neat experience. I was so glad I had my awesome rented lens!

 

 

I know this post was long and drawn out, but it’s my blog and I can write what I want. 😉 Truthfully, I wrote this novel more for Jamie than for you OR me. Someday, he’ll want to remember this amazing weekend (the good, the bad, and the miserable), and I truly believe that one day, he will appreciate being able to relive it in detail through my words.

I also felt it was important to tell the whole story. The reality is, I think most if not all of us (parents, coaches, and players) thought that Jamie’s team was truly a “Cinderella story,” the small-town school that defies the odds and beats them all.  But, obviously, that team was not invincible, and maybe they (we) were all just a little too self-assured. It was not the ending any of us expected, but you know what they say about all good things and endings. And the bottom line is that the coach was exactly right—it was just a game.  Each of these boys has lots more “big games” in his future, and I know that someday, they’ll look back on this year with fondness, the bittersweet taste of that final loss nothing but a dim ember in the fire of an amazing season.

As for me, I was just thrilled to be there to capture it all, and I was so glad I spent $108 to rent that lens.  It was hard to give it back on Monday! 😉  But the ironic thing is that, of all the pictures I took all season, including the 2000 I took between those two football games, the one that I’ve received the most comments and compliments on was not only not taken with the “super lens,” it wasn’t even taken with my DSLR at all.

No, the picture that has garnered the most buzz among the families, the one they’re all telling me to frame and put in the school auction next year, is one I took with my iPhone on Thursday night at practice.  The coach took a long time with the post-practice talk, because he had to hand out passes for the Ford Field game and give everyone instructions.  By the time he was done, the sun was well below the horizon and we could barely see, but the boys still did one last rally cry.

At that moment, they had no idea what Saturday would bring, or how their season would end, but what they did know was that it was the last practice on that field, before it gets razed to make way for the new school addition.  It was the final practice on that field where they had so many great memories.

As they all came together, I heard one of the captains say, “Helmets up!” and then…

“Who are we?”

“Centaurs!”

“Who are we?”

“Centaurs!”

“All the eighth graders, count it out, and then everyone join in…”

“One…two…three…”

“CENTAURS!”