Road Game

So I was feeling I hadn't had enough road time lately (sarcasm). We decided to ride along with the McKimsters to the Creston High School (5-1) football game vs #5 ranked Carroll HS (6-0). It's close to a 2 hour drive. McKims are always fun to chat with, and we weren't doing anything on this Friday night anyways.

Pablo and I hadn't been to an out of town Creston sports game since, well, our baby boy Juddy graduated. But now Ryan McKim (Don and Diana's son - Amy's age) is an assistant coach on the football team, and the team is doing well. We may not have as much "skin in the game" as when our son played, but we're fans.

It was a bit breezy and unseasonably warm for an October game. McKim family members were in attendance - Grandpa Jim Brown - Dee's dad, along with her sis Barb. Their daughter Katie was there with Ryan's GF Megan.

Carroll has a nice older football field that they share with Carroll Kuemper, the Catholic school in town. The game was exciting, back and forth. The Carroll Tigers had a great quarterback and drew first blood marching down the field on drive 1 and scoring. Creston answered quickly. Our QB - neighbor kid, Luke Neitzel, who had a crush on Amy and Stormy when he was around 8 years old, is pretty darn good himself. He threw a TD pass, had an INT on defense and had a break away TD in the second half to put Creston up.

Creston was driving to go up 10 points late - when there was a fumbled snap that Carroll recovered. Oh NO! Their QB could march right down the field, or so I thought. Carroll completed one long acrobatic pass. Less than 2 minutes left. The next pass was in the flat on our side of the field. Ben Landers - son of Mick, the guy that used to work with me when I collected household hazardous waste for my old job, whipped in front of the receiver, grabbed the ball, and ran for our end zone - PICK 6! (as a side-note - Mick now dates my friend Linda Kilgore - small towns, gotta love 'em).

With a few more end-of-game dramatics, the game was over. Team handshakes and that was it. The end of a great to watch HS football game, no matter who you are (but especially for Creston fans...) Our team gathered in the center of the field and took a knee to listen to Head Coach Morrison as Carroll players and fans quickly left. After he said a few words they jumped up and cheered as the students lined up in a gauntlet to congratulate them on their victory over a ranked team, to take over the top spot in Division 1 in 3A. Parents and fans stood around beaming, and moved in to congratulate parents and then players as they left the field. Everyone was united by community pride. I could hear the players in the team bus chanting Morrison, Morrison! It's a good sign, when the players like their coach.

We stopped at a restaurant in Carroll for a bite to eat with Diana's Dad and sis before heading back. Don got chicken gizzards - which always reminds me of Dad. This day was Diana's dad's birthday - he's 84, born in 1927. Dad left us too soon.

It was a late night, but well worth it. I'm glad we went. Go Panthers!