Well, a day late, but better late than never! 3 of the athletes from our football team signed college scholarship papers yesterday. Our QB is going to Texas Tech, one of our wide receivers is going to Rice, and another guy (I'm forgetting his position at the moment) is going to North Texas. Congrats to them all! It's exciting to have 3 players signed in one year.
I've always loved sports for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would get to stay up late to watch games with my dad. KU basketball of course! I also remember being an avid Oilers fan back when they were in Houston, and completely infatuated with Rockets during their championship years. There's just something about sports that I love.
I think one of the main reasons that I love sports is that they teach a lot about life. You've heard the saying, "Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten". Well, everything I need to know, I learned while playing team sports. I learned perseverance, the value of hard work (and also that sometimes hard work isn't enough), how to motivate others and what motivates me, interpersonal skills, sportsmanship, how good it feels to win and how bad it feels to lose. I also learned that even when you are one of the best, most sought after players in the state, sometimes you run across someone who is better. I thought about this lesson a lot today at our state semifinal loss against Lake Travis High School. That is a tough one to learn, especially when you are accustomed to success. But it stays with you throughout life and reminds you to be humble in your successes and gracious in your failures.
Hats off to Lake Travis and Garrett Gilbert. They were simply the better team. We could have fumbled less, made a few more tackles, or thrown fewer interceptions...but honestly at the end of the day, they were just better. Give credit where credit is due. Congratulations to them, and best of luck next week in the state championship game. They truly deserve to be the ones going.
As for our team - there is absolutely no shame in losing to Lake Travis. No one else has beat them this year (or last year for that matter). We had an amazing run, and it was so much fun to be along for the ride. I always get a little bit sad at the end of a season. Not because of the game or a loss, but because of the relationships. It's hard to say goodbye to the seniors each year, knowing how much their lives are about to change. Jamie gets quite attached to them, of course, and I really grow to know them through his stories and watching them play. I also think it brings back memories of my own senior year and saying goodbye to my high school career.
For me, the transition from high school to college was the hardest transition of my life thus far. Harder than the transition into motherhood and the transition of divorce. I know that sounds crazy, but I truly feel that way. There was something very traumatic about leaving my home and the friends I'd known since 3rd grade and moving away to a new town to start all over as an adult. I remember standing in my room the night before I left for college and thinking to myself that things would never be the same again - and they weren't. We think when we bid farewell to high school that we will keep in touch with all our friends - that we will still see each other and be a big part of one another's lives. And we do for a little while. But time passes and people move in different directions...and we lose touch.
I watched as the kids patted one another on the backs on the sidelines and gave hugs. Some of these friendships are years in the making, and the bond between teammates is strong. Think of all they have shared with one another. I know they are thinking their friendships will endure the trip to college. Some of them will, but the reality is that most of them will not. It's hard to imagine everyone scattering to the wind, but I know in just a few short months, that is what will happen. It's not a bad thing, necessarily. Still it does make me a little sad.
Of course there is always a silver lining. We won't be playing for a state championship this year, but we far exceeded expectations by being one of the 4 best teams in the huge state of Texas. Our quarterback will play next year for Texas Tech, and a few other seniors may get offers to play in college as well. It will be a blast to watch Tech on television in the next few years to come. And Jamie and I will get our lives back! Well, at least for about the next 6 weeks until baseball starts again. We haven't had a full weekend together as a family since late July, so it is long overdue. I know Jamie is exhausted and can really use the break. I had a quiet moment in the stands tonight during the 4th quarter when it was incredibly apparent that we would not win. I just felt so thankful and blessed. I'm so thankful to be healthy & to have found a man like Jamie to share my life. I wish things could have been different today, but I cannot spend much time feeling bad about how it turned out. We are just too fortunate to be overly upset about a football game.
Congratulations to the 2008 Friendswood Mustangs on a season that has been unmatched since 1973!!!! What memories we will have of this wonderful year...just another reason to be thankful. :)
Jamie hasn't slept much this week in anticipation of tomorrow's state semifinal against Austin Lake Travis. They are a formidable opponent thanks to their quarterback who is a top recruit in the nation and will be attending the University of Texas next year. But don't rule us out! We also have a great quarterback and the will to win. The Chronicle ran a good article today discussing the highly anticipated game.
QB duel adds fuel to the fire
Some cool news videos on our team:
One Win Away
Friendswood vs Beaumont Central
Friendswood vs Magnolia
Friendswood vs Westbury
Friendswood vs Lamar Consolidated
Story on Kevin Thornton (Kevin is Jamie's favorite athlete at FHS)
We pulled off an amazing win tonight over Beaumont Central High School to advance to the state semifinals! It was very close, with a final score of 20-19, and very exciting to be the team that came out on top! It was also very cold.
We will be heading to College Station next Saturday to play at Kyle Field (the home of the Texas A&M Aggies). This is all pretty surreal to me, and it must be to Jamie as well. We were just state semifinalists in baseball about six months ago, and here we are again. We really just have to pause and recognize how huge that is, and how many coaches dream of going this far and never get the opportunity in their entire career. And here we are doing it twice in one calendar year. Amazing. Jamie is so fortunate to be in this position.
Our opponent next week, Lake Travis, is VERY tough. We heard on the sidelines tonight that they defeated Killeen earlier today by some outrageous score of 70-something to 9. Yikes. It will be tough, but we can do it!
I was thinking back today on the rocky start to the season with Hurricane Ike and the cancellation of almost our entire pre-district season. It's amazing that it began that way and has taken us this far. Here is the playoff bracket so you can actually see just how far we've come.
Today's game was great - then again, anytime we win it is great! But how exciting to be 3 games away from a state championship. Wow. It's hard to believe. First baseball and now football. 2 trips deep into the playoffs within a 6-month period. We are exhausted, but in a good way. I say "we", but really Jamie is the one working 7 days a week. Elise and I are just along for the ride. Hopefully we can play for 3 more weeks, and then enjoy a much needed break for a few weeks before baseball gears up again.
We will face Beaumont Central next Saturday evening in the Woodlands for the Regional Finals.
With an exciting win yesterday, the Mustangs advance to the Area Finals! We will be playing Magnolia next Saturday at 1:00 at Aldine. Ironically, one of my friends called today to confirm that Jamie coaches at Friendswood - her brother-in-law is coaching at Magnolia! I was joking with her and told her that we would have to be enemies for the next week or so. :) As promised, here are pictures from the game:
I've been so wrapped up in other things (ummm...lusting over Edward Cullen), that I haven't given proper football updates in a while!
We had a great first round playoff win against Lamar Consolidated - the 2007 Texas 4A State Champions. It was a close game and very exciting. It was also Jamie's first ever football playoff win.
We will be playing Westbury in the area finals tomorrow afternoon. I forgot my camera last week (I am so mad at myself for that!), but I am going to be sure to remember it tomorrow. I should have pictures to share on Sunday.
Okay, forcing myself to update!
We made the playoffs! So far our only loss this year has been to Angelton, and I believe we ended up being district co-champs. I need to check with Jamie to be sure, but I think that is correct.
We are playing Lamar Consolidated this evening in the bi-district playoff. This is a tough challenge, since LC is the current defending state champion. Jamie said they've had great practices all week, so hopefully we are up for the challenge! The whole family will be there tonight to cheer them on - in-laws included. :)
I will update on Grandma's visit once I get the pictures from mom. By the way, mom, I need the pictures!
After trick-or-treating last night we headed to the football game to see the Mustangs beat the Brazosport Exporters. With our playoff spot now secure, it's nice to go into the last game of the season without much pressure.
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With our win against Manvel last night, we have secured a spot in the playoffs! Congrats to my love and the Mustangs.
The Mustangs are now 4-1 overall (3-1 in district play). We had a tough loss to Angelton 2 weeks ago, but came back last week to defeat Santa Fe and this week to defeat Pearland Dawson High School. We need one more win to clinch a playoff spot. Next week we play at Manvel High School, so hopefully we can lock up the playoff spot there!
The Mustangs defeated Texas City last night in a very exciting game with the final score of 27-22. This makes the 2nd time in a row this year that Friendswood has beat the #1 team in the area. What a great way to begin district play. We will see Angelton next Saturday to hopefully continue the success.
Jamie wasn't in any of the pictures this time. However, he did stack these footballs during warm-up. :)
Some other cool shots:
Finally! It seems like the team has been practicing for days on end, so it was great to see them playing on Friday night. The Mustangs defeated Dayton, who before the game were ranked 4th in the state. It was a fantastic win for us.
Last night we joined my parents for a rare adult dinner at Gaidos. We had a great evening and really enjoyed it.
Today Jamie and I will be traveling to Beaumont to attend a wake for my college roomate's dad. I'm so saddened by his passing. I have such fond memories of going home with my friend for the weekend during college. He was a wonderful man. I'm nervous about the wake, because I don't deal well with death, but it will be so good to see my friend and her family. It's been a long time, and I really miss her friendship since we've grown apart. I will get to meet her son for the first time today (assuming that she brings him). I think he's around 6 months old, and I can't wait to see him in person. We will be leaving Elise with my parents, because I am not sure if there will be an open casket, and I think it would scare her if there is. I am not ready to attempt an explanation about death just yet, but this event has really made me begin to think about how I am going to do that with her in the future.
Jamie has never met the family, and he's having to leave work early today to go with me. I was telling him last night how much I appreciate him coming along, because I know it makes him a bit uncomfortable to be thrown into that type of situation (trying to express condolences to people you have never met). He said, "That is what partners do for each other." I thought it was so sweet. It means a lot to me. I really didn't want to go alone.
While we are in Beaumont, we are going to drive over to Candace & Jeremy's house (in a nearby small town) for a quick visit. As luck would have it, they are having Reese's birthday party today, so we will be able to stop by and wish her a happy 3rd birthday. I wish Elise could come - she still talks about Reese a lot since our vacation together this summer. We will have to try to get together again another time.
I am currently drowning in laundry and lacking in motivation to do anything about it. In an effort to further procrastinate, I am going to go pull some pictures from last night's game and post them.
Tomorrow is the official beginning of 2-a-day workouts. It's that time of year again already! I'm actually really excited. I love football, and I also love the fact that fall is around the corner. It will still be really warm here for the next 2 months or so, but at least now there is an end in sight. Fall is my favorite time of year, so I am feeling energized as it nears. I'm already on the look-out for fall and winter clothing for Elise. She's outgrown every single thing she wore last year.
Another nice thing about football season is that we get into a really good routine around here. Jamie has scheduled work hours on Saturday and Sunday of each week. I know that sounds like it would be a bad thing, but once we get acclimated, it works out really well. I'm a big creature of habit and a planner, so I really like the predictability of football season.
Jamie takes really good care of us all summer by taking over most of the household cleaning, grocery shopping, and chores, so I enjoy returning the favor during football season. It's something that I love about our marriage - we are each there to pick up the slack when the other gets swamped. Elise and I get into the routine of doing grocery shopping on Saturday mornings and laundry and cooking on Sunday afternoons. This is the time of year when I am the most domestic. I'm not much of a cook normally. It's not because I don't want to cook - I just don't have the time. We tend to plan activities outside of the house during the weekends of the off-season, and we just aren't around enough for me to be in the kitchen preparing meals. It's kind of nice to switch gears and become more of a homebody.
We will not have any major weekend plans from now until mid-November other than our annual trip to Dewberry Farm & my 30th birthday celebration. I guess that means my blog might get a bit boring unless you are interested in football updates or new recipes.
I added some links over on the right hand side of the page. There is a slide show from this weekend (a lot of cool action shots) on the Houston 5A Baseball website that is worth checking out. I also put up links to the baseball & football sites for FHS. The schedules, pics, and other info can be found on those sites. I will probably add more favorite sites over time as I find good ones.
Our season officially ended last night with a 20-21 loss to Texas City. The coaches made the decision at the end of the game to go for a win by trying for a 2-point conversion, and we were not successful. They had nothing to lose, and I think going for it was a fitting way to end the year for the Mustangs.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to be at the game last night, but Jamie said the kids played very hard. I am a bit sad to see the season come to an end. I'm going to miss it. It will be nice to reclaim our weekends, though.
Farewell to our 43 seniors...we will miss you! Thanks for a great year. It's funny how you become attached to watching certain kids play. This is Jamie's first full class at Friendswood to graduate, so I know he had a special attachment to them as well.
Congratulations to Will Ebner, Cameron Kaufhold, and Blake Sargent who have signed with UH and will play for the Cougars next year.
I am disappointed to say that our football team will not be going to the playoffs this year. We got quite a shocker on Friday when Dickinson beat La Marque. There had been some controversy going on earlier last week surrounding an "ineligible" player that Dickinson had utilized in every single game of the season. Teams are not permitted to play kids that are participating in more than one athletic class per semester. Dickinson's kicker (who is also a soccer player) has been enrolled in a football class as well as a soccer class for the entire school year so far. This all came to light early last week, and Dickinson turned themselves in to UIL. The district held a meeting on Friday and voted unanimously to sanction Dicksinson with a public reprimand and one-year probation and NOT force them to forfeit all of the games played by the "ineligible" player.
You notice that I have ineligible in quotes above. Apparently UIL has determined that although it is a violation to play a kid who is enrolled in more than one athletic class, it is not an issue that would render that player ineligible. That really surprises me, because if the kid is not ineligible, then what is he??? This was our argument; however, we were unsuccessful in proving our case.
Apparently Dickinson was so energized over this ruling on Friday morning that they went out Friday night and used that momentum to their advantage and were able to defeat La Marque very soundly. I believe they won by more than 20 points...really shocking.
That sealed our fate. There is no combination of wins and losses that could occur next Friday that would get us into the playoffs. Our team will be playing for pride alone next Friday in Texas City. Jamie is very disappointed, and I am also. It is not very often that a team has a record of 8-2 (assuming we are able to win next week) and does not make the playoffs. I am really sorry to see it happen to our team this year.
Jamie is at the school right now planning practices for next week. To look on the bright side, this will be the last working weekend of the year (with the exception of 3 baseball tournaments in the spring). It will be really nice to have Jamie home more often, especially around the holidays. I know that he's tired and will enjoy the break. We will have an adjustment period, though. I'm sure everyone can relate...when you've been so busy for so long and gotten into a steady routine - all of a sudden when it's over it is hard to figure out what to do with all the extra time for a while. I used to go through this same "let down" at the end of each volleyball season, so I really can understand Jamie and how he feels. That is part of what makes us such a great match - we've lived such similar lives in a lot of ways. We understand one another without explanations. I know it will feel strange to me to have Friday nights free again. I will miss the games, because I really do love our football Friday nights.
Now we look to baseball season which will begin at the end of January.
Jamie will begin his accelerated master's degree program in about 2 weeks. I have a feeling that will keep him busy in the absence of a sport in season.
I also have to get in one quick plug for my alma mater's volleyball team. I went to see their playoff match last Friday night vs. Dickinson where the Mustangs were victorious and advanced to the next round. I love watching my old team play. They make me very proud, because they are just great and incredibly talented. I hope to catch a few more games and maybe even make a trip to the state tournament to cheer them on! Go Lady Mustangs!!
My post about tonight's game is going to be pretty short and sweet. I confess that I didn't pay very close attention to the game and spent most of my time chatting with friends and neighbors instead! The score got out of hand quickly and I lost interest. SORRY HONEY! Love you!
It was perfect football weather and I was surrounded by a lot of good friends. It's been so fun going to games at home, because I almost always run into at least one person that I haven't seen in years.
Jennifer, I saw your mom and Nicole! That was a really nice surprise! I was telling your mom how we've been keeping in touch through our blogs. We had a patriotic halftime show and it was great. You would have LOVED it.
Friendswood Mustangs 41, Angleton Wildcats 13
