Yippy! High school football!

  • Jennifer Buchanan/Staff Photographer
  • Tuesday, September 4, 2007 8:15pm
  • Sports

So it’s that magical, wonderful time of the year again when high school football begins and my knees begin to ache from all the games I shoot every week. The weather gets colder, the sun goes down earlier and people from near and far are drawn to green fields.

Call me old fashioned, but I think every high school football game needs at least one band to play the National Anthem and generally pump up the crowd with fight songs. For instance, at the very first game of this season for myself and writer Mike Cane was Snohomish vs. Cascade at Everett Memorial Stadium and there was no band within listening distance. It was a real shame to have to struggle through the first half of the National Anthem as it was feebly piped through the stadium PA. And even more sad was the tinny rendition of what I can only assume was the Cascade fight song.

I can understand that with neither school in session yet, practiced musicians can be hard to find. But give a kid a drum, hand a cheerleader a tambourine, and, wow, a rhythm section is born. Let’s hope for a drumline or a tuba this Friday night.

High school football is one of those sports where literally every second counts. Every play matters, every player has his place, and more likely than not, his place is on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. So when a player gets hurt or goes out with cramps, it can quickly affect the whole team. Cascade’s Jelani Jones came limping to the sidelines with a grimace that can only mean cramps galore.

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