High School Football: Not Just a Game

I heard somebody make the comment in the last couple days about how “it’s just a high school football game.” Our season came to a close on Saturday in Houston in the 1^st round of the playoffs. For 26 senior football players, they walked off the field for the last time as a high school football player. But this game isn’t just about those 26 players or the 50+ players who put on the uniform Saturday afternoon. A football game takes on a life of its own and it has a community that goes along with it. For a Bishop Lynch football game, we have to remember to include the student managers, the student broadcast team, the Brigade, the cheerleaders, and the marching band. It’s not just about the players, but all of the different students involved!

As the time ticked away and the game was out of hand, I stood on the sideline and began to look around. You see the players on the field who know that time is coming fast. Then I look up into the stands and you see the girls in the Brigade and the members of the marching band who continue to sing and dance and have a good time. And you realize that these kids are simply doing something they love to do. The score may be out of hand on the field, but that’s not going to stop those kids in the stands from having fun. I mean, why else are they there? Just like the players, it’s about making memories. And I’m sure if you asked those kids, some of their best memories from high school are up there in the stands!

At the end of the game, the Brigade and the cheerleaders joined the players on the field for the playing of the School Song and the Fight Song. Then Coach Dasch had the difficult task of addressing the team and the spirit squads for one last time as a community on the football field. For 11 weeks, all of those kids sure made a school proud. The school spirit and the competitive fight they displayed on the field. These individuals truly are the “front porch” of the school. Every last one of them. Because they wear that Friar logo or the BL Shield, they are a shining example of the community we all are #BLessed to be a part of.

But then the time had come and it was time for those kids to walk off the field. Many families had come down onto the field and lots of pictures were taken. But eventually those players had to make that long trek back to the locker room. From personal experience as a former player myself, I can tell you that the players don’t want to walk off the field that day.

Such a hard day, but just as any other day, I get to say that I work at Bishop Lynch High School and I get to help athletes do the things they love. It makes me so proud to look around on a Saturday afternoon in November and watch these kids making their own memories. High School Football isn’t just about the football game. It’s about the community. It’s about the friendships. It’s about school spirit. And it’s about memories.