All is not well in the world of Webster football. After producing a Section V champion each of the last seven years (I think it's seven), the town of Webster has got to be getting restless, because both teams, Webster Schroeder and Webster Thomas, have so far fallen short of the massive expectations placed on both of them.
Thomas — which made it to the state title game last year — has now lost two in a row after blowing an 11-point halftime lead and losing to Hilton tonight. The Titans started off 3-0 and climbed high in the state Class AA poll, but now they have to be wondering what the heck has gone so wrong the last couple weeks. To make matters worse, Thomas now has to play Churchville-Chili and the virtually unstoppable Averin Collier — who singlehandedly beat Schroeder earlier this season — next weekend with a playoff berth perhaps on the line.
Schroeder, meanwhile, started 0-4 (I'm not sure how they did tonight), which has got to be calamitous for a program that won a state title as recently as 2002. This is a program that forced out its previous coach after the team went 7-2 and made it to the Section V title game.
I can't imagine the enormous pressure these kids are feeling. They've played their hearts out all season, but it hasn't been enough. I'm sure the notoriously impatient booster clubs of both schools are starting to grumble, especially at Schroeder, which is totally unfair to the players.
I made it to tonight's Thomas-HIlton game (I covered it for the Webster Herald), and the entire evening turned out to be quite an event. First off, I didn't realize how frickin' far out in the boonies Hilton is. It took me an hour to drive from my apartment in Ontario (just east of Webster) to Hilton High School. That included about 15 minutes of bumper-to-bumper on 390.
As I'm driving into Hilton, pretty much every yard has a Republican campaign sign stuck in it. I was actually somewhat worried, because I know hard-core Republicans can smell liberals like me and might very well feel motivated to slash my tires.
I finally got to the massive metropolis of Hilton, but I had terrible timing — the main street was blocked off because of the homecoming parade, and I got redirected by a local cop (and we all know my feelings toward law enforcement officials on a powertrip). At this point I'm starting to go bananas. I get directions for an alternate route at the local Family Dollar, and I'm back driving in the boonies to get to the school.
I at last made it to the school; by this time the temperature is probably in the low 50s, which means that around the middle of the third quarter my fingers would be frozen still and absolutely incapable of writing anything.
As I walk onto the field, there's all kinds of inane homecoming crap going on. So I mill around until kickoff with my writing hand shoved into my pocket to keep it warm.
Things got even more heart-warming at the coin toss, which was performed by GOP state Sen. Joe Robach, a tool if there ever was one. He gave a nice little speech about being grateful to be a part of Hilton's homecoming. In other words, it was a dandy campaign stop for him.
So the game gets underway, and I noticed three things: one, the field is in lousy shape; two, every single Hilton player is whiter than George Hamilton's teeth (the entire time I was there, the only minorities I saw were Thomas players, which probably explains all the GOP campaign signs); and three, the Hilton PA announcer was the most obnoxious homer I've ever heard call a game. There were a few times when I'm pretty sure the guy wet himself in excitement.
Thomas led 17-6 at the half, but there were ominous signs for Thomas, or rather one big ominous sign: the Titans couldn't run the ball to save their lives. All of their offense had come via quarterback Robbie Brown's arm.
All Hilton had to do in the second half was disrupt the Thomas passing game, and that's what the Cadets did. They constantly pressured Brown and threw him off his game, and, with the Titan running game still at a standstill, the outcome at that point seemed preordained.
Thomas managed a few good drives but couldn't put the ball in the end zone. Meanwhile, Hilton scores a couple touchdowns and continues clamping down on the Thomas passing game. Game over: 20-17, Hilton wins.
Actually, the Cadets had just spanked Webster Schroeder the week before, so Hilton — usually a perennial doormat — suddenly seemed like a juggernaut and giant-killer.
At this point the Hilton fans are going crazy, and the PA system is playing frickin' KC and the Sunshine Band, which was starting to make my eyes twitch. I then spend 20 minutes wandering around the parking lot trying to find my truck.
Overall, a very interesting night. By the time I got back to Webster I could have been in a completely poopy mood. But I wasn't. Because even though Thomas lost, and even though I had to deal with long drives and cops and rinky-dink homecoming parades and frozen fingers and over-the-top PA announcers and — worst of all — disco music, I had fun tonight. The entire time I was at the game the smell of mud and grass and sweat — the smell of football, the smell of autumn — wafted through my senses. There's really no other smell like that on earth, and there are few, if any, that wonderful.
I just hope the kids on both Webster teams don't get too down on themselves because, like I said, they've all played their hearts out in the face of perhaps unreasonable expectations. Sometimes things just don't work out.
