Redlights and Redeyes

I never want the local teams to lose.  It’s part of covering these kids for so long.  You become attached.  You start to hope.  You cheer on the inside.  Then they knock off THE #1 team in the country and are sent to a championship game they were never supposed to be at in the first place.  Then they lose.

By literally an inch.  Or two.

I was sent up to the Citrus Bowl on Friday night to cover Manatee High School take on Tampa-Plant in the FHSAA 5A Championship game.  The game was strange to say the least.  Tampa-Plant scored all their 24 points in the first half, and Manatee scored all of their in the second half (ended 21-14).  Nearing the end of the game, I was beginning to stress I didn’t have anything of Manatee doing well and winning, because Manatee put on a show and nearly came back in the final minutes – short just a few inches on a 4th down spot.

Needless to say, we drew the short straw of having to shove cameras in their faces as they broke down.  It’s always easier in the pros, those guys are used to losing.  Losing doesn’t mean much when you still get paid millions to play.  These guys play for glory the rest of the school year.  For each other.  For fun.

These were my favorites from the night – especially the first frame – only because I had never seen this kind of moment between two players who had battled all night.  Ace Sanders, the star wide receiver on the team who had a few chances to make a huge play to win it was walking off the field in tears when safety Eric Dungy, son of famed NFL head coach Tony Dungy, came over to console the guy he’s assigned to beat all night.

This wasn’t a requisite, half-assed hug at midfield.  This was an embrace and a player feeling truly bad for another.  Made me smile.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 8:45 pm and is filed under photos, sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.