Posted on 12/04/2004 5:49:45 PM PST by Richard Kimball
The Crawford Pirates (President Bush's) hometown team are still on a rampage in the Class 2A high school playoffs. This week, we played the Celina Bobcats. Most people figured we were dead meat. Celina has been the class of 2A for years. They had not lost a 2A game since October 16, 1998. Their record during this streak is recorded here, http://www.texashsfootball.com/news/perspectives/celina2a70.htm.
On top of this, Celina spent the last two years in 3A, which is for schools above 400 students. Crawford is one of the smallest 2A schools in the state, with 192 students, five students above being a 1A school.
Crawford had spent the week hearing about how Celina was going to kill them. Lee Murphy, the Crawford QB, was supposed to be another victim of Celina's 10-1 special defense, which was designed to shoot gaps and bury the opposition before their plays even got started. We weren't supposed to be able to run on them. Our only hope was supposed to be that they would mercifully put in their second teamers so the score would look respectable. Then the game started.
Coach Robert Murphy, father of quarterback Lee, had put in a three step drop pass offense, and son Lee spread passes to Adam Murphy, Jad Tawater, Todd Westerfield, Derek Dumas and B. J. Christian. Celina was surprised when they were stopped on their first drive, and were completely shocked when Crawford scored on their first three possessions to take a 21-7 lead.
Just before half time, with Crawford nursing a 35-14 lead, Celina drove the length of the field, and looked like they would pull to within two touchdowns. Crawford intercepted a pass in the end zone to kill the threat, and send a very bewildered Celina team into the locker room.
Crawford took the opening kickoff of the second half and added another score to make it 42-14. Celina scored on the next series, but it was a time-consuming drive that killed most of the third quarter. They also missed the extra point, which left the score at 42-20. On the next series, Crawford attempted a 42 yard field goal, but it was blocked and Celina returned it for a touch down. They went for two, and were stopped. The score stood at 42-26 with 11:43 left in the game. After that, Murphy went to a ground game, and Crawford started trying to run out the clock. On one of the runs, B. J. Christian broke loose again for over fifty yards, and Crawford tacked on one more score to bring the final to 49-26.
During their amazing 70 game streak, Celina had allowed more than 21 points only one time, during the state title game in 2001. They'd had 26 shutouts, and have only been held under thirty points four times in the last four years.
Here are some game shots:
By the way, win or lose, the Celina Bobcats are a class act. Here's a shot from after the game:
I give it a 1.
Avast, matey! Not even a two, for the pretty pictures?
You took some good photos...... Interesting article
These were 6-man football teams, of course. Somebody should tell the lurkers what 6-man really involves. It's tough, it's free-wheeling, there are more cheerleaders on the sidelines than extra players on the benches, and it's pure small town rivalry at it's finest.:)
religious bump
No, these are full eleven man teams. One of my students had a team in the six man playoffs, Aquilla. They got put out a couple of weeks ago, though. I've been to a couple of six man games, and they are exciting. Crawford only has 27 people on the roster, though, so most players go both ways, and they don't have enough people for a full second team. Just about everybody gets some playing time.
These were 6-man football teams, of course.
Eleven man, with that small of schools? My son was on a 6 man team, and there the ruling that if one team is ahead by 50 points at half-time the game is called a win for one side and other side crawls off. We left two games (mercifully) early because of that and one of them was a Homecoming game.:)
Painful experience, based on school enrollment size.
We had a game last year where we played the second half with a running clock, because we were so far ahead, but we haven't actually stopped a game for anything but lightning. Most of the six man schools only have about 150 or so people in the whole town. One of the things I love about small town high school football is that the kids really are students first. One of the Crawford kids has been accepted to the Citadel, and another is going to Texas A&M. Both of these kids got in on grades, not athletics. By the way, at the risk of hopelessly bragging, around 70% of the Crawford kids go to college and get four year degrees, including the athletes.
This looks like a legitimate article to me.
Am I wrong?
Seems fine. I just wanted to talk like a pirate, matey!
A Pittsburg pirate?
Even though I photograph the team for a newspaper, I always tag anything about them as a vanity. I figure if it's my stuff, it's a vanity, even if it is published.
Good to know.
It's a worthwhile article, IMHO.
Thanks for posting it.
No, you're never wrong, onyx! It's just that the poster calls it "a shameless vanity" - so I thought I'd rate it. It's definitely a good "ONE!"
I'm never wrong?
Oh AGYG... if only that were true...lol.
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