Playoff Football

The year was 1983 and I was a Junior in college when my former high school football Coach asked me if I would come on staff at my alma mater and help him Coach the Varsity team. Football had been such a big part of my life as a high school player, and so I jumped at the opportunity to come alongside a great man and begin coaching. Since that first year, I have only missed one season of coaching football out of the past 33 years, and that was because I was in Chicago one fall attending Bible College and couldn’t make the commute. I was there because I wanted to become more educated in my knowledge of the greatest book ever written, and so I gave up high school football that one year to follow my heart. It turns out, I didn’t have to miss out on football after all as the 85 Bears rolled through the season that year and even won the Super Bowl, and I was there to witness the mayhem of a major city gone crazy.

Eventually, my wife and I landed in Clinton where I have had the privilege of coaching for twenty-seven consecutive years at either the high school or middle school level.In those 27 years there have been a few ups and downs, but no group of young men have shown a greater ability to play the game like this year’s current group of players. When these boys were in youth ball and middle school; it became clear that they were going to be a lot of fun to watch as they got older.Turns out they certainly are.

Last Friday night’s playoff game against Arcadia was without a doubt a heavy weight boxing match between two really good teams. Arcadia landed the first blow of the night as the Cougars struggled to find their rhythm in the early going. We weren’t sharp on offense as a couple mishandled snaps along with a few false start penalties kept us off our stride. The Cougar defense however never wavered as they delivered some big blows and broke up a few passes that kept the game close. Eventually, Arcadia did punch one in and for the first time all year, we were trailing at halftime 7-0. In the second half we started to wear them down on the line of scrimmage and our running backs just kept pounding the middle until finally Peyton Pope burst through for a touchdown. That made the score 7-6 after a missed extra point. No problem however, as the winning touchdown came a couple drives later on a screen pass from Tyler Halsted to Zach Krause and the defense did the rest to preserve the win 14-7.

That wins sets up a big showdown this Friday night against perennial power Lancaster from over near my old stomping ground. This will be a level three playoff game which is a first for any Clinton team. If there is any Clinton team that can put up a good battle it will be this group. There is so much speed and quickness at every position that we are right there with the elite this year. I would be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to the young coaching staff that we have. These guys do know football that’s for sure and the intensity and work ethic of the coaches and players bodes well for success. We can only hope that we will display the discipline it takes to defend the triple option out of the wishbone formation because that is what the Flying Arrows of Lancaster are known for.

As someone who has invested many years in the sport of football here in Clinton; it is my hope that our Cougar athletes will rise to the occasion on the field and will continue to play with great tenacity, skill and humility as they press forward for a Championship. One usually doesn’t think of humility as being important for an athlete, but it is. Humility is a powerful trait in a highly successful athlete’s life. I think because humility keeps a person thinking about teamwork and teams that genuinely care about each other are tough to beat.

I love the words of the prophet in Micah 6:8; He has shown you O man what is good, and what does the Lord require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humble with your God. These are actually the words on my Grandpa’s grave marker, and I am proud that my Grandpa lived his life in this way affecting the lives of many.

Until next week, go Cougars!