Woody
How ‘bout those local football teams?
Congratulations! All had outstanding seasons. Add it up, and our local teams had a cumulative won-loss record of 30-6.
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• Olathe’s Pirates, the 2008 Class 2A state champions, at one time had the state’s longest winning streak at 25 games. They finish at 11-1. Congrats to coach Ryan Corn and his young men.
• The Delta Panthers appeared in the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, ending their season at 9-3. Credit coach Ben Johnson who moved over from Olathe with the turnaround.
Some notes from the season in assorted “press boxes”--.
• Weird. That was the feeling in the Daily Press’ side of the Montrose High School Community Stadium press box Saturday afternoon as all three local teams were on the short end of the scores, the seasons for all three suddenly over. The Daily Press Stream Team (Phil Ashley, Chris Kennedy, myself) videocast five MHS games and three OHS games. Last Saturday, the MHS game attracted 2,070 computers throughout the Press’ online local “footprint”, throughout the U.S. to relatives, and internationally to such exotic locales as Denmark, Iraq, Mozambique and others.
• We were scheduled to do one more Olathe game, possibly two, but because of inclement weather, I made the call not to risk equipment. Our “press box” in Olathe is the back end of Chris’ pickup truck. There were a couple of games, particularly Saturday Nov. 14, where it was downright cold “ snow, sleet, rain, wind; just rough.
• Here’s a thank you to all of those who shared the press box this year: thanks to MHS activities director Lyle Wright for his support and Olathe AD Jason Lindsay for letting us in on the fun. The Daily Press team, video and print, of Bill Swaim, Phil Ashley, Chris Kennedy, Joel Blocker, William Woody, James Ten Napel, Mike Robuck, Jonathan Maness, Tim Frates, Dennis Anderson provided our coverage. Many thanks to, as well, to our video casting sponsors, the primary ones: Ross Turner and Turner Automotive Group; Kent Wollert of Wollert GMC.
Thanks, too, to those in the MHS press box who breathed the same air. We swapped stories and scores; you just can’t beat collegiality in local media. Jim Kerschner, the “voice of the Valley,” via KUBC/KKXK; Martin Maloney is the stadium announcer who recognized all of those people who supported local football, recognizing people and calling out names and numbers along with his team of spotters.
• One particular memory. Once, during a perfect October Friday night, we did our halftime “shout-outs” from Olathe and many Pirate fans stepped up to connect with relatives watching the game elsewhere “ North Dakota, Florida, Texas. The most special: a woman who talked with her husband, a sergeant serving in Iraq, who was watching their son wear the Pirate blue-and-gold. Cool stuff, this.
Good football this year; good football in years to come.
glad im not an olathoid wrote on Nov 27, 2009 11:28 AM: