What a wonderful world

Football season is here!!! It’s my favorite time of the year!

Every Friday, and sometimes Thursday and Saturday, during the fall I can be found on the sidelines somewhere in central Texas. Last week (week 1) I was at Round Rock High School on Thurs. covering the Vandegrift v. McNeil High School game, and on Friday I was at Cougar Stadium covering the Connally v. Leander High School game. Both were for the Statesman.

I had an assignment directly before each game, and I was lucky on both instances to make it on the field just before kick-off.

Game 1

First, let’s talk about Vandegrift v. McNeil. Reporter Danny Davis wanted to do a feature story on Vandegrift’s Tristen Paffe, so I shot the first half with him in mind. But, as often happens, things didn’t go according to plan. Paffe played about two downs and spent the rest of the half on the sideline. I came up at half time to transmit and only had one shot of him.

My 10 p.m. deadline didn’t allow for a lot of shooting in the second half, but I was able to transmit and get back to the game for a few minutes to get a cleaner shot of Paffe.

The rest of the game on my end was business as usual. Actually, it was a 7 p.m. game (most start at 7:30 p.m.), so the light, at least for the first half, was a little better than business as usual. Here are a few of my favorites.

Final score was Vandegrift 28 – McNeil 12.

Click here to read Danny Davis’ game story, and to see more photos.

Game 2

Now let’s talk about Connally v. Leander.

I was thankful I was at Cougar Stadium early in the season when the sun was out for most of the first half. The stadium lights there are way too few for a venue that size. I was at ISO H1.0 (three clicks past 6400) by half time.

Anyway, it was an interesting game to shoot, and not just because it was my birthday. Both teams started the game playing … well, not exactly cleanly. Penalty after penalty, and it showed in the pictures.