On Oct. 1, I started thinking about my first Halloween as a homeowner. The one thing I hated as a young trick-or-treater was going to those houses that handed out raisins, Mounds bars and other terrible things. Did those people hate children? I always knew I didn’t want to be like them when I grew older.
Before I made a commitment to buying awesome candy, I checked my calendar and, whoops! Halloween’s on a Friday. That means football!
On the bright side, I’m never going to complain about having to go watch a football game with playoff implications instead of finding a decent Spider-Man costume and handing out Twix bars in the early evening.
And although area athletes will be missing the Halloween festivities, too, they got their celebration in last week.
Because there was a Homecoming double-whammy, the Plant City Times & Observer got to cover two games last week. Staff writer Catherine Sinclair stepped up and shot photos at Plant City-Strawberry Crest. I’d like to give her kudos for stepping way, way out of her comfort zone. We’d also like to thank the Chargers and Raiders players for not demolishing her during a tackle along the sideline.
She volunteered to take the Crest game, so I went out to Durant. I have yet to shoot a Durant game this season and be disappointed, as I’ve normally gotten either big upset wins (Sickles) or competitive, Big 12-style shootouts (Newsome, Hillsborough). These kids are fun to watch, even if they have horrible luck in the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately, Durant’s green jersey didn’t appear to be a new design, like what the primary uniforms got this year. On the plus side, it’s still a great look for a team that uses a lot of gold in its color scheme.
The first time I saw Durant’s on-field mascot, it wasn’t wearing anything — just a plain ol’ cougar as it would appear in the wild (besides the whole standing-on-two-legs thing). Last week, it came out for the Homecoming Queen crowning festivities in a sparkly dress. This begs a question: Is the Cougar a prolific streaker?
My favorite photos to take in a game involve the receiver going up for a catch, with or without a cornerback draped all over him. So, I was a huge fan of Mike Gottman’s decision to open up the Cougars’ passing game and let Erick Davis sling that ball all over the field. It was a great game for lanky wideout Garrett Rentz and, subsequently, my camera.
Davis, by the way, accounted for six touchdowns: two through the air, both to Rentz, and four on the ground. Crispian Atkins was the only other Cougar to score a touchdown, which he did near the end of the third quarter on six-yard run.
Senior Tracy Watson Jr., playing some defensive back for Durant, laid out a Terrier with one of the biggest, loudest hits I’ve seen all season. I can’t fault him too much for celebrating while the kid was slowly getting up. (Watson had his back turned after the play was blown dead and didn’t see the aftermath for a little while.) But this is the part where I mention that overly long celebrations are only OK for touchdowns and maybe quarterback sacks. When you celebrate like that after a big hit on a more routine play, I’d say you’re roughly 90% more likely to get flagged.
I’m hoping Durant plans to keep up the passing attack, because they have a height advantage over probably every receiving corps they’ll encounter in 2014, and, also, because there’s nothing I love watching more than a high-powered passing attack. Every team I coach in the NCAA Football video games builds around the Air Raid offense, no questions asked. If the Cougars plan to get back to their usual run-heavy style, though, I could see why. After all, their wins have seen them dominating the ground game.
I hope that everyone has a safe, happy Halloween, and that no child is given a box of raisins or a Mounds bar.