Commonwealth Football Report 16
There are plenty of interesting things on the internet but few things
garner as much attention as ranked lists.
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Create a list of twenty players who will receive Division I scholarship
offers and people will read it and not give it more than a couple
seconds of thought.
Put numbers next to those names and rank them, you can keep a message
board crowd busy for ages.
Top Football Crowds
Linked here is a blog entry by someone at CollegeStats.org (the
author's name is not included) that takes a crack at ranking the top
href="http://collegestats.org/articles/2012/09/the-10-best-high-school-football-towns-in-america/"
target="_blank">Best High School Football Towns in America".
Having grown up in Ohio, I can vouch for the football fanaticism of
both the #1 city, Masillon, and the #10, Cincinnati; the Buckeye people
love their gridiron action, no doubt about that.
One Virginia city checks in on the list as Hampton earned the #8 spot
on the subjective list. I won't argue that the folks on the
Peninsula aren't crazy about their high school football and the history
of success of the city is unparalleled in the state.
However, having lived and traveled throughout the state for over a
decade now taking in high school football games, I feel as though
Hampton (the city) is living a little bit on reputation.
In regards to football, there's no arguing that Hampton is the city of
champions as three of the four programs (Hampton, Phoebus and Bethel)
have won championships and the fourth, Kecoughtan, has played for the
title. When it comes to attending football games, the crowds
have slowly dwindled over the past decade to the point that most games
involving Hampton-city schools rarely cause the attendance keepers to
add a comma to the total number. Even the "big" games have
seen smaller and smaller attendance numbers of late.
Regarding the "special section for senior citizen alums" at Crabbers
games referenced by the author, I've never seen it. However,
the Crabbers do bring an impressive amount of lifetime fans to their
contests, many with alumni jackets commemorating their past
successes. It is indeed impressive.
For my money, if you are looking for enthusiastic crowds, the Concorde
District, and specifically, the Westfield crowds are the "best" in the
state that I've seen.
Amherst County fans create as great of a pregame atmosphere as any that
I've seen and the Louisa County crowds are legendary for their support,
at this point though I have to admit to having had no firsthand
experience attending one of their home games.
Best crowds that I've seen? In no particular order:
Westfield, Stone Bridge, Oscar Smith, Amherst, Robinson, Chantilly,
Hampton and Colonial Forge.
Up and Coming
Recently, I was fortunate to be invited to the postseason banquet for
the Virginia Beach Mustangs Pop Warner program run by brothers Bruce
and Keith Pearl along with their father, Sid.
The family-centric program includes twelve football teams with players
ranging in ages from five to thirteen with the centerpiece of this
year's program being the celebration of the national championship won
by the Juniro Pee Wees (10-11 year olds). The victory gave
theprogram, established in 2001,their second
national title (the first title team was led by Percy Harvin).
Along with the top-ranked Junior Pee Wees, the Mustangs placed fifth in
the country at the Pee Wee level (11-12 year olds) and seventh in the
nation at the Junior Midgets level (12-13 year olds).
Speakers at the event included Mustangs alums Bubba Jenkins, a NCAA
national wrestling champion from Cox High School, Tajh Boyd, the ACC
Player of the Year from Phoebus High School, and Chris Scott, the head
coach of the Eastern Region Division Six champion Ocean Lakes Dolphins
who each challenged the youngsters to prepare for their future by doing
the right things.
Their message was backed up by awards presented by the Pearls as they
pass on handing out MVP trophies to instead honor the "Best Dressed"
and "Most Respectful" young men.
Suffice to say, the future looks bright in Virginia Beach.
Fun with Video
I can't tell you much about the video linked below outside of the fact
that it was produced in 1986 (posted to youtube in 2007) and is
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utsHE5xWges"
target="_blank">Glasgow Diamonds, a local American
football team in Scotland.
The unintentional comedy factor is through-the-roof high.
I hope that the song doesn't get stuck in your head.
Football's our gaaaaammmmmmeeee!
style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: italic;">Football
Editor Rod Johnson is now entering his tenth year with
VirginiaPreps.com having first written for the site in 2003. To keep up
with even more high school football news in Virginia, follow him on
Twitter @vaprepsrod orfind him on Facebook under
"VirginiaPreps
href="mailto:vaprepsrod@cox.net">vaprepsrod@cox.net.