I am so far behind on the sports front it is not even funny. Let’s figure out just what I’ve missed….
Christopher: Again, I think I’m really light on Cpher photos. Part of this is that either he didn’t play scheduled games due to weather or I wasn’t there. I know the split into 7th and 8th grade teams for games against Caledonia; the 7th graders won 6-5. We played the ‘A’ team from Holt; we lost 11-0 and it really wasn’t that close. Apparently the communities agreed to split teams, if you have two, evenly, and everyone but Holt did that. Did get to see Cpher at attack and middie in this game so that was fun.
The end of the season tournament was out in Clarkston…again, it was the same time as Kevin’s Open House so I missed it. Cpher drove out with the coach and a friend or two. They lost both games…..I really think the lacrosse program needs to reevaluate how we enter these tournaments and festivals. The other communities are entering A and B teams…..even if we would split by grade we would be more competitive. As it is, the 5th and 7th graders are weak spots on both teams. Cpher only played Saturday; spent Sunday at home with us for graduation.
Matthew: There are no pictures from the two games between the Waverly tournament and the end of the year tournament, but, each game had something to talk about. The first was a 6-4 win against East Lansing, where, again, my boy is the one who is hurt when some kid on the other team decides to pick up the granddaddy of penalties, 2 minutes, non-releasable.
So what happened? Matthew is charging in after picking the ball up on defense; he beats one kid, he beats another, spins, spins….and the last defender comes up and uses his d-pole like you would use a spear against a charging pig…..and literally shoves the head right at Matthew’s neck! Every parent, from both teams, makes that ‘Ooooooo’ sound; not good.
Of course, Matthew goes down in a heap…..he comes off the field and does end up going in later, but, he has taken his share of lumps this year!
The last ‘game’ of the year is parent appreciation day….it is a scrimmage against the other 5/6 split squad team. Apparently, there is a lot of trash talk at school before the game; Matthew’s team is undefeated in split squad games so he is feeling pretty confident and has not been shy about telling the other team both that fact and his opinion.
He was right; we win 11-3. The boy had every chance to score in this game; I think he put two shots off the post! I thought his finest moments were when he took faceoffs against one of his best friends, Joey. Absolutely dominated him; won possession, headed upfield, took great shots on goal.
The other highlight of this game was that the coaches asked the kids to sign cards for their parents. Many kids went simple, Thanks-Mom, something short. Matthew put some time and thought into it…he told us afterwards as he sat there and wrote his card out that two or three kids came over with their card and left as they were done. We told him he was the hero of the day, because other parents were pretty jealous when we opened our card and received a well thought out thank you.
Cpher thought he might have merited a mention (and he might be right). Kevin was pretty touched to hear that his two years of lacrosse was remembered by his little brother…..
Matthew’s season, like Cpher’s, ends at Clarkston. His games are in the morning so I go out with him for the double-header. Like his brother, we run up against A teams with our full squad and that is not a recipe for success, we lose 6-0 and 11-0 or something like that. I do have some pictures.
I’m a broken record sometimes; team gets hammered and I think Matthew has played well. But I do think, if it were just our 6th graders playing his team, it would have been a different story.
Played middie. Again, this faceoff isn’t particularly fair.
I think this kid was reduced to trying to flop his body over the ball after Matthew flattened him…
I think, I know(!), that I have been talking to Matthew for a month about leading by example in his sports and being physical…both teams, lacrosse and soccer, seem to have a lot of defense-without-contact going on and well, it just doesn’t work. In lacrosse, if you are all stick and no body the guy just goes by you.
Matthew, bless his little heart, has been a stalwart at knocking kids on their butts. One sequence in this game is memorable enough for me to remember two weeks later….this one kid from Howell is running up the sideline and our parents are yelling ‘Push Him Out, Push Him Out’. And two kids can’t do it….and finally Matthew comes over and flattens the kid and he hits the sideline and the ball is ours. I should mention Matthew also is doing this cleanly…he hasn’t seen he penalty box in a long time…..
In the second game, this defenseman on the other team is running upfield through the middle of the field; he has beat our two middies and three attack and the only thing standing between him and our defense is Matthew about midfield. The guy comes in, fakes, Matthew slows him a little with his stick and runs through him. Turnover, Matthew heads upfield with the ball……
Had his chances to score in the first game….did a nice job with the ball when he had it. But didn’t play as much as he or I would have wished because of the large team size….
