What Got You Hooked?

[CRF4Dan]

This was a topic I intended to post back around the Superbowl. On one of the many sports radio shows I listen to they were talking about what game got you hooked onto football. So my question to you is what game, what team got you hooked into high school football?

I can recall going to a rainy game my freshman year and I went to a couple here and there but it wasn't till my senior year at Varina that I got hooked. That was the year the Blue Devils upset Thomas Dale and Bird to win the region title. Many of my classmates played on that team that year and I can recall the anticipation surrounding that game, the atmosphere that day. It was a game that was very much in the favor of Varina in the first half but Hylton went ahead late crushing the hearts of Blue Devil fans...

Who knew this would be the first of a few heartbreaks at the hands of CD Hylton. That was the game for me that got me hooked and led me to where I am today covering the Richmond Region. What game got you hooked and why?

 

[falcettik]

Growing up in Connecticut my high school did not play football and neither did most of the schools in the area (I had always watched college and pro games, but we all know that is just not the same). I saw a few high school games at the local military high school when stationed in Germany years later and thought it looked like fun. I then moved to the DC area and my younger son decided he wanted to play youth football, so I decided we would go to a the local high school game one evening. That high school was Westfield, which in 2001 had only opened the year prior and was playing its very first season of varsity football. The quarterback was a young kid named Sean Glennon and the opponent was Annandale. Well, that game turned out to be a 6 overtime 68-66 loss, at the time the highest scoring and longest game in the nation I believe. That is all it took. I have since been an ardent follower of Westfield and high school football in general, even looking for local games when I travel out of state on business. College atmospheres are great and you cannot deny the talent at the college and pro level, but you just cannot beat high school football for sheer fun and drama since you never know what will happen next!

 

[1amishfootballfan]

Growing up Amish of course we did not have TV or radio but we did get a newspaper and I enjoyed reading the sports section and learned a lot about football from reading stories about the local high school football teams.

I still remember the day I was allowed to go over and play with a non-Amish friend of mine that lived nearby. Wasn’t really supposed to go inside their house but I had to go to the bathroom at one point. It was a Saturday afternoon and as I walked through the living room my friend’s dad was watching college football. It was Pitt vs. WVU and Dan Marino was the freshman QB.

I was mesmerized and my friend had to come back inside and get me (he was not into football). My interest in football grew from that point and when I got older my brother and I would change into “English” clothes and go watch local high school football. It never ceases to intrigue me how high school football in the US is pretty much the same experience anywhere in the US – from rural areas to urban - from California to Virginia.

 

[DinwiddieProud]

Growing up in Connecticut my high school did not play football and neither did most of the schools in the area (I had always watched college and pro games, but we all know that is just not the same). I saw a few high school games at the local military high school when stationed in Germany years later and thought it looked like fun. I then moved to the DC area and my younger son decided he wanted to play youth football, so I decided we would go to a the local high school game one evening. That high school was Westfield, which in 2001 had only opened the year prior and was playing its very first season of varsity football. The quarterback was a young kid named Sean Glennon and the opponent was Annandale. Well, that game turned out to be a 6 overtime 68-66 loss, at the time the highest scoring and longest game in the nation I believe. That is all it took. I have since been an ardent follower of Westfield and high school football in general, even looking for local games when I travel out of state on business. College atmospheres are great and you cannot deny the talent at the college and pro level, but you just cannot beat high school football for sheer fun and drama since you never know what will happen next!

Thank you for your service to our country.