As I normally do, I was going to get on here and report on the game, which I will still do momentarily. But first I guess I have to respond to X Cross' post. Sorry dude, but I personally must have slept through most of that, because I heard very little of what you heard.
Now perhaps something happened before I got there, because I was coming in the gate as they were playing the national anthem and I was walking around the field as they kicked off. So therefore I missed everything that happened pre-game. However, what you are describing sadly would not be a first, because at a Riverheads away baseball game last spring, we most definitely got treated to some four-letter words during the pre-game warm-ups, but it only lasted as long as it took someone to lunge for the off button. So maybe kids do that sort of thing for a joke. Who can say? But the closest thing I heard tonight to objectionable music would have been a clip of a song called "Black Betty," which didn't bother me personally.
As for the PA system, I thought the announcer was one of the clearest ones we have heard and I did not mind all the little songs they played. The idea for you readers is that they would play a clip of a song that might fit the situation on the field. However, for the life of me, I cannot think of an example now. You know maybe something like "Nowhere to Run" if a guy was tackled for a loss...that kind of thing. As for a train horn, if they played one, it certainly was not loud enough to offend me and it was nowhere near as loud as the one at Giles, which I DO remember. So sorry I can't help your case much, but I will be interested in hearing what others say, especially some of the Wilson folks if they choose to chime in.
As for the game, the turning point ironically was a non-scoring play. Each team had scored on its opening possession, with Riverheads needing less than two minutes and Wilson then taking up almost all the rest of the first quarter on its drive. They each converted their two-point conversions and the first quarter ended in an 8-8 tie.
But that turning point came late in the second quarter. Wilson was facing a 4th and 2 from its own 30 yard line. Normally a punting situation, right? But the Hornets lined up as if they were going for it. However it soon became obvious that they were trying to draw Riverheads offsides, but the Gladiators didn't fall for it so Wilson called a time-out. But when play resumed, they lined up again in their normal offensive set and actually DID go for it. But the Gladiator defense stopped them, which gave Riverheads the ball 30 yards from the goal line with 1:49 left.
Zach Smiley rambled 20 yards on the very first play, and three or four plays later, Cyrus Cox scored from the one on a quarterback sneak. Smiley added the two points (the Gladiators were a perfect 4-4 on those tonight) and the visitors took a 16-8 lead into the locker room.
Wilson took the second half kickoff and drove it in quickly for a score, which came on about a 30-yard pass play into the left corner of the end zone. But in the second-most important play of the night, the Big Red stuffed the ball carrier on the conversion to preserve their 16-14 lead.
RHS then scored two fourth-quarter insurance TDs to make the game sound like a little bit more of a rout than it really was. On both those drives, they crossed up the Hornet defense by going to some direct snaps that were very successful. In fact one of them went all the way for a TD.
Anyway, it was a nice turnover-free game on an evening that was almost too warm for football, if there is such a thing. The win gives RHS a 6-2 record on the year and they will wrap up their season with a pair of home games against Stonewall Jackson and Stuarts Draft the next two Wednesdays. If things follow their logical pattern, the Wilson JVs will have a road game at East Rock next week and then wrap up at home the following week against Page.
