THE ELEVEN TIGERS OF 6A FOOTBALL

Image via www.yourememberthat.com

The 6A Football Semi-Final.

“Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again.”

That was Grantland Rice in 1924 writing about college football.

“In dramatic lore they are known as Famine, Pestilence, Destruction and Death. These are only aliases. Their real names are Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army football team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds yesterday afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down on the bewildering panorama spread on the green plain below.”

Tigard faced Central Catholic in Providence Park, downtown Portland, a game worthy of the greatness tag.In two overtimes, Kansas Plan in effect, a missed extra point made the difference.

One point, one kick, in a game rough enough to need personal foul penalties decided the outcome.

Future college players ran the field. Those guys chased down plays from the back side.

Just when you’re ready to spring a long run, a lineman saddles up and drops you. A lineman as fast as a running back.

Tigard drew first blood with a blast up the middle that made fans sit back for an afternoon of more, more, more.

Then more, lots more. Maybe too much.

Oregon’s Boomer Blogger stood the entire game, stretching out, enjoying the cold and rain wrapped in water proof gear like an experienced fan.

Ten years ago I knew all the players. Some had played for me on rec teams. My kids were players.

It was a great time to be a high school football parent.

Now I’m a casual follower hoping for the best when the Tigers take the field, just another guy cheering a team to win.

On this day one point made the difference.

The magic of the 6A football day wasn’t lost on anyone.

Both sides stood primed to run the field for the win. Play after play, two overtimes with the ball on the twenty five yard line at one end, then the other.

I stood near the other with the hope the game would come to me. And it did.

The scrappy underdogs gave the CC Rams all they could handle.

Then one point, one kick.

While not an eighty point beat down like one of their previous meetings, or a forty nine point smacker, a one point win in overtime isn’t a show of dominance.

The scoreboard never shows a moral victory, but fans know a team is primed for greatness when a #14 stands up to a #7 and delivers.

Leaving it all on the field might be an over used expression, but not this day.

Central Catholic squeaked into the finals next week. Tigard goes home.

Before another game someone ought to explain how to pronounce Tigard and Tigers to the 6A football PA announcer.

It works like this: Tyegerd, not Teegard; Tyegers, not Tiggers.

With that cleared up, and one point down, we can all rest knowing young men poured their hearts into a football game.

It was special to see. Grantland Rice would’ve loved it.