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Footballs & Fiddles
This was quite a weekend. The weather was great, almost too great for watching football. Covering football games for public-access television is a lot of fun for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the people we get to talk with at the games.
On Friday night Goose and I wore shortsleeves and covered the Indian River at Plattsburgh High School football game. Everyone knew that Indian River was favored to win. Heavily favored. They are a Class A school from the Watertown area and a big crowd showed up to watch the elite of the Northern Football Conference. The Warriors didn't disappoint. With two speedy running backs, named Ricks and Duke, they were hard to catch. When they turned the corner, they disappeared. The Hornets defense was trying to catch guys who will be running backs at Rutgers or Holy Cross in two years.
We were proud of the Hornet players, who didn't give up, who kept playing hard, who kept their composure, and who moved the ball against a big, tough defense. The Hornets put up yardage, but couldn't get it into the end zone.
Then on Saturday night Goose and I met at Penfield Park for the Lake City Stars game against their first-place rival, the Vermont Ice Storm. It was nice to see Doug Perez, who coached the Plattsburgh North Stars back in 1993 and 1994, and Mike LaBarre, who put so many years in the red, white and blue of the Stars that we called him "Mr. North Star." And Scott Aguglia from Beekmantown coaches for the Ice Storm. And many former Star players were wearing the Vermont colors, including Troy "The Jet" Canada, one of the Stars' all-time greats. Troy must be 45 years old by now but he can still run down the field, catch a pass and outrace the defenders. He proved it Saturday night.
Vermont took a 27-3 lead at one point, but that didn't take the fight out of the Lake City team. They battled back and going into the final quarter they were down by a touchdown. The game was up for grabs. Just the kind of game that Goose and I were hoping for.
Our third quarter guest in our press box was Sean "The Cow" Sulikowski, who was a great lineman for the Plattsburgh North Stars in the mid-1990s. He was huge in those days -- 6' 7" and 305 pounds. But he wasn't the biggest Stars' lineman! Sean reminded us of Bob "Bones" Jones, who was 6' 10" and weighed about 350.
On Sunday morning I was still hungry for football, so I hired videographer Tony Hollop and we headed out for a PAL football game. The Dolphins vs. the Patriots in the tackle A division, which is mostly eleven and twelve year olds. The PAL football program builds the future stars of the Northern Football Conference. The program was so popular that most areas now have their own teams, from Ausable to Saranac Lake to Moriah. We saw some outstanding plays and some hits and tackles worthy of a high school game.
But I wasn't done for my weekend. I topped it off with the Fiddlers Meet in Redford. Have you ever heard of the Saranac Fiddlers? If you love music, especially fiddling, you want to check this group out. They play every Wednesday night at the Saranac Town Hall, but today's Fiddlers Meet was at the Assumption of Mary School in Redford. And fiddle they did! For five hours! Local favorites like Donnie Perkins and Reggie Miller and Fred Warner were backed by guys like Earl Southmayd and there was dancing and foot stomping all afternoon. Guest fiddlers from Chateaugay and Troy and Westville and Saranac Lake took turns entertaining the big crowd.
Florence Collins, the lovely lady that she is, had told me about it, and I hope I'm invited back next year. From footballs to fiddles, with the beautiful weather and friendly North Country people, I had a whale of time this weekend. Only problem is I can't get the sound of "Turkey in the Straw" out of my head!
Comments
Foxy - Thanks for covering our games and for the positive comments. Our staff and kids really appreciate your efforts. Despite my best recruiting efforts Tony Hollop ended up on your team instead of mine! He must be the fastest videographer in the state. When we do flag football in PE class nobody can catch him.
Thanks again for supporting High School Football and local sports.
Mike Bordeau
Posted by: Mike Bordeau | September 20, 2006 2:43 PM