Nov142008
Was That Mud Wrestling In Rochester last night?
Filed under Fall sports, Football, General, High School Sports, Memorial High School Football by bob hammerstrom at 2:35 pm
If you drove by Spaulding High School last night, you probably slowed down for a second look to see if that was mud wrestling going on in the pouring rain. After all, the guys were caked with mud from head to toe, yelling and knocking each other to the ground, while the ladies stood along the bleachers to get a glimpse of the action.
It may have looked similar to something you might see on a spring break vacation, but with a closer look, you would have found these athletic young men wearing helmets, spikes and numbered jerseys. They carried obling, mud-coated objects and head-butted one-other after knocking the opposing player down to run by an orange cone.
If you haven’t guessed it by now, it was a freshmen football tournament. Since there are no playoff games for the underclassmen, they play the tournaments to wrap up their season. There were frosh from Manchester Memorial, Spaulding, Merrimack, Trinity, Salem, Londonderry, Pinkerton Academy, and Manchester West. There may have been a couple I missed. Each team was given four downs to score from the 10-yard-line. After an hour or so of preliminary round matches, four teams with the best records competed again to rank them one through four.
The smaller teams were eliminated right away, as Manchester Memorial and Pinkerton Academy secured the top spots, and both defeated their opponents to make it into the championship round. This is what my son, Brandon was waiting for all season, a rematch against Pinkerton, who is coached by his former junior high basketball coach, Mr. Woods, and former athletic director, “Mr. T.”
By now, it was pouring, and the sides of the field were under water. The middle of the field resembled a pig pen, and the players looked like farm animals sloshing through the mud, and splattering the referees as they slid on their bellies for an extra yard. The only grass visible was on the edges of the football field. I watched the Crusaders defensive front dig the slop out of their ear holes and facemasks after driving the ball-carriers into the ground.
The Astros downed the Crusaders during a regular season game in September, and scored more points against them in a preliminary round of this tourney. Up over their ankles in mush, both teams scored a touchdown and missed their extra points, to earn a second set of downs. Memorial threw a pass on fourth down to give them a second touchdown, and held Pinkerton for four downs to wrap it all up and bring home the championship plaque.
After shaking hands with Pinkerton, the Memorial freshmen took turns running and sliding through the mud on the way back to their bus.
Congratulations to the Crusaders for their fine hard effort, teamwork, and determination!
-Bob Hammerstrom
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