Friday Night Lights

I went to a football game tonight. Pleasant Grove High School’s homecoming game. My son is on the football team and nine of my thirteen kids attended or attend Pleasant Grove High School.

But tonight my son didn’t play and none of the PGHS graduates came back for Homecoming. I attended every high school football game when I was in high school. I was a member of the band, and we played at most of them.

Our high school football team wasn’t very good. Our football program was so neglected we didnt’ even have our own stadium. We had to play our home games at our cross town rivals stadium.

While our team may not have been great, we did have a great player. Ron Holmes played fullback for Timberline High School. He went on to play at University of Washington and later played in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buchaneers. Sadly, Ron passed away a few years ago.

I hadn’t really been back to watch a high school game until my son started playing last year. WE now try to attend as many games as we can. Last year my son played on the sophomore team. This year he’s playing mostly JV, but is good enough to be considered for the varsity.

Unlike my AAA high school, PGHS is a 6A school. And their football program is really good. For the past two years they have been runner-up in the state playoffs to their crosstown rival, Lone Peak.

But, my son wasn’t playing tonight. We took a family vacation last week to Arizona. We had arranged for my son to stay with friends. But, at the last minute he decided it was important for him to go. The cost was high for a boy that loves football.

By missing a game, he was required to sit out last night’s game. He wasn’t even allowed on the sidelines. He misses the chance to play and he misses the chance to help his team. Fortunately, the team won.

Last night was the last “pre-season” game. PGHS played against non-regional teams. Next week they start playing regional teams, including Lone Peak.

Tonight was a perfect night for football. Beautiful sunset. Warm temperatures, but not too hot. A stadium full of screaming teenagers. And the teams dressed in red and black on a sea of green.

A great Friday night.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.

Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com

(c) 2019 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved