Post by davecisar on Nov 5, 2009 6:43:40 GMT -6
A journey into the past- the Humbolt/Table Rock/Steinheur Titans (HTRS)
I went to watch HTRS play football last night in tiny Humbolt , Nebraska population 810. This is class C-2, the smallest 11 man football classification in the state. HTRS has 156 students, 37 were suited up to play football in this game. There were just 4 Freshman suited up and just a handful of Sophomores, and the team has a JV squad, so it’s hard telling how many total kids are in the football program. Regardless, if we assume that there are 78 males in the school, it looks like about half of them suit up for varsity football. Their opponent, Oakland-Craig suited up 41 kids. Of the 37 kids suited up for HTRS, 11 were over 200 lbs. This was a second round state playoff game.
The “stadium” consisted of 4 bleacher rows and stretched on 1 side of the sidelines from the 20 to the 20. There was no gate, 2 women were manning a card table to take admissions from anyone walking from the grass “parking lot” or street to the stadium. It was really an honor thing as you could easily get to the stands without passing the "gate". Many more parents and people were sitting on the hill behind the stands, sitting in lawn chairs, maybe saving on the $5 admission price, farmers are frugal. Lots of older guys in overalls, hunting caps, John Deere caps etc. Coaches in jeans and team polos. The place was packed, wall to wall. Even the 4 picnic tables in the snack bar area had every seat taken. Lots of people standing.
The only "rebel" kid I saw didnt have piercings or tattos or was gothed out, he had a pink Arctic hat with fur, as he passed where I was at, his mom must have been sitting right behind me because he let out a big smile ear to ear and said right in front of everyone "Hi mom, I love you" real loud.
Everything was like a step back in time. The popcorn costs 50 cents, water $1.00 and sloppy joes $1.25. Everyone stood at attention in silence, placed their hands over their hearts and joined in singing the national anthem as the color guard presented the flag. The bathroom had 1 stall and 2 stand ups and was sparkling clean both before the game and again at halftime when my youngest son had to do his business. The 20 band members had no uniforms, but they seemed to do an ok job. The 6 cheerleaders didn’t do anything elaborate but they kept the crowd cheering for most of the game. I didn’t see any security and not once did I hear a single word of profanity, even though early on it was a flag fest against the HTRS team.
The HTRS team ran the old relic Single Wing offense and came into the game at 7-2, their opponent was 8-1. HTRS won 44-6 in a game they were ahead 21-0 in the first quarter. HTRS run about 65% of their plays out of the traditional UBSW with the strong end flexed out in a nasty split with the wing. They also split the end out both strong and weak and did a few other formational nuances, but they always had the TB/FB next to each other at about 5 yards. They ran the base TB off tackle powers strong, FB powers weak, no plays to the BB he was too wide to take a snap, TB sweeps, Wing Reverses and no wedges, Their splits were maybe 6 inches or less.
They ran a real different TB ½ spin series, not the T series, much more like the Mouse Series my kids run. With the WB in slow motion behind the TB, they ran the WB sweep and off tackle weak, TB power strong and maybe 1 other play off of it. They passed maybe 10% of the time and they were more drop back type passes than RUPOS like most of us running the SW are used to. They use the Wyatt alternative snap and about 80% of the snaps the TB had to jump up to field- drove me nuts. All the other snaps were right in the face of the TB, very easy for everyone to see. BUT there were no fumbles snaps, so guess it works.
What really surprised me was the physicality of this game, it was a very violent game. I was impressed with the aggressiveness of HTRS and they had quite a bit more explosiveness than I had anticipated from a school this small. I think they would be able to compete against several class B schools I watched this year who have school populations over 1,000.
It was a great experience stepping back in time driving through all the tiny towns, all working hard on harvest. Well worth the 90 minute drive from Lincoln. Lots of grain trucks and combines in the fields. Thoroughly enjoyed it and something I plan on doing again next week.
Man Im GLAD there are still places like this in existence.
I went to watch HTRS play football last night in tiny Humbolt , Nebraska population 810. This is class C-2, the smallest 11 man football classification in the state. HTRS has 156 students, 37 were suited up to play football in this game. There were just 4 Freshman suited up and just a handful of Sophomores, and the team has a JV squad, so it’s hard telling how many total kids are in the football program. Regardless, if we assume that there are 78 males in the school, it looks like about half of them suit up for varsity football. Their opponent, Oakland-Craig suited up 41 kids. Of the 37 kids suited up for HTRS, 11 were over 200 lbs. This was a second round state playoff game.
The “stadium” consisted of 4 bleacher rows and stretched on 1 side of the sidelines from the 20 to the 20. There was no gate, 2 women were manning a card table to take admissions from anyone walking from the grass “parking lot” or street to the stadium. It was really an honor thing as you could easily get to the stands without passing the "gate". Many more parents and people were sitting on the hill behind the stands, sitting in lawn chairs, maybe saving on the $5 admission price, farmers are frugal. Lots of older guys in overalls, hunting caps, John Deere caps etc. Coaches in jeans and team polos. The place was packed, wall to wall. Even the 4 picnic tables in the snack bar area had every seat taken. Lots of people standing.
The only "rebel" kid I saw didnt have piercings or tattos or was gothed out, he had a pink Arctic hat with fur, as he passed where I was at, his mom must have been sitting right behind me because he let out a big smile ear to ear and said right in front of everyone "Hi mom, I love you" real loud.
Everything was like a step back in time. The popcorn costs 50 cents, water $1.00 and sloppy joes $1.25. Everyone stood at attention in silence, placed their hands over their hearts and joined in singing the national anthem as the color guard presented the flag. The bathroom had 1 stall and 2 stand ups and was sparkling clean both before the game and again at halftime when my youngest son had to do his business. The 20 band members had no uniforms, but they seemed to do an ok job. The 6 cheerleaders didn’t do anything elaborate but they kept the crowd cheering for most of the game. I didn’t see any security and not once did I hear a single word of profanity, even though early on it was a flag fest against the HTRS team.
The HTRS team ran the old relic Single Wing offense and came into the game at 7-2, their opponent was 8-1. HTRS won 44-6 in a game they were ahead 21-0 in the first quarter. HTRS run about 65% of their plays out of the traditional UBSW with the strong end flexed out in a nasty split with the wing. They also split the end out both strong and weak and did a few other formational nuances, but they always had the TB/FB next to each other at about 5 yards. They ran the base TB off tackle powers strong, FB powers weak, no plays to the BB he was too wide to take a snap, TB sweeps, Wing Reverses and no wedges, Their splits were maybe 6 inches or less.
They ran a real different TB ½ spin series, not the T series, much more like the Mouse Series my kids run. With the WB in slow motion behind the TB, they ran the WB sweep and off tackle weak, TB power strong and maybe 1 other play off of it. They passed maybe 10% of the time and they were more drop back type passes than RUPOS like most of us running the SW are used to. They use the Wyatt alternative snap and about 80% of the snaps the TB had to jump up to field- drove me nuts. All the other snaps were right in the face of the TB, very easy for everyone to see. BUT there were no fumbles snaps, so guess it works.
What really surprised me was the physicality of this game, it was a very violent game. I was impressed with the aggressiveness of HTRS and they had quite a bit more explosiveness than I had anticipated from a school this small. I think they would be able to compete against several class B schools I watched this year who have school populations over 1,000.
It was a great experience stepping back in time driving through all the tiny towns, all working hard on harvest. Well worth the 90 minute drive from Lincoln. Lots of grain trucks and combines in the fields. Thoroughly enjoyed it and something I plan on doing again next week.
Man Im GLAD there are still places like this in existence.
