The end of the season

Whew! It's finally here. As much as I wanted my teams to keep going, I also wanted it to be over. I'm exhausted. I know everyone keeps saying, "well, you were on paternity leave, you've got nothing to complain about", but I spent a good portion of it daily working on the basement. After that I'd get cleaned up and go to East's practice from 2:30-5:30, then bust it across town during rush-hour to get to Caiden's practice late until 8pm. Yeah, it's all volunteer and it's my decision to do, but it was still tough and tiring.

So, my Sophomore team finished 7-2. We had a fun season and thinking of the "what-if's" I wished we had our QB for every game (he started varsity at Free Safety, so his time with us was limited). He did not play in the two games we lost and I'm positive we would have won those games if he was in there. We had a freshman QB for us most of the season and he did a great job of running our offense and doing what we asked of him.

Here is a picture of the Sophomore team after our last game.


Here is a picture of me in my element.



The varsity team ended their season 8-2 and made it to the playoffs. We got DESTROYED in the first round on Friday, so the season is over. I really hope my boys will be able to make a contribution next year for the Varsity squad.

Caiden's team finished 6-3 and we too made it to the playoffs. The top 4 teams in your division make it to the playoffs and play each other in a tournament style (1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3). We finished 3rd, so we faced a team that was 8-1 and beat us our first game 34-7. We played them so tough and took the game into double overtime, only to lose 28-21. I felt badly for Caiden because he really didn't know what was going on. When the game was over, those kids that were crying knew, but Caiden looked confused. He shook the other teams hands, then asked me "so do we still get to go to the playoffs". I told him that that WAS the playoff game and our season was over. He stopped and all of a sudden tears started gushing from his eyes. I felt so badly for him.

Most of the kids cried for a good 20 minutes. They had worked so hard (we started off our season 1-3 before rattling off 5 straight wins to make the playoffs) and it was so sad to see it come to an end for them. The great thing is that these kids can all play together again next year (you play according to the high school boundary you live in) and they can continue that all the way through Jr high and up to high school (so long as they still live here obviously).

Here are some pictures from after our last game (when the tears were all wiped away).

Caiden and coach


Coaches and their boys


So all in all, I had a lot of fun coaching. It was stressful, but worth it. I'm tired now and I'm happy to just have nothing to do. I go back to work next week and my boss will be out the week after. Alene and I are taking the family to St. George for an extended weekend in a few weeks to just relax and visit Zions (even though it will be cold, it will be nice to get out).