Football, this is something that is very important to me. I am going to write about my football experience throughout the time of my life. I first started out playing flag football around 2nd or 3rd grade, I don’t remember much about that but I know that it was fun and I was on a team with my friends and we were pretty good. When I was younger I wasn't very fast so when I played flag football and the first few years of me playing actual football I didn't play skilled positions (wide receiver, running back, stuff like that). But when I played flag football I played quarterback a lot because I had a decent arm and was a little taller than most. I remember one time my mom got a video of me throwing a touchdown pass to Matt,  I didn't know Matt that well back then but now he is my closest friend.

  So yeah, flag football was pretty fun and I was ready for real football now. Me and my friends would always play tackle football just out in our backyards together and we loved it. So in the summer of 6th grade my dad finally decided to let me play tackle. The summer practices were pretty rough for me because I was slow and never was in really good shape. And it was my first year playing football so I wasn't used to hitting in full pads all the time. And the running, oh my goodness, in 6th grade through 8th grade the conditioning was terrible. Once you get to high school you don’t condition as much, you spend more time on plays and schemes. Really all I remember from 6th grade and 7th grade football was the terrible conditioning. So in 6th grade I was pretty slow and so I couldn't do much, I could catch decently but that was about it. And it didn’t help that during our week off in the summer I went to Sarasota Florida with my family and on the last day I stepped on a seashell that broke off in my foot. So that bothered me for a while until all of the shell came out of my foot. Anyways,  I played defensive end and tight end. I got moved to center one game but that did not work out very well. And while I was at tight end all I did was block, the only time I didn’t was on two point conversions, and I never caught one. We did have a really good team in 6th grade and we won the championship. The only thing I really remember from playing in 6th grade was I had a few tackles and I think I had a fumble recovery the first time we played KR. We lost that game and it was our only loss, we ended up playing them in the championship and won. That's really all I have to tell about my first year playing football.

And now, the summer leading up to my 7th grade season was a brutal one from my memory. It was probably one of the hardest seasons just because of the conditioning. But I did get to play up a few games with the 8th grade which was pretty cool, I remember one time we were playing Tecumseh and I was at defensive end and the running back ran past me and I went to tackle him and he kneed me right under my chin, i’m glad I at least got the tackle. Anyways, I still was a tight end and a defensive end, and I actually got some reps at running some sweep plays at wide receiver. I still get dogged on for being so slow back then, everyone says I was in slow motion. And also in that 7th grade season I had an achilles tendon injury that had me in a boot for a few weeks, that was the first of many times I visited Ohio Valley for football related injuries. So, I was still very slow and all that, I was not where I wanted to be or needed to be so I started working and got better. Overall, my 7th grade season wasn’t so bad that it made me not want to play football anymore so that’s a good thing. 

Now on to my 8th grade season, I had the same coaches as last season so I knew what was going on and I was more comfortable. And now I had grown a little more and I was a lot stronger and faster so I had some more confidence.  Those summer practices felt a lot easier leading into my 8th grade season too. So as the season went on, I had a lot more success than before and I felt even better about football. I don’t really remember much but there is one game I do remember… beating KR. That was probably my best game of that season and we also came back from losing at half to winning. I remember I had a few big catches that got some first downs and a few good defensive plays. I had also blocked a punt, I ran through someone to get there and I found out later that I gave that kid a concussion. And also I felt that I did a decent job at blocking from the tight end spot. That season I got a lot more chances at getting the ball in my hands. We run this formation called marines and it's a double tight end, 3 running back set and we just run the ball right up the middle. It worked pretty well against other teams because we had some good size, strength and speed. But yeah, we put in a pass out of that formation and I got to run the route, I had a lot of receptions off of that and I loved it. And at the same time I was getting better with defensive technique, my father(coach Bummy) helped out the middle school with defensive end stuff and just defense in general. He coaches outside linebackers for the high school team and that is my position. So sometimes it's hard because he is extra tough on me, but it’s also good because I am able to easily go over stuff with him outside of school and practice so that does help a lot, and everyone in my position group I try to help out as much as possible too.  So I felt like my 8th grade season was a good one and it made me even more passionate about football. 

 So now, on to freshman year. This one was a really good year, but it was tough. I was only about 165 pounds at around 6 foot so I was kinda undersized for my position. The 2-a-days weren’t really 2-a-days because of all the covid stuff but they were still pretty hard. There was a lot of time spent lifting and getting into shape in the beginning so that was a hard part. I kinda remember when we got our pads and all that, it was rough going up against the older guys. Our team was pretty good too. It does take a few weeks to get used to all that banging around for me, once I got used to it I was good for the most part. I did not know at first that I would get as much varsity time as I did but I am really glad I did. I still played jv and freshman games, but the energy on friday night just isn't the same. And it sucked playing on saturday mornings after being up really late friday for a game. And the freshman games during the week sucked too, especially the away games, I hate away games for anything. I don’t remember much about all the games last year, I played special teams on varsity and played about half of the jv games and 2 freshman games. I did play some defense on varsity more and more as the season went on, most times I got messed up because I was not as big, strong, fast, or smart.  I remember one game, it was Shawnee vs. London. Our outside linebacker broke his ankle, so I ended up playing the rest of that night. London was the toughest team we ever play most of the time, they always have so many big dudes and they are all pretty strong. So it was a rough night for me, and then I had to play in the jv game the next morning so I was pretty banged up. That game was about halfway through the season, and after that I got more defensive reps on varsity. Like I said, we had a pretty good team last year, we ended up making it to the regional finals against Roger Bacon.  Rodger Bacon had a running back who was committed to LSU, and I believe they had a linebacker who was getting looked at by Georgia. So they were pretty good, we did not win that game but I ended up playing a lot. I got a few tackles, but most of the time I would get messed up by the Offensive line, they were big too. After that game it was pretty hard for the seniors and everyone else too, we had a lot of seniors and they were pretty good. We had a few younger players who were sophomores and juniors who played pretty big roles in the next season, my sophomore season. So after that season I was pretty sure that next season I would be playing a lot more defence from then on. Oh yeah, I also was in a cast for the last quarter of the season, I fractured my growth plate in my wrist during a jv game against West Jefferson I believe. So after football season I got my cast off and they looked at the X-ray and said my wrist was fine but the doctor was like “does your thumb hurt?”. I said “no, it's just a little bruised up”, the doctor said, “well it’s broken, and if it was any worse you would need to get surgery.” So there were another few visits to Ohio Valley for all the different casts I had to get because I would pick at them so I would need to get new ones on. I think I broke my thumb during the second round of the playoffs at Banchester.  So after I found out my thumb was broken, that put me out of basketball for about 2 weeks. That year in basketball I got my first dunk in a game, it was a jv game against Bellefontaine I believe. I still haven't got a dunk in a game this year yet though. But anyways, my 9th grade season was a pretty good one for the most part, it really got me motivated to get better for next season because I knew that I would have to fill a big role after all the seniors left.  That season taught me a lot. I needed to work hard to get faster, stronger, quicker, and smarter. Basketball helped a little but I think after this basketball season right now will be my last. I think I will just try to lift and run on my own. Basketball doesn't allow you to lift as much because you just never have the time to and I've been losing weight and that is not what I want so Basketball is not really seeming like my thing at all.  So I think next winter I will not play basketball and I will have to come up with a really good plan to lift and run to stay in shape and also get stronger and faster. 

Now, onto this past football season, 10th grade. This season was a decently successful one for me I think.- I went from being about 6 foot, 165 pounds last year to 6 foot 2 inches and 195 pounds. So that was a pretty decent jump, and I was obviously stronger and faster. The summer workouts were a little more memorable because it was recent. They were pretty tough during 2-a-days, we would get there pretty early and we would get splitted up into defensive position groups. There would be like 2 different conditioning stations and a station in the weight room. There was also a station where you go to learn the defence and learn some tackling techniques. After everyone went through all that I believe we got a little break, after the break we would all go down to the field and do some more drills. We would work on drills specific to our position group and work on plays later on after we got all the basics down. I remember the first day we got to wear full pads and hit, it was very fun and I kinda surprised myself because I was a lot bigger from last year. There is an award we get if you make it to every part of every 2-a-day and it is called the “iron man” award.  You also got a piece of tape that says it too, along with your name. But anyways, practice was tough in the summer but it was good. Our first scrimmage was one with 2 other schools, that one went well. We had another scrimmage against Greenon and I felt like I did okay, I was in on a tackle that made the front page of the newspaper which was pretty cool. Now, on to the first game, it was at home against Valley View(game highlights- Valley View High School). They were a division higher than us(Shawnee is in division 5). I felt pretty good about that game, I thought it was a good one, but we lost and we had to play another D4 school the next friday. Game 2, at Eaton, this was a tough game. This game got pushed back because of storms but we were able to get it all in(game highlights- Eaton High School). We lost this game too and I don’t think I played as well as I could have. So we started out 0 and 2, and next week we had another away game so we had some work to do. Game 3 vs. Carroll, this team was not near as good as Eaton and Valley View but we still played them like they were better. That is why we won big and we played pretty good, I feel like I did alright( game highlights- Carroll High School). Game 4 at Indian Lake, this was another tough rivalry game that was away too. I made a couple of costly mistakes in this game but we ended up winning, which was good. I feel like we played them pretty well ( game highlights- Indian Lake ). Game 5, at home vs. KR. This is usually one of the biggest games of the season because KR is Shawnee's biggest rival. I feel I played alright, we got the big win so that was a very good feeling ( game highlights- Kenton Ridge). Game 6 at home vs. Northwestern. I did not play any at all in this game because they were absolutely terrible, and I also made a few mistakes early so I just didn't play much. We got an easy win on them. I took advantage of that because I wouldn't be all banged up for the next week of practice and hopefully I'll have a good game. Game 7, away vs. Bellefontaine. This was a really good game because my grandpa made it. He lives in Tennessee so he makes as many games as he can and when he does it's pretty cool. It was even better because I think I had a pretty good game ( game highlights- Bellefontaine ). Game 8, at home vs. London. This was the toughest game of the season, London was the best team we played last season. We lost this game pretty badly, I feel like I did not do too bad but it just didn't feel good because we had got beat badly, ( game highlights- London ). Game 10, away vs. Jonathan Alder. They were pretty good last season and I expect them to be good this year too. This was the last game of the regular season, if we had won that game we would have had possibly 2 home playoff games. But we didn't, that was a tough game too but I don't think I did that bad ( game highlights- Alder High School ). Game 11, first round playoffs away vs. Purcell Marion. The place where we played them was pretty cool, but it was pretty cold. I feel like I did alright that game, we came out with the win so that was pretty cool ( game highlights- Cin. Purcell Marion (1st Rd.) ). On to the regional quarter finals, this was against Taft. The place we played at was right by the Cincinnati Bengals stadium. This game would be the one that ended the season. I feel like that game made me grow up a little, but after the game was pretty tough because it meant the season was over and I will most likely not play with the seniors ever again. But yeah, that was a tough game, and the cold didn't help either, ( game highlights- Cincinatti Taft (RQF) ). This last season was such a great time with a lot of ups and downs. I feel like I just didn't get better at football that season, I became a better person and I really enjoyed that. I am really looking forward to the next season and making that one even better.