Kilbourne 22 Hayes 0

High School Football
Home Team: Worthington Kilbourne Wolves
Visiting Team: Delaware Hayes Pacers
Venue: Ron Hopper Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

The real story on this one, of course, is the game I didn't attend. Here's something I've never been able to say before: I voluntarily chose not to attend Troy's game tonight, not because of something else Brandi and I had planned, but because it wasn't quite worth it.

I say this with nothing but fierce love in my heart for the Trojans, but I knew they had little shot of winning, or even staying particularly close, in their game against the powerhouse Wayne Warriors. Not this year, at least. Still, if that was all there was to it, that wouldn't have been a deterrent. I've followed Troy to premeditated blowouts (in both directions) before with no compunctions. There were a couple of other factors at play. For one, the new running clock rule in Ohio high school football - I had a feeling the second half of this game would be played under this rule, making for a short game. Having already attended two Troy games played under this rule, I know how unsatisfying it has been to attend games that barely last longer than it takes for me to drive there. And two, true or not (probably not), I remember hearing rumors that Wayne ducked out of games with Troy back when the Trojans had Ryan Brewer in the backfield, saving themselves the embarrassment he regularly lavished upon opposing teams and leading to Troy playing such opponents as Akron Coventry and Columbus West, who provided no competition (or Harbin points) at all. While I admire the Trojans greatly for their unwillingness to take a similar stance now that the tables have turned, I still just don't really like when they play Wayne.

So it was that I found myself this evening at Ron Hopper Memorial Stadium watching the Wolves take on the Pacers, rather than at Troy Memorial Stadium watching the Trojans take on the Warriors. Worthington has three high school football teams; living in Old Worthington as we do, technically I suppose that Thomas Worthington is our "home" team. Unfortunately, they're terrible at football. Worthington Kilbourne, on the other hand, is pretty decent at football, and as Troy met them in the playoffs once upon a time (a Troy loss at Welcome Stadium in 1997, Brewer's junior season), I'm inclined toward them.

Being at the game was a little strange, never more so than when it turned out that Kilbourne and Troy have the same fight song. But it was fun. Kilbourne has a pretty good team, with good size and speed. I left after the third quarter, with the score at 22-0 in favor of the Wolves. Their quarterback had left the game with an injury, and it looked like they were going to use a DB at QB and run the wildcat for the rest of the game, which didn't especially interest me. And as that turned out to be the final score, it seems I didn't miss much.