On the Road: McLean Monster Scrimmage

By Bobbie Brown

I can head straight down Highway 70 and keep going until I reach I-40 about 55 miles East of Amarillo. The road meanders past several Six-man towns: Spur, Matador, Turkey and skirts Silverton. Once you make it past Turkey, the road becomes a maze of canyons with twists and turns. It finally dumps you out into Antelope Flats and then winds into Clarendon. I was headed to McLean. It sits due East of Amarillo about 70 miles along I-40. A person can see for miles up there! I watched a small cloud explode into a very large storm on the almost three hour drive deep into the panhandle. It was an amazing process to view through the windshield.
 
Stephen Reynolds (another awesome Texas 1A Fan team member) and I finally arrived in McLean at what I have dubbed the Monster Scrimmage. The McLean faithful invite many teams to participate and provide an awesome concession stand. Proceeds from concessions go to the athletic fund at the school. And there were many people there to watch McLean, Lefors, Silverton, Follett, Claude, White Deer, Groom, Happy, and San Jacinto (out of Amarillo).
 
Stephen set up on the game field, and I headed over to the practice field. Many Sixman fans were gathered around the field in lawn chairs. The practice field was completely surrounded with cars, trucks, and buses. It was a great atmosphere! I picked my way through the teams standing on the sidelines. I was more interested in watching than taking pictures but did manage to get a few good shots.
 
I love Sixman football and opportunities to speak to people from 1A towns. Because this scrimmage had so many teams at one location, I was able to talk to a variety of people about the game we all love so much. I talked to a college teammate of mine from Happy. Her son is a senior and plays for the Cowboys. I talked to Coach Rucker from White Deer. I finally met the Happy broadcasters, Craig Sperry and his wife. They do a great job for the Cowboys! I also talked to Mr. Jason Henderson of McLean. He was overseeing the fundraiser concession stand. I had a great conversation with Coach Linman and finally tracked down Coach Moffett of Claude. The majority of each conversation was about the football team and how they would do this season. It’s always interesting to hear the viewpoint of the fans and coaches. I hear words like encouraged, nervous, depth, fast, big, quick… the list goes on and on.
 
I did have a few takeaways from the scrimmage:

• The nervousness Coach Rucker talked about last week has dissipated. The Bucks still have a few offensive kinks to work out, but overall, they are a very solid team.
•  Groom is small but man, they have some quickness. There is one Tiger who is really fast on his feet. He sped past a lot of players last night.
• Lefors and Silverton have the numbers. I saw some good stuff from both teams!
• Happy was surprising. Everyone knows they lost many to graduation, but I’m here to tell ya… those Cowboys looked pretty good on defense. Don’t count them out. They work well together!
• Follett is big and strong. Defensively they hit hard!
• Claude started out timid, but as the evening wore on, they picked up the pace and figured some things out. The Mustangs are a really healthy-looking team. And it seems they are picking up on the Sixman game pretty quickly.
• McLean… well… McLean. Big, strong, quick. They run over and around people. They have laser-sharp focus and are all business on the field. Can’t wait to see them in full game-mode next week against Strawn.
  

 
As the scrimmage wound down, all eyes were on the big storm to the north. Flashes of lightning could be seen in the distance. We packed up and headed back down the road to home. We saw a fabulous lightning show most of the way along with seven deer (#5 and #7 were HUGE bucks with very tall antlers – some of the tallest we’ve seen up close and personal – and no one will probably believe the antlers were at least 2 ½ to 3 feet tall… but I have a witness), one racoon, two skunks, and numerous dead hogs. I’m just glad they were already dead and not running into my vehicle.
 
Next week is it. The start of the 2018 Sixman football season. We have the Gridiron in Jayton (nine games in three days), the Garden City Sixman Shootout (six games in three days), The Rochelle Heart of Texas Classic (eight games in three days), and the Gorman Kickoff Classic (six games in three days). We also have other Sixman teams playing all over the place! Get out and see a game. Enjoy the atmosphere, the teams, and especially 1A people. Until then, Go forward and do GOOD!