Whiteface Antelopes Practice 2020

By Bobbie Brown

One thing that makes me happy is six-man football. I was eager to get on down the road to Whiteface this morning. Although it was a 45-minute drive, I arrived before the sun came up. I drove into the small parking area behind the gym and adjacent to Antelope Stadium.
 
There were a lot of kids everywhere! Not one of them had pads or helmets. I sat in my car looking for the telltale signs of football practice. It finally dawned on me (hey, it was early, and I had only one cup of coffee), all the kids wandering around were the cross-country teams! They finally wandered to the track and assembled in the grass to stretch. There were A LOT of them! There were seven or eight boys and so many girls, I couldn’t count them – didn’t help that they were moving a lot.
 
I finally heard the sound of cleats on gravel. It is a distinctive sound. The Antelopes had exited the dressing room. Coach Adam Cline brought up the rear.
 
Last season Texas 1A Fan was scheduled to broadcast a Whiteface game in Antelope Stadium. The day of the game, the broadcaster had to take care of a family medical emergency, and we weren’t able to make the game. Coach Cline was so gracious. We are hoping (finger’s crossed) to broadcast an Antelope game this season. Coach Cline saw me and sauntered over. He welcomed me to Whiteface. He is such a nice guy, and we had a great conversation in the cool morning air. What a difference between 7AM and 3:30PM temps in August.
 
Several things happened during practice… there are 11 varsity and 14 junior varsity players. Varsity wears blue and junior varsity wears gold. They started out with individual drills and graduated to team drills. There was one drill that I thoroughly enjoyed watching. Each group lined up as if for a kickoff. Coach Cline booted the ball and they had to run all the way downfield to the ball. LOTS of running. The drill looked like it separated the boys from the men. I heard several awesome phrases during this drill.

• I do not coach effort! You can find it, or you can go stand on the sidelines! (so true!)
• Just because you shake your head back and forth when I yell run faster, doesn’t mean you’re going any faster. 

One poor soul had enough of all that running and had to take a break to empty his stomach. It is at this very moment, one of Coach Cline’s kicks has the football making a beeline for the mess on the field near the player. Isn’t that the way it always goes? Murphy’s Law. I have to say, I was impressed with the kid who was a little sick. He ran back to the other end of the field and kept on going.
 
The Antelopes have a fairly young team. They have only six Juniors and Seniors on this year’s squad. They will contend with Borden County, Meadow, O’Donnell, and Wellman-Union in DI Region 1, District 4. While this might be a year where experience may not be quite there, the Antelopes may jump up and surprise some folks. They will be 26 players strong when the season starts. Thank you, Coach Cline, for making my visit a pleasant one! Good luck, Antelopes. Work hard and go get ‘em!
 
Always remember… go forward and do GOOD!