Sports, More Sports and Sportsmanship

I had a great sports weekend in the middle of October.

It started off with the Mets in the National League Championship Series. Nothing beats having your baseball team playing competitive games in October.

But this is also the month that football is in full swing. I covered three games as a freelance writer this weekend. So far in 2006, I've seen more than my share of blowout games, which made what I witnessed all the more special.

First up was a high school game between county rivals. In a matchup of undefeated teams, the Asheboro Blue Comets hosted the Eastern Randolph Wildcats in front of an overflow crowd.

Friday morning, I was listening to a Greensboro-based radio station and they were talking about this football game, which was happening in a different county. It was then I started to figure out how big the game was going to be.

They played the game in Lee J. Stone Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 4,800. They did not announce an attendance, but a high school football highlights show on television estimated the crowd at 11,000 people.

The Blue Comets emerged with a 12-10 victory, their first over the Wildcats since the 1990 season. It was an exciting game from start to finish and the crowd was in the game the entire time.

Saturday, I had a college double header. In the opening game, I got to see my alma mater win, as the Guilford College Quakers upset the seventh-ranked Bridgewater College Eagles, 33-28. Guilford's win snapped Bridgewater's 36-game conference winning streak and sent shock waves through the Division III ranks.

For the nightcap, I saw the Greensboro College Pride host the Shenandoah Hornets. I was pretty tired at this point and the game was a one-sided affair, with the visitors running all over the Pride. Shenandoah held a 30-10 lead near the end of the contest.