Not Texas but:91-0 game hard for both teams

[Wolf]

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=862709

ESTERO, Fla. - The Estero High football staff gathered in head coach Rich Dombroski's office late Friday, almost in stunned silence.

Earlier that night, Estero lost to Naples High by 13.

Not by 13 points. By 13 touchdowns. That's right: Naples 91, Estero 0.

The rout fallout has been growing since the game ended.

"Hey," offered Estero defensive line coach Pat Hayes after the one-sided affair, "I didn't even know 91 was a multiple of seven."

With that, the coaches all got a much-needed laugh.

A half-hour away in Naples, Eagles coach Bill Kramer-the man on the winning end-could use one of those.

He looked at the scoreboard late in the game, saw 91-0, and said he felt sick to his stomach. Kramer's team ran only 31 plays and he kept most of his best players on the sideline-for the entire game in some cases. But still Kramer knew what was coming.

Soon after the game ended, his inbox began filling with angry e-mails, some from Estero parents wondering why so many points were necessary, some from Naples parents wondering why their kids didn't play more in an effort to pad their stats.

"There's only one way to describe it," Kramer said. "Just bizarre."

The schools aren't far off in size: Estero has about 1,400 high schoolers, Naples roughly 1,700.

But the pedigree of the football programs couldn't be more different.

Estero is rebuilding from the lowest level, with Dombroski in his first year at the school and having inherited a program that had simply crumbled. Naples is the reigning state Class 3A champion, and a contender to win the title again. Naples has players committed to Division I schools like Ohio State already and a roster filled with talent at every position. Estero has no college prospects and only about 25 healthy or so players remaining on its roster.

"Some of us, most of us, well, all of us were intimidated," said Tyler Eastridge, a free safety who may be exaggerating when he says he weighs a 150 pounds.

Naples led 70-0 at the half; only four of the 1,420 games reported by membe

 

[threetoedpete]

Well here's to the losers.


A long time ago in a land far far away.....one of our church deacons was part of the Baytown Lee team that went to Port Arthur in the thirties to play Jefferson. Not much of a rivalry now...but back in the fifties, sixties and seventies it was still pretty hot blooded. We asked the guy about the game once, Baytown Lee was beaten that night 100-0, what happened. Walter Hall looked at us and said," I dunno. We kicked off the ball and that was the last time we saw it."

Another great guy I knew was Rodger Beck. His coaching days were long gone by the time I knew him. Anyway he told me once he took a Katy Jr. team to a cross county rival and they were just getting the bejesus beaten out of them. He'd done everything he could think of to do. Finally, towards the end of the game, he cups his hands to his mouth and shouts to them, " Dig in boys............. Save the equipment ! "


I remember once we went Galveston to play the Galveston Ball sophomores. Must of been seventy one. Anyway, we were down to about nineteen guys on the whole squad because of injuries and guys quiting. Everyone was playing both ways. Most of us weren't very good at the time anyway. We got there walked off the bus. Here they come out of the locker room. They must of had sixty to seventy guys on their side lines. We felt like the guys at the Alamo before we ever kicked off. I mean gung ho is one thing but in terms of shear numbers...they were going to murder us by running us to death. About half of them had Purple helmets. The other half had those Ball High gold helmets.

So anyway, not to be too conspicuous, they trotted out the purple helmeted guys the first quarter and a half. And we hung in there....10-7. Then they lowered the boom. The Gold helmeted guys came in and they ran off 36 points. Our coach was this guy everyone there in Baytown who around in the seventies knows him...he looks just like Clint Walker the old western star who was in the film, "The Dirty Dozen". Anyway old Clint gets up in the locker room after we had our drink and swear to God he's beseeching us to make a come back and get back in the game. And we're all looking at him just wondering if we were going to get off the field alive. 43-10 at the half now. Well we did our best and held them to just one more touch down. We got beat 49-10. I believe it was more of a function of the Tornadoes coaches worried about being called out by the UIL about playing J.V.'s in two games in one week period more than anything we did. I also know if there is a God in his heaven the HC of Galveston Ball who ordered it, is burning in hell right now for doing that to nineteen hapless guys just trying to stay alive on a roster.