Texas High School Football began its 100th UIL season last weekend.
Nobody really knew what to expect.
This is my 20th year of broadcasting high school football, and already the most peculiar. Normally to start the season, I would cover games involving teams in the largest classification, 6A, often with schools from North East ISD, Northside ISD, or Judson ISD. For example, in recent seasons my assignments for season openers have included Lake Travis at Judson, Brennan vs Reagan, and Johnson vs Brandeis.
This year, all those schools are starting later. The UIL directed that 5A and 6A schools (schools with enrollments or 1230 or more students) would start four weeks later than usual because the larger schools are mostly in the areas hardest hit by the coronavirus. On the other hand, 4A through 1A, since they are generally less effected, could start at the usual dates.
So my assignments were the Falls City Beavers (enrollment: 113) at the Three Rivers Bulldogs (197) on Friday, and the Marion Bulldogs (463) at the Karnes City Badgers (334) Saturday. That’s a total of 1107 students among the four schools, which is roughly the number of freshmen enrolled at Laredo United.
I don’t mean this to complain. Bobby Stautzenberger, co-owner of Texas Sports Productions, and I had discussed how this would be an interesting change of pace; we respect the smaller schools, but usually don’t get an opportunity to cover them ourselves until maybe December. (Stautz covered Cuero at La Vernia Friday.) We embraced the opportunity to cover different schools at different venues.
This would mean challenges, though, and that would be true even without a pandemic to contend with. Along with factors that normally make working at smaller venues interesting, we had to work through Governor Greg Abbott’s mandate that football stadium be limited to 50% capacity attendance.
Bulldog Stadium, the site of the Falls City-Three Rivers game, has a small pressbox. I’d found a picture of it on TexasBob.com, an invaluable resource for Texas high school football broadcasters seeking to scout a stadium they plan to work out. Our conversations with Three Rivers coach Ramon Soliz revealed there was no room for us in the press box or in the home stands because of the attendance mandate, and that we’d have to set up on the visitor’s side of the stadium, where getting electricity would involve a whole lot of cabling on our part.
I worked this game with Ron Gray; we’ve had numerous broadcasting adventures and misadventures over the years, including trips to Arlington, Houston, McAllen, Weslaco, Brownsville, D’Hanis, and many other places. We approached this, as we have in the past, as a challenge to be conquered.
Coach Soliz sent us an aerial photograph of the stadium so we could see what we were facing. Ron mapped it out and bought a bunch of electrical cables to allow us to reach a place in the visiting stands. I didn’t mind being outdoors to broadcast – in fact, in this pandemic environment, I prefer that – but I wished we could have been on the home side, near the press box and my fellow media in case questions or problems arose. This was not possible. Coach Soliz thought we might have to set up at a goal line, just across the chain link fence around the track. We were determined to do better.
When we got to Three Rivers, we met at the Valero Station on 281 so Ron could take a picture of me standing in front of a well-known highway sign, apparently offering drivers a choice between visiting the federal prison or the stadium. (After much contemplation, we did choose to go to the stadium.)
Once we found an optimal place to park, a little over two hours before air time, we went to work. Ron got out several electrical cables he’d purchased for the broadcast and strung them from an outlet outside the field house, along the fence around the stadium to a corner of the stands at the 40 yard line. Along with the table, chairs, and electrical cables, Ron brought rugs to cover the cable in traffic areas and an ice chest filled with bottled water and Dr Pepper. In the 100 degree heat, I ended up drinking two bottles of water before the game even began.
I decided to set up in the back row, with a table set on top of one of the bleachers. It wasn’t ideal, but Ron’s table actually balanced pretty well. I decided to wait to set up the mixer and laptop until closer to air time because I didn’t want to subject them to the heat. (I’ve dealt with overheated equipment before. It’s not fun.)
Ron strung the electrical cables around the bleachers and the port-a-potties behind the visiting stands. We wanted as little foot traffic on the cables as we could manage. I dropped a cable from the stands for the final connection, and we decided to wait until 6:30 to set up the mixer and laptop for the 7 p.m. air time.
I went to the home stands to get some shade and was approached by a gentleman wearing a Three Rivers golf shirt. It was Three Rivers ISD Superintendent Les Dragon. He apologized that the district couldn’t arrange a better setup for us. I pointed out our table and assured him we’d be all right. I asked about the facilities, which looked very nice and had clearly benefitted from the Eagle Ford boom. Since I’ve done day-job Xerox business in Three Rivers for several years, I was able to impress Dragon with my knowledge of the town. Among other things, Dragon told me how the prison is actually the second most important employer in the city after the Valero plant, and many people advance from their work at the prison to jobs in New York or Sacramento. Others simply make a comfortable living until they retire.
Three Rivers’ football stadium is listed as “Bulldog Stadium” on TexasBob.com, but I told Dragon that Ron and I might occasionally called it “Three Rivers Stadium” during our broadcast. Dragon laughed and enjoyed the idea, especially since I knew the three rivers involved are the Frio, the Atascosa, and the Nueces. Ron and I plan to tell people we got to broadcast at Three Rivers Stadium and hope people to get too curious about details, such as the fact the Three Rivers Stadium closed in 2000, one year before I began broadcasting.
Dragon also got me a copy of the Three Rivers football roster, which I hadn’t received during the week.
Once it came time to setup, I had problems. I didn’t seem to be getting power to anything, but couldn’t be sure because the sun’s glare made the digital displays difficult to see. A few desperate tests confirmed the terrible truth: no power. We couldn’t be sure why we had a problem, but all of Ron’s work stringing cables and carefully knotting them so nothing would come unplugged had been for naught.
Fortunately, Ron had arranged an emergency plan. Ron has made several friends in the Falls City community (he’s never met a stranger) and knew the man who ran the generator that runs Falls City’s inflatable breakthrough. He’d agreed to let us work off his generator if we had to. It turns out, we had to. Thanks to him, we got on the air, although we had to start our pregame show late.
Yes, we haven’t even gotten to kickoff yet.
Broadcasting a game and managing the equipment in the process requires so much concentration that it’s hard to observe the stands. What we saw told us that Three Rivers was in compliance with Governor Abbott’s 50% capacity mandate. Some people who were seated might have been maskless, but anyone in transit was wearing a mask. Although it didn’t seem social/physically distancing of six feet was strictly followed, the fans’ natural instinct to respect personal space spread them throughout the stands. It helped that we were at a small stadium with no bad views of the action; it’s not as though we were contending with the third deck at Kyle Field.
Falls City’s marching band was set up on the track, allowing fans to use the bleachers. The band members were wearing their masks when they weren’t playing their instruments. Coaches wore masks, and game officials wore theirs during breaks in the action.
The quality of football was not up to what I’m used to, for a variety of justifiable reasons. By the time I’m available to watch Falls City play, it’s usually December and they’re at least in the third round of the playoffs. For this opener, they only suited up 20 players, they had a new coach, and they were coming off a summer where coronavirus restrictions severely limited their practice time. (Twenty players doesn’t sound like much, but that’s about 17% percent of the Falls City student body. An equivalent turnout at, say, Reagan, would result in 600 boys turning out to play football.)
As for Three Rivers, they had their own challenges. Coach Soliz is in his first year at Three Rivers, and his son Caden was starting at quarterback as a freshman. This would be a challenging situation WITHOUT a pandemic to deal with.
Once dusk approached, the glare abated, allowing me to see my equipment readings properly. Unfortunately, this revealed a new problem; as the sun was setting, Ron noticed that the stadium lights had not been turned on. Late in the first quarter, the stadium lights were indeed turned on – then the lights on the home side of the stadium went off. After the first quarter, with only half the stadium lighted, the officials met to discuss whether play could continue. Ron and I wondered on the air whether everyone had gone to such extensive lengths to make this game happen, only for the game to be canceled.
Thankfully, the lights came on so play could continue. As it happens, the lights were terrific. Most smaller school venues I’ve worked at have poor lighting, which makes it difficult to discern the action at the goal lines. Bulldog Stadium had no such problems.
The broadcast did become a challenge again when the wind started gusting. At least five times, my spotter board was carried away by a burst of wind, forcing Ron or one of the Falls City spectators to retrieve it for me. (Thank you all, by the way.)
Falls City won 41-20. Ron and I agreed that although Three Rivers quarterback Caden Soliz struggled at times, he had good size and potential and was not dependent on nepotism for playing time. Falls City was learning a new offense under Head Coach Mark Kirchhoff, who returns this year after stints at Iraan and Harper. The Beavers ran the triple option and threw only three passes the entire game. Beaver quarterback Jaxson Pipes faked several handoffs very well, he and Grant Jendrusch had success running the ball, and Darren Lopez returned an interception for a late touchdown.
Beyond that, it was difficult for me to evaluate the action. Stautz asked me what I thought of Falls City and their chances for a return to the state championship game, and I honestly feel helpless to say. I know what a good 6A football team looks like in August, but I don’t know what a good 2A team looks like in August. For example, one year I covered Devine vs Pleasanton (teams in what is now 4A) in their season opener, and I was disappointed in the quality of play. I believe this was because I was used to seeing these schools play in November, when the players have grown and learned the plays and the coaches have figured out who fits best in what role and who has the endurance to play both offense and defense.
In August, everyone is still learning.
Ron and I had one more reminder of the coronavirus effect. When the game ended, Ron noticed that players from each team lined up at the 50 yard line, as if for the traditional postgame handshake. However, UIL regulations for this season prohibit this handshake.
Had the players forgotten? Were they defying the rules?
The players did indeed approach each other, but instead of shaking hands, they bumped elbows.
The breakdown of the gear featured a scare after I’d powered off my gear. While Ron was gathering up cables, a gust of wind tipped the table. My laptop fell two rows down the bleachers; my mixer fell three rows down. Thankfully, nothing was damaged, but I had a nervous 90 minute drive home before I could test everything I find out it was okay.
The coronavirus was a persistent presence all night. Despite this, there was escape. There was competition. There were children having fun even as they observed precaution.
Hopefully, this will serve as a good start.
(Soon, I plan to post Part 2, about my Saturday broadcast.)
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