SPORTS TALK

with Michael Betteridge

What Happened To Mountainball?

High school sports opened the fall season officially on Tuesday, September 3, with golf, soccer, and volleyball. The following day, girls flag football and field hockey kicked off. The opening fall season sports week continued on Friday, September 6, with football, and then cross-country track on Saturday, September 7. That’s seven great high school competitive sporting events.

With one full month under our belts, as we slip into October, some questions need to be answered. What has happened to Catoctin sports? 

Between the seven sports I just described, our teams have a combined win-loss record of 3-17. One win for boys soccer. The girls are 0-3. Girls flag football is 1-3. Field hockey is 0-3.  And our beloved Cougars football team is 1-3, heading into homecoming, having been defeated two in a row, then pulling out a stunner to beat Williamsport. I’m still trying to catch up to the cross-country team. What happened to Mountain Ball?

Meanwhile, our neighbors in Frederick County—Walkersville and Linganore—are destroying opponents. Walkersville football beat Poolesville 70-0 in mid-September, and that was with a running clock and a sportsmanlike knee down to keep from scoring more points in the second half. Linganore crushed South Carroll 42-3 that same week. That’s a combined score of 112-3! And Linganore proved why they were in the championship last year, beating Walkersville 49-12.

I know it’s easy to get down on programs when things are tough. In my junior year in football, we headed into our last game without a win at 0-9.   Coach thought it was funny to call me “Beverage” because it sounded like Betteridge, and it made my teammates laugh all season. He announced on our last game on the bus to Churchill that if we beat the Bulldogs, he would call me by my right name. My teammates privately told me they would make it happen just to see him stop teasing me. We tied that game and finished the season 0-9-1. On the bus ride home, Coach stood up, and in front of the entire team, announced: “Beverage will be buying the beverages when we get back to school.” No one laughed. It was dead silent.

It reminds me of that old saying by the Washington Redskins Coach George Allen: “Losing is like dying.”

Come on, Cougars! Give me some wins, and I’ll buy the “beverages.”