SPORTS TALK

with Michael Betteridge

If Rodeo Was Easy, They’d Call It Football
My 21-year-old granddaughter, Maida, lives on a farm up in Ortanna, Pennsylvania. She is an accomplished barrel racer, competing often at the Chambersburg Saddle Club. For many years, I coached her brother, Stephen, in Fairfield youth football. My daughter, Corinne, their mother, and her family love two things: horses and football! I’m not sure which one they love more. My daughter grew up around horses and Redskins fanatics. Her mom was an accomplished equestrian rider who loved horses, and I loved football. Do you see a pattern yet?

Corinne had to endure years and years of HTTR (Hail to the Redskins), and when she went away to college, she met a great guy. Well, I thought he was great until I found out he was from Pittsburgh. Now, all my grandchildren are stolen Steelers fans. How could this be? I guess there was some trade-off there since she convinced the guy from Pittsburgh, who knew nothing about horses, to buy a horse farm where they could raise their family.

Recently, at one of Maida’s rodeo competitions, I saw a big, tough-looking kid with a T-shirt on that said: “If Rodeo was easy they’d call it Football.” I pointed it out to my granddaughter, and we laughed. Her brother, my Fairfield senior football-playing grandson, didn’t think it was funny.

Several weeks ago, I attended the opening day practice for the Catoctin Cougars. I was stunned with how big and strong their offensive line looked. Their returning starting center, Hoyt Sayler, weighs 300 pounds! Their returning starting left tackle, Deacon McIlvaine, is 6’4” and 290 pounds. Returning starter left guard, Ethan Robeson, is 255. And, then, I saw Shane Milbourne walk up to the line of scrimmage, the smallest lineman on the team at 6’2” 230. This kid had an air about him that I couldn’t describe. He looked battle-tested…Marine tough…the kid was scary! I asked Coach Rich: “What’s up with that kid?” And he just smiled. Later in his office, Coach told me that this was the best offensive line Catoctin has seen in years.

With four returning starters, a great summer in the weight room, and high football IQs, he was really excited about this season. Then, Coach Rich said something to me that gave me an instant flashback. I asked Coach if he could think of any great stories about his players to share with the fans, and he told me that his right guard, Shane Milbourne, is a rodeo champion. Instantly, that T-shirt flashed in my brain. That explained everything. So, I looked up Shane online and found out that not only is he a rodeo champ, but he won the Central Pennsylvania Youth Rodeo Association’s 14-18-year-old calf-roping championship this summer and placed third in all round points. If that weren’t enough, his brother Wyatt placed second in calf roping and sixth all round in the competition! Wyatt is one of two Catoctin varsity quarterbacks. The Milbourne brothers are an old Garth Brooks song in the flesh: “It’s the ropes and the reins and the joy and the pain” as the lyrics go. After a tough summer of rodeo competition, you finish it off with a grueling fall football season. And you thought you knew tough.

Picture you’re one of Boonsboro’s starting defensive front three, staring into the eyes of a guy who wrestles steers for fun, and he comes at you with his 300-pound Cougar friend, their center. That’s underwear changing time!

The offensive line finishes out with Tyler Boke, Joziah Payne, and Jayden Worthington competing for time. Any football coach will tell you that it always starts and ends with the line. And this one is scary good.

Here’s some advice. Shaymus Stull and Jake Bell, take your offensive line to Golden Corral before the season starts and also every time they win.

Speedster Shaymus Stull is the Catoctin senior starting quarterback. Last year, Shaymus stepped up into the starting position when Haydn Matthews was injured, and he carried the team deep into the third round of the playoffs. Coach Rich plans to capitalize on Shaymus’ speed and quickness, grit, and determination. Stull is a Cougars track star. His backup is quarterback rodeo cowboy, Wyatt Milbourne. That’s a pretty good combo in the backfield. And, speaking of backfields, Jake Bell is bigger, stronger, smarter, and quicker than last year. This is his year. Jake is always smiling. I love this kid! He should be smiling a lot this year from the opponent’s endzone. Tyler McCallion will handle wide receiver duties this year, along with Ben Bingman, Brady Davis, Konnor Dodson, Kendall Jones, Levi Misner, and Urban Moore.

On a difficult note, running back Hunter Bradshaw tore up his knee in lacrosse last spring. He was out on the field for opening football practice in street clothes and is an inspiration to every Cougars football player for what he has been through with his surgery and rehab. He will be greatly missed in the backfield, but not on the sidelines.

Catoctin has a 31-player roster this year. They will find out early how good they are, facing two of the top 1A football teams in the whole state early in the season. Coach made a smart choice to head up to Fort Hill on August 30 to scrimmage the 1A state champion. That will give them a pretty good understanding of where they stand a week before opening day with rival Boonsboro in the first game of the season, followed by the second game of the season against state 1A runner-up Mountain Ridge in Frostburg. That’s a tough way to start any season, but it will bring clarity to the mission.

I have some more advice, this time for new first-year athletic director, Brett Campbell. For that Catoctin home opener against Williamsport on September 20, make sure you have that Garth Brooks song “Rodeo” in your workout mixtape and for all the fans, tighten your “riggin” and plan on covering (that’s cowboy talk….look it up). This is going to be a wild rodeo season.