Is there really just one week left of October? Doesn’t it seem like fall sports just began a couple weeks ago? Or is it just me?
Sure, I know they say time flies, and man it does fly the older you get, but it just seems like every year goes by even faster, and this year is no exception.
But, here we are, the football regular season comes to an end tonight while the other fall sports are wrapping up rapidly. Heck, basketball practice is just 10 days away.
Before I get into talking about football for a bit and explaining the name of this blog, let me first give a shout out to a couple of teams.
Congratulations to the Ray-Pec Girls Golf team for its first-ever state championship. What an accomplishment for a group of girls that return four or five players from this year’s state tournament. Now, go repeat and win that title next year. I was lucky enough to win two team state titles in cross country in high school and I only wish many more athletes could experience that awesome sensation.
Also, congrats to the volleyball teams who are still playing this fall. Despite losing a key, senior and one of its best players, Archie was able to win its district last night. Congrats Lady Whirlwinds. And good luck to the teams still playing.
Just a quick bit of info about this blog. I will try to write something once every week or two about the local high school scene or maybe something nationally if it’s topical enough. It will just be online and not in the paper, and might be just a quick interview with a coach, or athlete and catching up on how they’re doing.
But as I said earlier, I ran cross country and track in high school in college, so the title “Going the
Distance” makes perfect sense for me. Plus, it’s a little play on words about looking at a team or an athlete or a sport and giving me a little extra bit of information. Additionally, it’s also similar to one of the quotes used in “Field of Dreams,” which is one of my favorite sports movies ever.
As many know, tonight is the final night of the high school football regular season. Some teams even ended the season last night or last week if they had a bye this week.
There are many scenarios left to be played out tonight with the district standings and seedings. I’m quite curious to see how it all plays out.
Adrian is playing quite well the second half of the season and hoping to land the No. 2 seed in its district.
Archie has the No. 1 seed locked up and looks to be on my path to another deep playoff run.
Drexel is looking for a win and possibly a No. 3 seed, and then maybe a rematch with Appleton City in the district semifinals.
Harrisonville can win the conference and likely lock up the top seed if it can win at Odessa tonight.
Midway is off this week, but that’s a tough physical team that not many opponents want to see in the playoffs.
Pleasant Hill has began to turn things around after a tough season. The Roosters have had success the past few years and could be dangerous if they get things clicking this week or next.
Sherwood is looking for that second win this week. The Marksman haven’t had the season they wanted, but they’re still fighting and showing signs of life. They could be dangerous in the next round.
Now it’s time to see what happens on the gridiron tonight. Good luck to all of our area teams.
