2011 IHSAA Football, Week 2

Tonight I attended what has become the county’s premier high school football rivalry: Solon-Regina.

I hate Regina, but I would gladly pay to see them get beat. Or, better yet, to see them get slaughtered like their ancestors did in the Colosseum. However, that did not happen tonight.

I went with my old man, uncle, and cousin. My uncle and cousin are the Regina side of the family. Despite that flaw, they’re good people. We sat/stood in the top row of the new home side bleachers at Regina’s field. My old man and I were hoping the defending 3A Champion Spartans would be able to hang with the defending 2A Champion Regals, especially since we were essentially behind enemy lines. They could not.

Regina did not steamroll Solon, but the final score — 35-9 — makes it seem that way. The Regals are not as big as they were last year, but they are still massive. Their offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage and created space for their massive halfback. The guy is a fucking horse. Somebody must be spiking the school lunches with steroids at Regina, because the school is fielding massive athletes on the football field. Once a perennial doormat in all sports, Regina is now producing state champions. Hmm… My cousin told me Regina has a fulltime strength and conditioning coach who was an intern for Iowa’s Chris Doyle. That explains a lot.

A fulltime strength and conditioning coach? Jesus.

One really cool thing about tonight’s game was that the game ball was presented by both school’s cross country teams, which ran together all the way from Solon’s high school. It is apparently an 11-mile run, and they miraculously appeared right on time. (I wonder if they were just chilling in Hickory Hill and then jogged up the hill at the appropriate time.)