The "Sittin' On The Wrong Side" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just found the car right where I had left it three hours ago under the #37 light post in the Hershey Stadium parking lot.  Thought I could find a closer spot, but after searching for five minutes, decided I better take the spot instead of having to walk an additional five minutes to get to the Stadium.  This evening my wife and I as well as my daughter and granddaughters attended the annual Big 33 High School All-Star Football game.  My son-in-law Dave was the head coach for the Maryland team that faced the team from my home state of Pennsylvania.  Dave has been a highly successful high school football coach with nine straight playoff appearances, three trips to the 4A State Championship Game and one State Title and Maryland decided to name him the head coach for tonight's prestigious game.  He had a coaching staff of 7 assistants as well as having one of his players playing in the game.  For tonight's game I had to switch my allegiance and sit on the Maryland side of the stadium.  Hundreds of red towels waved in the night air for the away team while the other side of the stadium was dotted with blue towels.  Perfect evening for some football.  We arrived an hour before the game and found our seats in section 28, right at midfield.  Both teams were introduced which took almost half an hour since there where 33 players on each team as well as the coaches.  The cheerleaders unfurled a huge flag, the local National Guard presented the colors and a young girl sung the National Anthem.  Then ........ off in the distance we heard a roar as the Penn State Hershey Medical Center Life Lion helicopter approached the stadium.  Flying at over 150 MPH it quickly reached the field, circled a few times before stopping, dipping the front of the copter to both sides in the stadium and soaring off into the twilight. Wow, what a start!  Then the lightening began.  Lightening in the form of the blue suited Pennsylvania team.  After the first one minute and fifty-six seconds the Maryland team was behind by three touchdowns!!  The red side sat in shocked silence as Dave and his assistants tried to right the ship.  The only thing I had to cheer about in the opening quarter was the fantastic catch that our hometown PA Manheim Township product Tyler Karpinski had made to keep a touchdown drive alive.  The Maryland team settled down and managed to pull within striking range as the half ended with the score 37-20.  You could just feel and see the hurt that my daughter and granddaughters felt for their husband and dad.  In a game such as the Big 33 game, the players only have minimum time to get to know each other and their playbook for the game and both teams had trouble stopping the opposing team for parts of the evening.  During the halftime the 33 red-clad and 33 blue-clad cheerleaders put on a stirring performance that had the crowd cheering and clapping.  The second half was just about a carbon-copy of the first with the final score 58-27.  Tough night for the red team with the Pennsylvania coach passing on almost every play in the last quarter as well as faking a punt on 4th down to gain another score.  After the game we made our way to mid-field to console a rather upbeat head coach who approached us with a smile on his face.  His team did their best and he was proud of them for playing hard until the last snap.  It was an exciting and thrilling evening and provided many memories for our family.  And, there's always next year!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - If you care to contact Dave through his Twitter account: #@QOCoach

Maryland's Head Coach

Pre-game color presentation and National Anthem 

Penn State Hershey Medical Center helicopter Life Lion

Opening kickoff touchdown.

Halftime performance 

Stadium from the top row at midfield. 

Granddaughter Camille never gave up hope for her Dad.

Courtney, Dave, Camille and Brynn