Team Picture - Ryan McCartney with Game Ball. Many football fans have probably seen the football movie recently released called Friday Night Lights. It is about a high school football team from Odessa, Texas who play their games on - yes you guessed it Friday night! The short and sweet premise of the movie is simple. Odessa, Texas is a town that loves to watch their football team play under the lights on a Friday night. There is not much difference between Odessa and Garden City after what went down last Friday night at Community Park. A big crowd turned out to watch the GCAA Thunder Football Eight Old maroon team play under the lights last Friday. The Thunder team faced the Hawks from Farmingdale. The game turned out to be a classic battle between two very tough competitive teams.

Game Captains McCartney Nolan Castro Esposito Brennan The start of the game is not the way Thunder had expected it to go. Farmingdale on their first two possessions of the game scored quickly and were soon leading by a score of 13-0! What could been a long night based on Farmingdale's early success with the ball - became a nail biter by the end of the game. The Garden City defense settled in and decided enough was enough - realizing that we had our work cut out for them if they were going to get back into the game. A very determined defense decided it was time to shut down the Hawks scoring machine. The defense led by hard hitting Patrick Slevensky started to pound the Hawks offense. Some say that Slovensky's plays like Bobby Bouche from the movie Water Boy. Pound for pound Slovensky is generally regarded as one of the best stickers on the team. Do not get caught standing around the pile before the whistle is blown or you will regret it! Supporting Slovensky is a defense crew that dares you to run against them. Gang tackling, with an occasional pile on mentality is usually the main course offered on this defensive menu. Big games were also turned in by Chris Moscatiello and Danny Krumm, who anchor the defensive line at the end positions. Once the defense settles down they are tough to score against. Luke Armstrong plays tough all of the time all the time on defense. Carson Bauer had an outstanding tackle down near the goal line preventing the Hawks from scoring on one critical play. I am not sure what hurt more - making the tough tackle or the person who was tackled? Ben Walsh made some very big tackles playing at the defensive tackle position and Thomas Wright came up big with key tackles when they were needed the most playing Outside Linebacker. Coach Bauer always complains about letting his QB play linebacker, but isn't that what his almamater is notoriously know for. It's like the pot calling the kettle black. Credit for keeping the defense extremely focused throughout the game is due to the great coaching of Mike Borges, Todd Esposito, and Mark Slovensky!

Thunder Defense Danny Krumm at DE With a little over three minutes to go in the first half Garden City started to move the ball against a tough Farmingdale defense. Running the ball hard were Thunder running backs Matt Borges, Ryan Eschman, Connor Muldoon, and Thomas Wright. Eschman ran the newly enhanced 47 counter with a pulling guard for some huge gains. That's right - you read it correctly - Thunder football has eight year old players that can play pulling guard position and lead block for the ball carrier. Matt Borges kept the Hawks defense honest up the middle grinding out tough and well earned yards. Connor Muldoon ran T-right 28 pitch, with Thomas Wright getting a key lead block on the cornerback coming up hard in an attempt to make the tackle. Muldoon was able to weave through the defense like a hot knife going through butter. Muldoon scored from 30 yards out on the play. The extra point was needed - and once again The Mighty Quinn McDonagh was called up to play QB and execute the Tight End Reverse. Needless to say Quinn once against demonstrated a cool poise and Thunder scored on the extra point conversion to end the half trailing the Hawks by a score of 13-7.

Coach Borges giving instructions to the Defense Because Thunder lost the toss at the start of the game they elected to take the ball starting the second half. On the very first play of the second half Coach Bauer called a QB sweep left. Before you could complete the JB verse "Grape Fruit - My Bathing Suit, Chew A Little Juicy - It's Good For Your Soul," Thomas Wright had scampered 55 yards for a touchdown that tied the game. The run would not have been possible if the offensive line failed on their assignments to drive block against the man in front of them. The key block came from Jack Brennan who had the towering responsibility to seal the defensive end with a block by getting his helmet and shoulder pads in between the ball carrier and the defensive player. Thunder failed to convert on a critical extra point - but the game which at first looked to be a blow out was now in fact tied 13-13! This team could have easily given up or quit playing when they were down early in the game 13-0. In the Webster Dictionary the definition for the word quit is defined as - "To cease to perform : stop." It is safe to say that there is not one quitter on the team. It is a team made up of cast characters who are dedicated warriors that have put too much effort into this season just to lay down when the going gets tough! Did we quit when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.........NO! Thank you John Belushi for that great movie line.

At half-time only one adjustment was made by the coaching staff. A decision was made to start with a goal line defense. The objective was to stop The Hawks and get the ball back in our possession. The strategy worked - but Thunder failed to score when they got the ball back. The Hawks in turn once again held and turned the ball over on downs to GC after failing to get a first down on fourth and very short yardage attempt. Thunder had the ball on there own 40 yard line with very little time left in the game. Thunder drove all the way down to the 10 yard line when they used their last time out with 10 seconds left to play in the game. The Hawks came up big on the last play of the game and stopped the drive. The game ended in a tie 13-13.

Some might say it was a disappointment to come back after being down only to loose when you are so close to scoring the winning touchdown and have the clock run out on you. But, both the coaches and parents who watched this game under the lights last Friday night witnessed a bunch of eight year olds demonstrate characteristics associated only with winners. They never gave up and battled back from big deficit early in the game. Vince Lombardi was once quoted saying "The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender." The lessons learned on a football field today with these young football players will hopefully be applied to real life situations one day in the future.

A game ball signed by each player and was given to Ryan McCartney at the conclusion of the game. Unfortunately Ryan is out for the season with an injury. He is a tough player - who contributions to the team will be missed this season. He has promised team-mates that he will be back next year to play!

At the conclusion of the game Ben Walsh and his parents Barbara and Kevin invited the entire team back to their house for a post game celebration. A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to the Walsh family for hosting the party! Needless to say the game and get together afterwards made for very special and memorable Friday Night Lights football game.

FINS UP!

P.S. An extra special THANK YOU goes out to the Garden City Recreation Department for making Friday Night Football a reality. Without their help and support the games at Community Park would not be possible!