October 31

Week #10 of high-school football arrived on October 31, they say strange things happen on Halloween and this day was a beautiful example. The McCaskey HS Athletic Hall-Of-Fame was instituted in the late 1980s, back in June I learned that I had been selected for induction in 2014. The ceremonies were held in the school library in late afternoon prior to the game versus Conestoga Valley. Athletic director Jon Mitchell was the emcee, I had asked him to allow me to be the first inductee to come forward. This was for three basic reasons: (1) I didn't plan to speak for very long at all because public speaking makes me very uneasy (on the mic in the arena is one thing, front-and-center before an audience is something else altogether), (2) I wanted the focus to be more on the other inductees because they were ATHLETES, something I could never claim to be and (3) in case things ran long I could exit gracefully in order to head over to the stadium and prepare for the game (there were some who felt I should take the night off entirely but there was no need for that in my mind). Luckily the ceremonies were not terribly overlong, I was in the stadium by 5:50 for the 7:00 kickoff (a little later than my normal arrival time but it all worked out). At halftime the new inductees were formally introduced to the crowd, I handled it myself as I would in any other year. I touched briefly on the fact that I was one of the group, from there it was all about spotlighting them. My fellow inductees (with sport and graduation year) include Earl "Skip" Sites (basketball and baseball, class of 1964), Pat Hoffman Meiser (basketball, 1965), Brooke Walls (track and field, 1989), Sherry Lee Williams (track and field, 1990) and Joel Holler (football, basketball and track, 2003). A very distinguished group and I am truly honored to be included. In the game itself Conestoga Valley (a member of LL section I for the first time in many years) made its first appearance at McCaskey Stadium since 1988. The Red Tornado scored first on a La'Detrius Sibley TD pass to Kobe Gantz but CV responded with twenty-one unanswered points. Another TD catch by Gantz made it 21-14 but two more CV touchdowns extended the advantage to 34-14 at the half (CV missed an extra point on the one TD, it would prove to be the difference). In the third quarter Randolph Speller ran for a score to draw JPM within thirteen but another CV touchdown made it 41-21 and with eight minutes left it appeared the matter was decided. From there all hell broke loose, a Sibley TD run and another scoring catch by Gantz brought JPM within six. With twenty seconds left in regulation time Sibley found Speller in the end zone for the tying touchdown, Max Chalfont's extra point (he was six-for-six in that department) gave the Red Tornado an incredible 42-41 victory. The team's final mark is 4-6, a nice rebound from the 0-10 record in 2013. After the game I congratulated head coach Rob Monzon on the victory and he congratulated me on the HOF honor. A good night all the way around and one that will be remembered for some time. Take care, thanks for reading.