Friday Night Lights: Armuchee v. Dade County

I freaking love high school football.

Had to shoot two games last night (more on that at the bottom).  And Ken had the 300 2.8 lens (we have joint custody), so I just had to make do with my 70-200 2.8. Ain’t easy, but I manage.

For my first game, undefeated Armuchee played undefeated Dade County, wherein by the time I left with two minutes in the first half, Armuchee was stomping the holy tar out of Dade County 27-0 (I believe final score was 34-7), plus one more touchdown that didn’t count because of a flag.

I kinda felt bad for the Dade County kids, really, but then I kind of felt good for the Armuchee kids, because uh… they’re not exactly known for being good at football. Last year they went 6-4, and that was their first winning season in 10 years. And this year they are 3-0, and not only are they 3-0, it seems they’ve been doing it with all the style and flair that is a high school football game that also isn’t a giant total clusterfuck. Good job guys.

I’m pretty sure the fire extinguisher smoke is new. I shot a lot of Armuchee games last year and I don’t remember that. Whatever.

This would have looked a little better had my thunder thigh not hit my aperture dial when the camera was at my side and knocked it to f/11 instead of f/4. Oh well.

I just haven’t been feeling the cheerleader pictures lately. Reckon it might have something to do with the fact that they cheer in spurts and I’m in a hurry and action shots are at a premium, I don’t always have the time or patience to stand around waiting for them to do cheerleader stuff.

That boy in the middle there is Armuchee star TC Boyd, who is apparently good at every sport ever. And below here is… a flag girl. When you’re shooting two games that don’t have stagger started times (i.e. both games start at 7:30 p.m.), you don’t get to hang around for half time to get photos of the band and core performances, so you gotta get your shots in early.

Unlike the last two weeks, this week I had to shoot two games on Friday night, which is always exciting and usually involves me driving like a mad banshee through some dark backroad trying to get to the other game across the county as quickly as possible. I manage. Except that one time last year when I parked behind the press box on the hill and I (and about 17 other cars) got blocked in by some guy who must have thought since he was physically handicapped he should park like he was mentally handicapped, and then once I got out in turns out security locked the gate, then I had to find some guy with a key, and then I didn’t even make it out of the area before having to stop and wait on the longest train in the history of the universe.

Anyway. I make do.

For the story on PrepCentral and a gallery with probably some more photos…

Armuchee improves to 3-0 by Alex Farrer

and for more 2009 high school football on the blog here…

• Aug. 29 – Unity Christian v. FCA
• Sept. 5- Adairsville v. West Forsyth

Photos from last night’s Model-Trion game coming relatively soon, but now… I gotta go make food. And then go to work. I got a golf tournament and college ball to shoot today. Woohoo.