Tommie-Johnnie football (Week 9, part II)

For anyone that thinks they have the biggest, most intense, most verbal, most historical rivalry, please make some sort of attempt to attend a St. John's/St. Thomas football game in your lifetime.

5,800 screaming fans packed into O'Shaughnessy Stadium on Saturday. And I would venture a pretty safe guess that 3,500 of those fans were either wearing White and Cardinal Red, or at least their blood was pumping them.

Prior to the kickoff, prior to the coin flip or the beautiful rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner there was an announcement about the fire marshal and filing onto the track to watch the game when the stands filled. From what I could see on the sidelines there were far more than 800 people milling in the end zone areas.

And then it started. I was on the Johnnie sideline yakking it up with Tim Ward and I missed it. Brandon Royce-Diop took the kickoff from the Johnnie 10 and cruised through the Tommie special teams like they were mosquitos flying over the interstate and Royce-Diop was a windshield. There was no turning back at this point.

While I was distracted, I did happen to have three more photographers on or near the field taking photos. Dave Sanders and Scott Pierson, who both worked the UMAC Dome Day with me the day before, and Tim Ward who was making only his second appearance at an MIAC event since going under the knife to repair some damage to his back. I think the last time I saw Tim was the heart-breaker (for him) in Whitewater. It was a very quiet drive back from Wisconsin that year.

Please forgive me, I am not a writer. I know the English language pretty well and, at one point in time, worked for a national preps website as both a photographer and a journalist. But that was in the last millennium and for the long-time readers of this website you haven't seen a byline with my name on it outside of photo and art credits.

Enough about the game, on to the pictures!