article by guest corespondent, Brody Jones
On Friday night under the lights of the orange and black team from the bituminous mountain, the boys from “South Of the River” ran into an orange and black clad juggernaut in the Coalfield Yellow Jackets, falling by a 34-0 tally. Coalfield marched down the field early and the Jackets blazed through the “Gang-Green” defense like General Sherman on his way to Georgia in the Civil War. The PAT was good, making the score 7-0 early on. Midway had a chance to respond and “The Artful Dodger” himself, Shandon Lyle, engineered what looked to be a potential scoring drive before the drive stalled on downs at the Jackets 30 yard line. After another Jackets scoring drive, that saw the “Gang-Green” line take a huge blow when Hayden Hester suffered an apparent LCL injury, Midway tried valiantly to get something going, but Coalfield, perhaps thinking with the mindset of former WWE wrestler Edge, played the ultimate opportunists, preying upon turnovers. However, to give the boys from “South Of the River” credit, they were only down 13-0 at halftime. Midway was given what appeared to be an early Christmas present courtesy of a fumble, but it turned to be the equivalent of Clark Griswold’s “Jelly Of The Month Club” bonus from the classic movie “Christmas Vacation” after an errant pass went to the Coalfield defense, who returned it deep into Coalfield territory. After that, the team from the bituminous mountain smelled blood in the water and pounced for 21 third quarter points to take a 34-0 lead. Midway, however, never mailed it in and the boys from “South Of the River”, despite a third-round playoff loss, finish the year at 9-4, a far cry from so-called “experts” (Sonny Moore, I’m looking right at you!) 3-7 prediction. The entire community should be very proud of the Waves players and coaching staff for a remarkable season.