A Great Experience: All Access

I have gone to many South Florida High School football games in the past 5 years and I came up with this idea of going all access with a high school team to enrich my view on how South Florida High School football separates its self from the nation. This past Friday, I had the privilege to tag along with the Atlantic Eagles, out of Delray Beach coached by Christopher Bean.

My First Experience with the team was meeting the players on Monday during their film session. All the players were very active and alert during the film sessions. The Coaches gave extremely detailed information on who blocks who etc.

The Eagles out of Palm Beach County traveled to Dade County to take on the Tornadoes of Booker T. Washington on Friday. During the team’s pregame dinner, Coach Bean told his players some words of encouragement. The players were getting very pumped and ready for the game.

Friday afternoon I met up with the team for their pregame meal at the school and the mood was calm but everyone was hyped to play. Everyone was going over plays. I saw the QB and the WR in one corner and the O-Line in the other. The defense was going through walk throughs . Every player wanted to be there. It was a great atmosphere.

The Bus Ride:

The bus ride took about 1 1/2 hours to get there. On the way down to Dade County, Atlantic’s players were calm as can be listening to music and just talking about past games in their high school careers. Some were sleeping (as pictured above).

The Arrival:

Once we got to Booker T. Washington’s field, the music was off. The talking stopped. Everyone looked like soldiers on a mission. (I personally was kind of intimidated by the Eagles as they walked off the bus. This Football team looked totally different.)

The Game:

Booker T. Washington came out on top by the final score of 33 to 12.

Personal Thought: There were many questionable calls against both teams. Both teams had it rough with the refs. I talked to Ezekiel Turner Aka “Zeke”. Turner told me that they fought hard out there and also said that “this is the reason for preseason to see what we have to work on.”

Atlantic plays Pahokee this Friday night at Atlantic High School in Delray Beach. 5$ admission at the gate.