Rams 30, Blazers 6

St. Peter the Apostle opened its varsity season Saturday morning with a rigorous game against the Bethesda Academy Blazers. St. Peter's reigned victorious with a score of 30-6. If mascots are any indicator, there should have been no surprise. Ours is a horned mountain goat.

Theirs is men's sportswear.

But if size is any indicator, there should have been no telling what would happen on O'Brien field this morning. Bethesda had some whoppers on its team--so big, in fact, that for a moment, I though the league had gotten confused and matched St. Peter's up against Savannah High School.

Look at Bethesda's #79 and #32. They're huge!

But then they also had some players on their team that worried me because they were so small. Don't get me wrong. I know we have some smaller boys on our team too, but Bethesda's #11 so was so tiny, at first I thought he was a third grader who wandered onto the field. And he was matched up against Lawson. 

 He was so small I drew an arrow pointing to him. 

I was hoping this tyke wouldn't get his hands on the ball because if he did, he would just run through Lawson's legs and zip on down to the goal line like a little mosquito before anybody would know what was happening. Fortunately, Bethesda's little guy never touched the ball, and all Lawson had to do was put a hand on the kid's helmet and hold him steady while the rest of the scrimmage took place.

 

I'll tell you who had a great game today:  Matt Lowenthal (yes, that Matt Lowenthal). Matt scored the Rams' first touchdown, and then he scored another! I think his mama put a quarter in him before he reported for warm-ups. And another player who had a great day was Garrett Ducey, who completed two passes for the team, one of them earning St. Peter's a first down. 

There's Matt. He's #24.

And Garrett is on the left hand side, #40, the one with the name Garrett written underneath him.

Even though Lawson usually plays defense, he played on both sides of the ball this time because SPA's Ian Heap was injured. So he got into the game a little more today (as you can see in the photo above), his defensive play was more significant today than his offensive play. He got in on some pretty good stops against some speeding Blazers, and I was proud each time the announcer mentioned his name on the loudspeaker. 

And then I noticed what I think made a big difference:  his gloves. 

Nike gloves. The same kind college football players wear. Maybe even pro. No wonder he looked more confident on the field. The professional strength rubber on those gloves made it easier for him to grip an opponent and push him out of bounds. Yes, gloves were the trick. I wish we'd known about them earlier. If gloves make him that much more effective on the playing field, imagine what they can do for him in the way of unloading groceries or pushing a lawn mower! Can't wait to find out.

And I can't wait to see Saint Peter the Apostle Rams play again on Thursday, September 13th as they face Blessed Sacrament. Although  Blessed Sacrament has some behemoths on its team too (real neanderthals, I tell you), Lawson won't be intimidated. He'll have the mighty gloves. Which means he can hold those big boys back, paving the way for Matt, Drew, and Garrett to run the ball across the goal line.

Go, Rams!