Football- With All The Trimmings

Having followed the Longmeadow Lancers more or less throughout this football season, we had to see their game vs. equally potent rival East Longmeadow Spartans, for the AA conference championship. Parking lots were brimming over, the stands were full, and the field was ringed with onlookers on this Thanksgiving morning.







Longmeadow got ahead first, scoring two touchdowns to lead for all of the first quarter, until East Lonmeadow came back with a TD early in the 2nd.



The plays were well executed, and each of these two nearly undefeated teams pulled out all the stops to try to bring home the AA championship.





Support staff worked feverishly behind the scenes to keep their respective teams running smoothly...



The first half cruised by quickly and during half time the kid and I found an opening in the bleachers, where sat ourselves right behind the band members. This gave us a good insight into the inner workings of the all-important, moral-boosting musical component of the game.



The band was pretty good and surprisingly well led by a couple of the students, rather than faculty. The cheerleaders worked perfectly in sync with whatever ditty they chose to put out.

The second half resumed, and the play got grittier...





The Spartans scored again to close the gap, but Longmeadow responded with another TD of their own. The Spartans suffered a couple of setbacks in the third, including a turnover in the Lancers' favor...



...and an important, close-but-failed fourth down conversion, that was close enough to bring out the chains.





Still the Spartans hung in there; playing great defence throughout the 4th until finally scoring again in with about 4 minutes remaining. Then they followed that score with a successful, crucial onside kick, keeping them alive as the Spartans' side of the field erupted in cheers.



But the high point of the game was to come in the final seconds.



The Spartans were now down by 2 points, and had worked their way to easy field goal range for an almost definite win. But then they were pushed back several yards on third down with a sack on a seemingly totally unnecessary pass play. This brought out the field goal kicker for a now questionably long 45 yarder...

Everyone was on their feet for this one.



This kick was a good one, straight on...



...but just missed.



The Lancers had won.





It was a hard-earned win, in a close game between two well-matched teams.



Good Thanksgiving stuff.

It was time to go home, and enjoy the rest of the holiday...

Varsity Victories

The football game the other day in Easthamtpon was fun, so I swung by Longmeadow High School Friday night to catch some of that game between their Lancers, and Catholic Memorial...freshly bussed in from a school in Roxbury, out Boston way.

It was definitely a Longmeadow event, with probably a couple hundred in attendance.



It was apparently also the place to be among the high-schooling set. The majority of the local kids must have been there; not only watching the game but also just hanging out all around the field socializing...



It's funny, but I don't remember this much of a peer turnout for football games when I was in high school. Either this was a very important game, or Longmeadow teens have found an alternative to driving around and getting into trouble on Friday nights...

Friday was a mild and foggy night; more than comfortable for spectating and picture taking. School sports might just find a secure place on the perennially meager list of winter subjects to shoot. And besides, I was curious to see what the limits of my low-end camera/lens combo's capabilities were under the lights.





The game was another nail biter, with the score close until the very end...







And both teams played hard, almost on a college level, I'd say...



But it was a heart breaker for the home team as a late interception allowed Catholic Memorial to score again and eventually hold on to the lead for the win...



Tough break for the Lancers this time, but they're still doing well and from what I hear are among the top high school teams around.

Now, for a little UMass, daytime action...maybe next weekend...

Muskrat Love

Some observations from the Stebbins Wildlife refuge in Longmeadow recently....



Watching various birdlife peacefully taking turns at a feeder and the seed that fell about the ground, one particularly fiery goose arrived and proceeded to alienate his comrades by chasing them into the water...



...and then turned on anybody else that happened to be in his sphere of influence.



The ducks minded their own business and watched from a distance, staying clear of any trouble...



From across the water something came swimming to the shore at full speed...I thought it was a beaver at first but as it got closer I could see it was too small...



It reached the shore about five feet in front of me and scampered onto dry land, revealing itself to be a muskrat.



The critter proceeded to waddle right towards me...



At first I thought maybe too many human visitors had spoiled it, and it was fearlessly coming to me looking for food. So I stood there waiting to see how close it would actually get, and it walked right up until it was about a foot or so away. Then I shifted my feet slightly so I could position for a good shot of it...



...and it nearly jumped! It sprang back to the water and disappeared under a trail of bubbles. Apparently not knowing I was even there, until I moved...

Spring Is In The Air...ish

We've had warmer days this winter, but for some reason the past couple of days there seemed to be just the slighted, tiniest, whisper-breath hint of something resembling Spring, in the air...

The days have been just a little brighter, just a little longer. The birds seem to be somehow slightly more active, singing and chirping just a bit more...

A quick run through the Stebbins Wildlife area in Longmeadow confirmed these inklings: The Blackbirds are back. Praise all that is warm and humid; the Blackbirds...are back.



I know, I know. We'll probably get walloped with a couple feet of snow this weekend and my allusions will turn to illusions. But still, to hear the Blackbirds' referee-whistle-like calls in the air again is a hopeful sound.

Stebbins was alive with action, with the bird feeders set up alongside the water turned into a battleground between sparrows, titmice, and woodpeckers...





At the moment, the ducks chose to stand above the freezing water rather than be in it.



Meanwhile the alien-looking Wood Ducks hung out, well, in the woods...



It was a wild scene, literally. And a Beaver even appeared to punctuate the springlike mood with a slap of the water.







Ah yes. won't be long now...

A Hands-On Approach

The clouds were taking on odd shapes today, looking almost like ghosts. Maybe the ghosts of winter past, being swept away by another bright, beautiful, warm Spring day. (if I may be so corny)



Just about everything is popping...







After work Wednesday we brought our bicycles down to the Fannie Stebbins Memorial Wildlife Refuge in Longmeadow. It's located on the 'flats' of Longmeadow, right alongside the Connecticut River.





Bicycles are not allowed on the wooded trails throughout the Refuge, but there is plenty to see along the road that goes through and around it. Like everything else watery, the water levels of the wetlands here are very high. This Cormorant and a couple of his buddies took a rest on the nest boxes spread out over the water.



The Blackbirds and their referee-whistle-sounding calls were everywhere. Finally got a half-way decent picture of them...





This Swan kept to himself as he glided along...



Up above, a Downy Woodpecker lightly tapped away at a tree, looking for food.



Algae is starting to take over the stiller sections of water...



The road goes down by the Longmeadow DPW, then swings over some railroad tracks, and then toward the river, to a strip of residences along the bank...







We found a little access trail to the riverbank, and went and had a look.



There's something a little deceiving about how high the river is, considering we haven't had any real rain for quite some time now. Must be all that snow from Vermont and New Hampshire this past winter, slowly making it's way down.

Violets abound right now.



Country Girl Kelly put one in her hair....



Then, Country Girl Kelly picked up a huge slimy frog....



Personally, I'm content with a somewhat less 'hands-on' approach to wildlife viewing...

A little later, we encountered a Leopard Frog; but this guy managed to make his escape into the water, before Kelly could get a hold of it...



There is a lot of farm land here in between the residences and the refuge. The soil must be excellent this close to the river.



We didn't explore the trails of the refuge, as we were on bicycles, and most of them looked a little flooded anyway.





We'll be back to check them out when it's drier. The refuge is certainly a good place to view flora and fauna. I-91 is pretty close by though, and you can hear the traffic if you pay attention. But otherwise, the sounds of the wildlife tend to dominate...