Start of Magdalena Steers Football Season

Gene and I had a "first time" experience today.  We went to our first high school football game -- ever! And it was our old high school playing.  Amazing day.

Yesterday, I noticed on Facebook, Magdalena News,  that our hometown team, the Magdalena Steers,  was playing in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, today at 1:00 p.m.  That is about 100 miles from here (Angel Fire)  so we decided to go.  We arrived in Tierra Amarilla, found Escalante High School, bought our tickets and drove in.  It was looking like rain so we purchased parking on the backside of the field to watch from our car, like at a rodeo.  Very cool.  It was a good thing as a few minutes into the first quarter the rains came, then the lightening just at the end of the first quarter so there was a 45 minute or so rain delay.  We just sat in the car.  They even broadcast the game so we could listen when it was raining.  Then we visited with an old friend, Sam Olney, during the rain/lightening delay.   Sam is Athletic Director at Magdalena High School.


Sadly, the Steers lost to the Lobos, 62-6.  They have a mercy rule that if a team is 35 points ahead at the half, play continues with the clock only stopping for time outs and when there is a score.  For us it was fun to see the game.  The Steers did OK considering they just got a coach a couple of weeks ago and have only a couple of players that played last year when they played 8 man football.  This year is 11 man football.  The each player had to play many positions on defense and offense depending on who was able to play.  There were 21 players suited up for the Steers.  There were only 12 listed on the program.

Did I mention we went to a small school?  They didn't have football when we were in school.  We were lucky to have basketball and some of the basketball players were in the band and had to play in the band at halftime.  :)

Here are some photos (click on photos to make them larger):

The Steers Bus

The Escalante High School Field

Captains meet the Umpire

Handshakes to start the game.

The rains came preventing photo ops for a while.

An action photo.

More action.

Steers on offense.

A Lobo is down!

Sidelines

Time out.

Daniel Hand scored the one touchdown.

The day was a rough start for the Steers.  We had a good time though and were proud that we got to see the Steers and root for the maroon and white!

Go Steers! 

Photos from the drive:

Breakfast at Michael's Kitchen In Taos,  The cinnamon rolls are as big as a cake.

Gene had a special burrito and I had a green chili omelet.  Yummy.

The most people we have seen at the Rio Grande Gorge.

Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico.

Some rain on the way back.

The rains were all around.

Nice as we came back up the hill to Angel Fire.