BRANDON COWBOYS

This morning,Helen and I were up a bit earlier than usual so we could get the dogs fed and walked. Then it was off to Plant City, Florida to see a football game between the Brandon Cowboys and the Turkey Creek Trojans. Our grandson, Kolbie Tempesta, is the quarterback for the Cowboys.

Kolbie at our home last week.

Helen and I were happy to see the Cowboys doing so well. Kolbie has improved quite a bit from the first game we saw. In the early game he would hand off the ball and then avoid being hit. Today, he would block the runner when he handed off the ball. The coach was calling the plays and he did a good job of mixing it up. Sometimes he would have Kolbie hand off to a runner, hand off to someone else to pass, pass himself, or run himself. They were very successful. the final score was 40 to 6, Cowboys.

Blocking a runner!

The ball is snapped and Gramps doesn't have a clue what's going to happen next.

Handing off to Jericho Joseph, who ran it in for a TD!

Kolbie running for a TD himself!

Jericho Joseph, Number 2, is a vital part of the team. He is hard to stop when he gets the ball. Kolbie can lateral to him and Jericho can pass very well for a touch down. His Mom was right behind us videotaping the whole game and her enthusiasm is catching. In front of us were the parents of Number 99, Kaeden Eichenberg (I hope this spelling is correct). Mom was saying that her son got up grumpy in the morning. However, he was doing so well on defense that Jericho's Mom said that they aught to make him grumpy every Saturday. He was very effective in taking down a Lions runner by himself.

The weather was nearly perfect, for Florida in the late summer. It was in the mid to lower 80's and we were sitting in the shade. All the parents and grandparents were well behaved. When one of the Turkey Creek Trojens ran for a touchdown we all cheered his success. There is so much on the news about the tension and fights at youth football games that it's nice to see a league that treasures good sportsmanship and polite behavior. The kids are having fun and are under little pressure to perform up to some coaches standard.

We celebrated at a restaurant of Kolbie's choice and it was Sweet Tomatoes. He had worked up an appetite.

Did I mention that I'm Kolbie's Gramps?