SMALL TOWN FOOTBALL PART 3
FOOTBALL: THE JUNIOR HIGH EXPERIENCE – TWO HAND TOUCH AND FLAG
We did not play organized, with pads, against other schools, football in our junior high years. The larger towns, Centralia and Chehalis, had Pop Warner Football funded by different organizations, but were not school affiliated. They also played junior high football which meant many of those kids had played tackle football for 6-7 years by the time they were freshmen.
In junior high there were no recesses, but Mr. Brooks and Mr. Turner carved out some time each week for us to get in some exercise. They also wanted to see which of us had some potential for the high school team. They would report to Coach Taylor about who could play which positions, saving Coach Taylor time once we reached our freshman year. This pre selection process caught some kids and parents off guard when, at the very first practice of their freshmen year, a kid, who thought he was going to be a star running back, was sent to the blocking dummy area with the linemen. Some parents would complain, not a common occurrence in those days, and Mr. Taylor would allow a kid to practice where he wanted for a few days and then he would be sent back to the original group. Very seldom were Mr. Brooks, Mr. Turner or Coach Taylor wrong. If they were wrong, no one was going to tell them differently.
We began by playing two handed touch. This meant that a runner was “tackled” if a defender touched him with two hands. This, obviously, led to lots of arguments. Some kids could be shoved completely to the ground, only to get up and start running again, yelling, “You only touched me with one hand.” Conversely, a slow kid, who would not get within five feet of a fast runner, would yell, “I got you. You’re down!”
By the beginning of our 8th grade year, Mr. Turner, announced we were going to get ready for real football by playing flag. We would also have huddles, plays and positions. This was big time stuff.
Mr. Turner had made flags out of old sheets he probably bought at Yard Birds, an Army surplus store in Chehalis. We were told to put the flag in the middle of our back and stuff it in our pants with it sticking out at least to our knees. Of course, kids started immediately to figure out ways to get an advantage. Some wore extra-long t-shirts on flag football day. The t-shirt would hang down as far as the flag, making it impossible to even see the flag, let alone pull it out. Others would tie huge knots on the end of the flag and then stuff it in their pants. This plan was only good for big kids. The little kids who tried it were just flung to the ground when the flag would not come out.
This continual quest to find a way to “bend the rules,” was kind of like the steroid era in baseball. As soon as someone found a way to cheat, Mr. Turner would make a rule against what they were doing. Then another rule would be broken and he would make a rule against that. Mr. Turner also figured out that some kids were legitimately so good at spinning and turning, that one flag was not enough to make it fair for the defense. We then started wearing a flag on each hip, with shirts tucked in and no knots on the end.
Mr. Turner devised about 10 very easy plays to memorize and taught us how to huddle and line up. He did not teach us the linemen three point stance, with one hand down, although some kids used that technique anyway. As soon as a kid could pass a test proving he knew all the plays he was put in the rotation to play in the backfield and receiver as well as lineman.
We all wanted to play one of the “skill” positions, but as spring progressed it became apparent that Mr. Turner and Mr. Brookes had figured out what positions he was going to recommend we play when we got to high school.
We had a lot of fun playing flag and we thought we were ready to play in high school. Or were we?