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Sports |
The Prater's Creek Gazette 16th Issue Winter 2007 Page #9 |
As Compiled by Sports Editor Bubba McCalister and his brother Dorris
Prater's Creek Polecats’ Pride And Polish Produces Pigskin Pride,
Pulverizing
Pickens All of these years playing in the shadow cast by the Blue Flame of Pickens High School puts a chip on a town’s shoulder. Prater’s Creek High and Pickens High last met on the gridiron in 1949. Pickens won that game 14-13 under dubious circumstances and has refused to play the Polecats again during the regular season. Many times they almost met in the playoffs, but it never happened. Until this year. Pickens High players come from families with shiny new John Deere tractors, they wear real shoes made for football, with cleats, and they practice with store bought footballs. Here in Prater’s Creek, we don’t have the money from tax revenues for such fancy sporting goods. Our boys play shoeless and have to practice with a substitute for a genuine regulation football. In practice, when a running back “totes the rock” he sometimes really is toting a rock, or an oblong shaped dirt clod. Ever since the drunken brouhaha that ended in both stands emptying out during that long ago 1949 game, Pickens High has turned down requests for Prater's Creek to play them in any sport. The Polecats had driven down to the Blue Flame’s 4-yard line with 10 seconds to go in the game when the fight in the stands started. Uncle Carl, of the Drovers Old Time Medicine Show, and fullback on the ’49 team, plunged into the end zone just as a little old lady from Pickens cracked a beer bottle over Uncle Carl’s helmeted head. The grandmother had run out onto the field and clocked Uncle Carl (he was known as “Uncle Carl” even in high school). The referees said that the play did not count because they had blown it dead before the snap. But nobody ever heard any whistle. The Prater’s Creek coach in those days, Joe Burriss, began protesting vehemently to the officials and the fight broke out in the stands and spilled out onto to the field. When order was finally restored, the referees called the game with Pickens ahead. The next day, all four officials were driving new Buicks from Harry Riddle’s dealership over in Pickens. Mr. Riddle also happened to be the Blue Flame Booster Club’s biggest contributor. But after Prater’s Creek defeated Montclair High in the Upper State playoffs this year, they were set to meet Pickens in the state title game down to the state capital. The Polecats started their wagon train; yes they went by covered wagons. Prater’s Creek High doesn’t have the fancy yellow buses to travel in to away games. They must travel just like their grandfathers traveled to away games. They also can’t afford to stay in no fancy motel either. They had to set up a camp in tents along the Broad River. A lot of passersby thought the team was a group of Civil War reenacters camped out. The local police ticketed them for having an open flame in city limits. When Coach Stumpy Caldwell tried to explain that they were cooking the pre-game meal the officer wrote them another ticket for hunting and operating a firearm in city limits. It seems the team’s pre-game meal was venison that Luke Ellenburg, offensive right guard, shot on Gervais Street. That night before kickoff, there were more jugs of moonshine going around in the stands than when Hank Jr. played the stadium in 1983. Prater’s Creek kicked off and the Polecats held the Blue Flame to 3, and out. It was a hard fought defensive battle with yards hard to come by. At the half the Polecats held a 7-6 edge over their rivals.
In the locker room, Coach Stumpy
Caldwell, long known for his inspirational speeches, faced the
team. “Boys, I’m @#$%%^ proud of y’all”
Coach told the team, adding “but $%^& #$%^&&, it ain’t enough!
Prater’s Creek won the game 98-6 and is the new South Carolina State High School Football Champions. At the end of the game, not being able to afford real Gatorade, the team dumped the Kool Aid off brand, Flavor Aid, on their coach. |
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We
know them boys can explode at anytime. Now I ask y’all, am I a handsome
man?” The team shook their heads no. “Have y’all seen my wife?” The boys
nodded and grinned. “Well I only got her because I was good at football, ya
see? Don’t y’all want a purty girl too?!” he asked and then pulling out a
poster of Miley Cyrus, Coach Caldwell said, “This is what y’all are playin’
for! Now go get ‘em”