WOW! What a day, what a season, what a year! This family of players have spent 103 days together preparing and dreaming about this day to come! (not to mention the last 27 of them I wore purple EVERY single day :-) And when the final seconds ticked off the clock and the victory formation was carried out, the Meade Buffaloes were crowned the 2A 2010 STATE CHAMPIONS and Coach Moshier earned his 100th win!
In August, when I first watched the music video "The Boys of Fall" I can't even describe the feelings that came over me! I had never seen anything like it . . . So many messages in it that for many years I have tried to convey to my own kids. Messages that I wanted them to someday look back on and say, I miss those times and remember them like they were yesterday! It brings me to tears every time I watch/listen to it. But as I listened to it I also thought of our Seniors past and present and the feelings they would have on their "last play of football ever" and just as it was their dream to end it with a State Championship, it became my dream for them as well! And yesterday as I stood amongst the soon to be 2010 State Champions, I got to watch their dreams come true! What an amazing day it was!
Having the opportunity to be among these kids every Friday night has been a blessing that I will always cherish! To see the love they have for each other and their coaches and the determination that they had as they strived to reach this dream is a feeling I will always remember! Yesterday was the icing on the cake! And to all of you that were behind us in the stands, you can't imagine the noise level that radiated from all of you down to the field! To turn around and see our stands full of PURPLE was such an amazing thing. I have had several ask if I got pictures of it but to do that I would have had to go to the "other" side LOL Rest assured it looked absolutely, positively amazing though and we know we more than represented our kids and our community well!
There has been a lot of reminiscing about the past two State Championships that the Buffaloes have won and many trips were made down memory lane. With 5 players on the team who had fathers representing the previous championship teams it gave opportunities for the feelings to be expressed. . .Feelings that for many years didn't come every Friday night, but returned as they got married and started having their children! I was in 7th grade when the 1980 championship was won! And I can remember feeling the Purple Pride then, but absolutely NOTHING can equate to the feeling of witnessing and being right there watching the VICTORY yesterday! I remember hearing the song "We are the Champions" being played back then and what a wonderful noise as they played it yesterday as well. Before I went to bed Friday night I moved "We are the Champions" up to #2 on my blog playlist! I didn't want to jinx anything and mess with the mojo and believe me there was LOTS of it for us this year :D But the first thing I did last night when I got home was move that song up to #1. . . a tribute to our 2010 STATE CHAMPIONS! You carried out your "Do What We Do" motto with Character, Discipline, Tradition and an amazing TEAM!
To say this season was remarkable is way underestimated! Words can't even really describe the feeling! And then to come home to a very impromptu welcome home for all of them just shows how beneficial it is living in a small town! To our law enforcement, fire department and highway patrol who helped us in this very last minute planning we all thank you for being such a great part of it! Standing there last night and seeing the mini parade made the feelings come rushing over many of us all over again! The fireworks topped off the evening, and none of this could have been done without some great people to help out(not to mention the power of Facebook and Texting technology).
In closing, the season the Meade Buffaloes were 2010 STATE CHAMPIONS is now a part of history! You will now carry the torch for all young athletes to look at and begin having their own dreams! You have set a new precedence and people will talk for a long time about that beautiful November day in Hays, KS when the Meade Buffaloes won the 2010 State Championship! To you SENIORS that played your last play of football ever remember that "On that day and at the end of your life, you can look in the mirror and know that you gave it all you had and gave it for a worthy cause because you were the 2A 2010 STATE CHAMPIONS of Meade High School Football!
Thank you again for allowing me to be a part of it! I can't imagine there is any better place to be!
(more pictures to come)