I am told I was plowed over, not by the stampede, but the backwards running ref who I think caught me in the head with his head.
​This game was November 7. This is ten days later and I am just now getting the photos from that game posted now.

I got knocked out.

​Cold. 

I feel like a jerk. Not only because the game was interrupted so I could be taken care of, but because this is a really rally good football team and I might not get to see them play again. A concussion, which is a common thing in football, is a dangerous thing. And I'm taking it serious because 10 days later I still get vertigo and am pretty dazey still.

But enough about that. It's my loss that I didn't see them win last weekend and will not see their game this Friday as they play for the west championship. One win away from the state championship game.

Historic season. A really, really, good football team.

So enough about me. Let me talk about this team. The head coach, Dan York, I've known for 20 years or more. He was at Lakeview for years and he always had a decent team. A lot of emphasis on strong offensive and defensive lines. A lot of emphasis on fundamentals and doing your job so the team works as a finely tuned watch. Even last week, as I watched the live stream, they just had the balls to go for it on 4th down because they knew being in control was better than letting the other guys have the ball with time to score.

Gutsy.

Determined.

Confident.

​Skilled.

Of course, those things are said because it worked. The Patriots, a few years back employed those same four ideals in a game against the Peyton Manning Colts and it failed miserably. Dan York's team, admittedly beaten up and getting tired, felt their opponents were moving the ball so well in the second half that they better not let them have the ball back. 

Again gutsy, determined, confident and skilled. They got a first down and ran out the clock to survive another week.

A little bit more about this team and its tenacity and what we're now learning about its depth.

This team has been down a couple of it's star players during the playoffs. An extremely talented Cam Russell, who carried a bulk of the Oiler yardage all season has been down. An incredible defensive star Brayden Crocker was knocked out for the season. They just had other players step up and with a solid Dan York discipline they just keep finding ways to move the ball and make enough stops on D.

This is a very good football team with a very good quarterback and team leader in Holden Stahl. He's a distributer of the ball and seems to know when to hold on to it to make a play when needed. During the district championship game he had a brief breakdown and made a mistake that cost them. When the team got the ball back he owned it and told his team in the huddle that the opponent's last score was on him and he needed their help to overcome his mistake.

Leadership!

And the team obviosly responded and often do when he asks them to step up.

To read more about their last game please see http://www.venangofootball.com/oil-city
​There is great information from the game and this website is loaded with great insight into the history of the program.

Check out the story from our friends at Explore Venango here ​https://explorevenango.com/oil-city-edges-upper-moreland-enters-piaa-semifinals/

And I shared this great column earlier this week from our friends at D9 and 10 sports 
https://d9and10sports.com/column-oil-city-football-how-winners-think/

And our family from the Derrick ​https://www.thederrick.com/sports/local_sports/oilers-on-to-the-semis/article_d006142f-c47f-5ebe-ae4b-d2a1e8106a9d.html/?&logged_out=1

I won't kid ya, I'm pissed at myself for not being more aware of what was happening around me so I could avoid the collision that happened. I'm thankful the referee, a nice young man named Caleb Moses wasn't more seriously hurt than he was and that I also wasn't. I'm pissed I missed Saturday's game and will miss Friday's game. If the team wins and makes it to the state final I will do everything I can to be ready, but I'm afraid the science of the brain will determine that possibility. 

But this is a very good football team. I remember one other state champion team in my twenty plus years, the General Mclane team with Drew Astorino and crew. This team is that good when they are healthy and from what I've seen the last few weeks, their guts and determination are above their talent.

​And that is saying something.

I photographed a good 300 sporting events at Saegertown High School in the past, but not many in the last few years. So tonight was exciting to be back in the old gym.  I also found out the gym had been remodeled and even better, was dedicated to long-time girls basketball coach Steve Scott. 

That I thought was cool. 

It was fun to watch Crawford County volleyball again and fun taking photographs for my old friends at The Meadville Tribune. Saegertown won the match in five sets. The fifth set went to the wire 15-13. Check out Lisa Renwick's story in tomorrows Trib.

​Congrats to Saegertown girls!

To see more photographs from this match please visit: ​sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p761218175

​This was fun tonight. Thank you The Meadville Tribune for asking me to come home to make some pictures of this important event.

I got a message today asking if I'd mind if a photo I took was used in a story at
https://www.venangofootball.com/

​The message came from former news/sports editor at the Derrick and News-Herald Penny Weichel. I'm open to sharing because what we do in local journalism should be put in front of as many eyes as possible. These stories are about our community, our neighbors and ourselves.

So, of course I agreed and went to see her website and oh my, what gift this is to the history of local sports. I will become a fan and often reader of this site that apparently everyone else knew about except me.
Anyway I cannot beat her reporting on the up coming game so please read her website post and see that I talked her into using another photo as well.

Venagofootball.com

When I took these photos back in September before the season started I truly thought they get in a game or two and that would be it for high school sports. But here the Oilers, who are a very good football team, enter into the sweet 16 seeking a state title.

They will play Saturday at 1 p.m. in Altoona (Mansion Park) against District 6 champion Juniata. At this point I am planning to make the trip to photograph and report and share more photos of the coverage around. 

Since I started this website back in April I've tried to share as much as I can. I don't always get around to posting extra photos, but the ones I can be found here: ​sayerrich.zenfolio.com/f700082825