Clarke vs. Cedar Showdown

Sophomore Herb Evans celebrates a fumble recover in the first quarter as the Clarke Central Gladiators beat the Cedar Shoals Jaguars 23-21 in Athens on Friday, October 24, 2008.

In my post-World Series jubilation, Ive actually got some time to update this bloggythinger here on the interwebs.

This week was the annual "Battle of Athens" between the two local high schools, Clarke Central and Cedar Shoals. And it rained again, once again that fine misty stuff that is blowing and completely soaks a camera in 5 minutes. Of course i only had one camera with me so thats another story for another day.



Senior Paris Allen extends the football over the goal line for the winning touchdown in thr fourth quarter as the Clarke Central Gladiators beat the Cedar Shoals Jaguars 23-21 in Athens on Friday, October 24, 2008.

If the weather had been better, i would have tried for more features. I don't want to change lenses in the rain. Instead i just focused on what was readily available by the field, like the bands and what fans i could see. They were all under umbrellas.



Cedar Shoals running back De De Lattimore stiff-arms defender Reggie Battle while he runs the ball in the third quarter as the Clarke Central Gladiators beat the Cedar Shoals Jaguars 23-21 in Athens on Friday, October 24, 2008.

All in all, a good game. Came down to the 4th quarter. Once again, missed the two plays of the game because of location. First one, defensive play by Clarke, i was 20 yards downfield shooting Cedar's offense. Second, a blocked FG. Dunno how i overlensed that; i was focused dead on the kicker to get a react and i noticed the ball coming back in the frame. The recovery happened with their backs to me, no clean shot at the ball.



Quarterback John Wilson, center, is tackled around the head by linebacker De De Lattimore as the Clarke Central Gladiators beat the Cedar Shoals Jaguars 23-21 in Athens on Friday, October 24, 2008.

The best jube happened in front of the line of TV cameras rather than back towards the Clarke bench like i figured. I got the shots i needed, like the game winning touchdown, some good jube and decent action from both teams. It worked - wasn't what i wanted - but it works and i made deadline by about a minute.




Clarke's band just gets down. Best high school band I think I've ever seen. Cedar is close on the music but Clarke's showmanship just blows everyone else away.