Gates Senior Football Night

The fans were out last Friday night as GC took on the Fairport Red Raiders on the Spartans senior night. The setup for introducing the seniors was all messed up as the seniors and parents lined up along the field. Only half the field was used and the line was too long to fit everyone making it a photography nightmare to get everyone. Next time I will bring a shorter lens to get them as soon as they begin to walk. Gates won easily 34-14 to continue their win streak of 4 in a row entering sectionals.

Saturday morning I was in Pittsford to see the Panthers take on the Canandaigua Braves. It was a very close game as both offenses struggled to score. The rain starting coming down in the second quarter and was steady until the end. Canandaigua ended up winning in the fourth quarter on a quarterback run left for about 60 yards for the score. The game ended Braves 13, Panthers 10.

Sunday I finished off the weekend with my last regular season games of Chili Lions football. This day I was shooting the Purple Mitey Mites and the Junior Midgets. This ends another great season with the Lions and finally a decent weather day which did not occur many times on 2009 Sundays.

Gallery: GC v. Fairport

Gallery: Canandaigua v. Pittsford

Gallery: Chili Lions

October Football Weekend

I started the weekend off with a cold and rainy miserable night game at Gates-Chili. The Spartans were taking on the Brockport Blue Devils who were playing without there starting running back. I didn't find this out until game time and was upset that I didn't get an opportunity to get some shots of him. Gates ended up winning 40-13 as the Blue Devils had no answer for their powerful running game.

Levester Tucker (28) and Elijah Thomas (32) ran all over the Blue Devils on the ground and the Spartans moved to 4-2 on the season.

Saturday morning I took the long drive to Dundee to see them face off against South Seneca. Dundee dominated the first half scoring early and often with the ground game. South Seneca made it a little closer in the second half with 3 passing touchdowns. The Scotsman pulled it out though and the final score was 34-19.

Here Steven Webb (32) runs to the near sideline making many Falcon defenders miss on his way to a big gain.

The game involved some big hits including this shot by Ryan Ballard (21) on South Seneca's running back Matt Wyckoff (20)

The last day of the weekend I was back in Chili to shoot two Lions games. I was there to shoot the Junior Pee Wee Purple and Pee Wee teams. They both played Baden Street on Merante Field. I am exhausted after a long weekend. Here's a couple from Sunday.

Gallery: GC v. Brockport

Gallery: Dundee v. South Seneca

Gallery: Chili Lions

Lions Practice and Scrimmage

The last couple of weeks I have been trying to get back into football mode. This means finding the ball and figuring out the play before it happens through an eyepiece. It is very easy to lose the ball and never see the end of the play. The Chili Lions practices started last week and this was my chance to gain my "football eye" back from last year.

Practices include many types of drills at different levels of skill. The older Lions work on their tackling here.

(Canon 40D 70-200mm f/2.8 1/1600 iso160)

Some have to practice even though they have a cast on like this quarterback practicing his hand-offs.

(Canon 40D 70-200mm f/2.8 1/1600 iso160)

Running backs are trying to keep control of the ball anyway they can. In this photo, one of the Lions loses the ball but regains control behind his back.

(Canon 40D 70-200mm f/2.8 1/1600 iso160)

Lineman practice lineing up against cones, opposing lineman will be there very soon.

(Canon 40D 70-200mm f/2.8 1/1600 iso160)

Some of the younger players learn how to properly receive a hand-off and hold on to the ball. This junior pee wee player uses both hands to grab the ball from the coach.

(Canon 40D 300mm f/2.8 1/1000 iso250)

Here some players test some of their tackling skills on a fellow running back.

(Canon 40D 300mm f/2.8 1/1000 iso250)

One of the many Chili Lions coaches helps a player understand his role in the play.

(Canon 40D 70-200mm f/2.8 1/2000 iso160)

The Lions even have great learning tools like tackling dummies and in this photo a tackling sled. This mitey mite player works on his strength in moving the defender or in this case the tackling sled.

(Canon 40D 70-200mm f/2.8 1/2000 iso160)

Not only do the football players have to practice, but the cheerleaders have to put in an intense workout too. These cheerleaders are working on keeping the team in sync.

(Canon 40D 70-200mm f/4.0 1/640 iso320)

They also have to work on their lifts as these mitey mite cheerleaders lift about half of what the older girls do.

(Canon 40D 300mm f/2.8 1/800 iso250)

It takes practice and balance to get these lifts to look flawless. These girls below have not acheived the balance part yet but still have time before the season begins.

(Canon 40D 70-200mm f/2.8 1/1000 iso250)

Here is what everyday practice will lead too for the cheerleaders.

(Canon 40D 70-200mm f/2.8 1/1000 iso250)

After many weeks of practice the Lions faced the Ogden Bears in a scrimmage. Quarterbacks get their first opportunity to throw against a defense.

(Canon 40D 300mm f/2.8 1/2000 iso250)

This running back looked good early finding a hole in the Bears defense.

(Canon 40D 300mm f/2.8 1/1000 iso250)

The mitey mites coaches were a little more hands on during the scrimmage.

(Canon 40D 300mm f/2.8 1/1600 iso250)

The coaching paid off as the Lions did their job filling the gaps and keeping the Ogden running back from getting past the line of scrimmage.

(Canon 40D 300mm f/3.5 1/1600 iso250)

Some of the coaches kept their team on their toes with pushups during play breaks.

(Canon 40D 300mm f/2.8 1/1000 iso250)

Chili Lions: 2009 Galleries