The Wakefield Republican -

Junior High Football is the heart of football

By Mike Renning

Wakefield and Tri-County Northeast butted heads in junior high football last week.

It should remind everyone how simple this complex game can be and exactly why it’s played.

Concussions, injuries, Covid, all of the negatives were on display during this game - but so was the pure enjoyment of lining up across from someone and finding out where you stand.

As life goes on, you will have more important questions to answer, but as a junior high student this is life - we’ve all been there.

TCNE won the game but it didn’t really matter, the players all won the game.

They battled through four quarters and someone scored more points than the other team.

One team would score and then the other team would answer - the game was full of one big play then another.

If you’ve never been to a junior high football game, you may not realize how boring they can be.

This game had all the excitement, drama and “want to” of an NFL game.

Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but if you watched it, you came away with a good feeling about everyone involved-especially the kids.

I go to literally hundreds of athletic contests every year, but I have not enjoyed any in the past 10 or so years that rivalled what I witnessed between these two teams.

It reminded me of the pure joy of playing football and the pure joy of competition.

It was wonderful.

More pictures from the game can be found on our Facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/wakef...