Taking nothing away from the magnificent effort of Highland Park's championship team, whatever it was that I witnessed Saturday afternoon needs some explaining. This game left me with so many questions non football related that I wanted to speed to Marshall and set up psychiatric counseling for players and coaches alike. Besides a royal butt-kicking, what was that I witnessed yesterday afternoon?

Highland Park has a seriously good team...well drilled and well coached. A week ago, they played a game Stephenville squad that showed them for the champions that they are. So what's with Marshall? I'll give you out classed, out gamed and out coached, heck the entire team might have had the flu, but I've never witnessed such a one-sided slaughter at the 4A championship level. At no time in this game did any part of Marshall's game plan have any effect. A team like Highland Park makes very few mistakes and, if they had, it would still have taken a monumental effort for the Mavericks to capitalize. Saying all that, you'd think deep down inner motivation, serious commitment and a dose or two of God given talent might have been enough for the Marshall gang to put a few points on the board.

No, this team did not come to play. I guess I just don't understand how a really good group of players with just one defeat in a great season can go into a championship game...a once in a lifetime event, and look so inept and lethargic.

Do you blame the players?...The coaches? Was this team just plain dumb lucky to be in the championship game in the first place? On so many levels this game is so hard to understand. If you're reading this and didn't watch the game, a lot of what this rant is about might seem pointless. Eventhough the HP kids played all out all afternoon, you had to witness the event to see how much of a non-game this was.

The final quarter even ended in a way that smacked of a dirt lot rumble with Marshall suffering two ugly and needless personal foul calls complete with an ejection. 59-0 in a championship game?...No way...Unbelievable. Counseling is in session. Who wants to go first?

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