Sam Richardson
The glow of friday night lights in Taos illuminate a different sort of festival. There is recorded popular music, dancing girls, an audience, and there is an event on a grassy surface in front of a grandstand where a group of high school boys compete for control of an oblate spheroid and attempt to advance it to one end or another of a playing surface.
Last Friday night, it was the Taos Tigers against the Pojoque Fighting Elks, who were in this case the Pojoque Faltering Elks (correct pronunciation of the latter is Pah-wah-kee). A win for Taos kept them in a tie for second place in district 4A 2/5, with a shot at the playoffs. PJ had nothing to gain, except to see if maybe they could remain competitive for four quarters. The Elks were a group of elfin young men, slow afoot, who had won only two games while losing six. Taos was 7-1. The Taos squad was smallish, too, but had an advantage over their opponent—foot speed.
Taos took the opening kick all the way to the PJ two yard line, then scored on the next play. But, after receiving the ensuing kick, PJ countered with a long pass on first down that took the ball to the Taos 13. Three plays later, the Elks were at the Taos two, first and goal. Unfortunately, in the next series they were denied the end zone and after that never made a first town or crossed midfield.
Throughout the opening quarter, Taos pounded the PJ defense as the Tiger offensive line gave their running backs wide gaps through which to fetch the rock. Five TDs and a safety later, the score was Taos 37, PJ 0, and it was only the end of the first quarter. The Tigers put up 13 more in the second quarter, and the game was mercifully called after a half. Final: Taos 50, PJ 0.
Taos High has no band. During time outs and occasionally during game action, the PA announcer played recorded music on the PA. Charlie Daniels, Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, Chuck Berry and others entertained the crowd, those that were listening. As grade schoolers played under the bleachers and around the concession stand and middle-school-aged boys played Dixie cup football in the end zone, the crowd, distracted by private conversations, didn’t seem to notice that the home team was playing well and reacted only mildly as the Tigers scoring orgy went unchecked. And they weren’t bothered by the fact that the PA announcer was doing voice over play-by-play with Sam the Sham singing “Wooly Bully” in the background.
The THS pep squad numbered about 40 girls, more than the number of boys on the football team. The girls kept up a steady stream of spirit yells, few of which the crowd participated in, but the girls didn’t seem to mind. With their backs to the field during most of the action, they were playing to themselves and having fun laughing and talking between yells.
On the visitors side, about a dozen fans who made the trip to support the Elks sat bundled up in blankets, groaned and rolled their eyes as the massacre unfolded. They were probably relieved that the contest was called at midpoint so they could get on the road home and leave the embarrassment behind.
I left after only one quarter. And I was distracted, myself, by my cell phone and Chap Ap as I followed the Westlake Chaparrals 70-14 thrashing of the Hays Rebels, even though it was sometimes unclear what was going on down there because the Chap play-by-play announcer seldom gave the score or amount of time left in each quarter.
Next week, Taos travels to Bernalillo. A Tiger win there and depending on what happens with St. Pius and Grants could result in several combinations of ties for first and second place in the district.
Before their loss to St. Pius, week before last, Taos was actually ranked number one in state in Division 4A. But it’s a small state and there aren’t that many teams, so it’s possible that the once-number-one ranked Tigers might not even make the playoffs. Then again, they might. But they’ll always have those 50 points of glory they scored against the Pojoque Faltering Elks on that Friday in late October. And that win combined with the earlier wins—59-18 over St. Michaels, 47-0 over Los Alamos, 63-27 over Aztec, 49-0 over Santa Fe, 45-16 over Capitol, and 56-0 over Española—will give them something to reminisce about at future homecomings.
For me last Friday night the price of a ticket was $3 bucks; two hot dogs and Coke were $7 dollars. Net outlay, $10. Reasonable enough expense for watching one quarter of football under the flickering lights of an autumn Friday night in Taos.
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