[Sly Fox]

Here's a story from Derek's hometown fishwrap in Bradenton, FL:

Passion never dies under Friday's lights
Mike Henry

Commentary

It's a lingering image of pain from the 2005 season, one that reinforces the passion of high school football.

Star Bayshore High linebacker-fullback Derek Bishop - now at Liberty University in Virginia, rejoining former high school teammate Pat Calvary - was too choked up to be interviewed after the Bruins' 14-7 defeat at Tampa Plant in the first round of the state Class 4A playoffs.

The game would not have been that close except for Bishop, who was in on about 18 tackles and helped underdog Bayshore control the football with his punishing runs.

Yet in the moments following the game, I sensed he blamed himself for an untimely fumble that set up Plant's winning touchdown.

I'm confident Bishop will be a productive player at Liberty. That's one thing I've noticed since my first prep football assignment in 1979 for the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune - how resilient the kids are.

In the highly charged atmosphere of the sports department, where deadline pressure occasionally intrudes on our fun, it's easy to lose sight of our good fortune being able to roam the sidelines and feast on free food in the press box.

(Memo to administrators with the county's first-year programs: Provide plenty of napkins.)

Unlike the players, we're never going to lose our eligibility, as long as we keep a firm grasp on English basics and remember to avoid the following description: "Bishop gained 5 yards from midfield to the opponent's 55-yard line."

Every so often, you get to see a great one. In 1984, when I was prep writer for the late, lamented St. Petersburg Evening Independent, the St. Pete High Green Devils reached the state championship game.

Their reward: traveling to Pensacola to face Escambia and running back Emmitt Smith.

The future NFL Hall of Fame member broke off a long touchdown run early, igniting an Escambia rout. As an already-skilled evaluator of talent, I told a colleague: "Anyone could have run through the holes Escambia's line was opening. That Smith kid will never make it big."

After 27 years, you develop a healthy respect for the level of commitment high school football requires. From the size of some county rosters, I'm concluding this generation has fewer youngsters willing to play backup line for the good of the team.

One more funny tale from my early days: the saga of Tippecanoe Valley High, which won an Indiana state championship in 1979. I'd covered the Valley in the first round of the playoffs, when it edged a hapless foe 77-0.

Several weeks after the season, the Valley was placed on probation by the state athletic association for "inappropriate actions" by certain members of the team before the title game.

Turns out, in an attempt to stake out the field as "their house," they visited it a few hours before the game - when the stands were empty, thankfully - and emptied their bladders near the end zone.

A mistake, to be sure, but still a reminder of kids' enduring need to belong.

Friday nights keep fitting the bill for this kid.

Mike Henry, sports writer, can be reached at 745-7080, ext. 2212, or mhenry@HeraldToday.com.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/ ... 310684.htm