It seems like forever ago, but the truth is it’s not. A mere seven months. Of course, gauging time in part depends on circumstance. Not to mention those circumventing the circumstances. You know, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” etc.
For Habersham Central football, that seven month stretch has seemed lengthier than most similar stretches. The days have sauntered by at a snail’s pace.
It’s as if time is rubbing last year’s 3-7 record in the face of the Raider faithful.
Habersham has had since November to stew on that feeling of walking off the field in Snellville on the very wrong side of a 42-9 drubbing at the hands of Shiloh.
Still, that one didn’t pack the same punch as getting shut out (34-0) by a team whose mascot rhymes with “dead relevant.”
The past is the past. It is what it is. As negative as those feelings might have been (and might still be), I see a couple different options. Try to repress and sweep the past under the rug, or use it as fuel.
Ok, calm down pal, it’s a spring game. A scrimmage. A glorified practice. While all of those descriptors contain truth, there are some among us who believe in the old adage “you play how you practice.”
It may not be as easy to get pumped up about tonight’s rendezvous on Lake Hartwell as it might be for a game under the lights on a crisp Mt. Airy evening in the fall, but it’s still the first live action football we’ve seen in a while.
It’s also the beginning of a clean slate. Although not much chalk will be applied tonight, it’s kinda like taking the chalk out of the box and setting it in the silver thing that runs along the bottom.
This year’s team is bigger, stronger and more experienced.
They have what it takes to turn this ship around. So let’s let it rip.
Lang Storey is the sports writer for The Northeast Georgian. Reach him at 706-778-4215 or lstorey@TheNortheastGeorgian.com.