Play to Win - Llano High School Football

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Play To Win

By Mikel R. Virdell…recording the history of the Fighting Llano Yellowjackets since 1973.

The article after the last game is the hardest. Just like for the players, few things are harder than the Monday after the last game. And while the pain will last awhile, this season was so very special. A 9-4 record and going to week 13 has only happened now twice…twice in our history. 1973, and now, 2007.
The hurt is that Llano knew it had the opportunity to win. But, as Coach David Yeager said it best after the game. That only one team in Division II goes home a winner, and the rest, 173 teams lose their last game. Llano was one of 16 teams left playing this past weekend. The 150 plus other teams were thinking about basketball.
The 31 to 20 loss to Palacios will be long remembered in Llano player’s minds…as it should. Before these players were born, in 1976 Llano lost to eventual State Champion Rockdale in Bi-District by a score of 10 to 9. The Jackets kicked a field goal with 1:37 left in the game to take a 9 to 7 lead. The great Yellowjacket quarterback Shelby Wright engineered what everyone in Llano thought was the winning drive. But Rockdale, the Champions that they were, drove the field after the kick-off, and kicked the winning field goal points with moments left on the clock. It still hurts today.
And that is why this pure game is so special. Because despite the loss Friday night, the Yellowjackets fought with all of their hearts, and all of their might, and left everything on the field. No shame. The only regrets being the final score. Thirty years from now, someone will write a story, telling of this mighty and great Yellowjacket team that played so bravely, and so courageously thru a season filled with big plays, injuries, and a few low points. It’s a team with an assortment of heroes, and a bag full of 16, and 17, and 18 year old kids playing like men. Playing like it meant something to be a Yellowjacket… forever. We as fans, can ask for nothing more.
Over the next few weeks, I will talk about the season, the seniors, and upgrade the new records this 2007 team established. The next article will be Thursday, December 6, 2007.