Homestead 35, Port 11

Our good friend Tony made his Port Washington High School announcing debut last night, finally securing his place as a first ballot inductee in the Port Washington townie hall of fame. There were FSN crews there televising the game, indicating the importance of the North Shore Conference tilt and Tony's debut.

Dubbed by some as the "Showdown in the Soup" or the "Fight in the Fog", Port bowed out to the #1 ranked Highlanders after hanging tough in the first half, in weather that hovered somewhere between "I can't see my hand in front of my face" and "where the hell am I?" The game changed for good on a blocked punt touchdown by Homestead, as the Highlanders scored 21 unanswered points in the 2nd half to break open a close ballgame.

As the public address announcer, Tony reminded the patrons to visit the snack bar for some Skittles and did an admirable job of finding the damn football. Tony asked me to be his spotter, and as usual I showed up about an hour late and only could help him in the 2nd half. We made sure to only call out Port players' names, and when we couldn't see who made the tackle (which was often), we frankly made things up. However, the thrill for me was to be able to stand next to the legendary coach Al Urness (who was working the scoreboard) and watch the game at Al Urness Field.