Wildcat Cheerleading

Group photo combined of all three Cheerleading Squads for the Annual Cheerleading Poster.

I was fortunate enough to get to photograph the Blue Springs High School Cheerleaders this year on several occasions.  Last month I took a group photo of all three squads with a Firetruck for their annual Cheerleading Poster.  It couldn't have been a better day and with the cooperation of all the cheerleaders and the CJC Fire Department we were able to make a nice poster. 

Then with the ending of the Football season and a very short break before starting the Basketball season, I was able to find some time to take their individual portraits last week.  I photographed three poses of each individual cheerleader to design a Digital Collage of each one and then used one of the poses to design a Team Collage for each of the three cheerleading squads.  Thanks Wildcats!

Varsity Squad

Eagles vs. Wildcats - Playoffs

The Eagles played the Harrisonville Wildcats in the first round of the Playoffs and they looked to be tired and overlooking the competition.  The game was probably our worst outing on offense all year and unfortunately not much better on defense.  We had more turnovers in this one game than we had combined the rest of the season... 

It's hard to run the ball when we don't block.

Being held and still got the tackle in the backfield!

 With that said, Kendall had a pretty good game.  He didn't seem to get the opportunity to carry the ball much as coach was trying a few new things but when he did carry it he did well. He had a great game on Defense as he made several key tackles which saved a few big plays.  Well, the team picked the wrong time to let down but I think they had a good season overall and learned some great things about football and teamwork.  Good Luck next year Eagles!

Tough matchup but blocking one of the biggest boys on the field when asked to.

Eagles vs. Oak Grove #2

Great run in the first half.

The last regular season game was held in Oak Grove with the Eagles playing the other Oak Grove team and it turned out to be the best overall game played by the Eagles all year.  Earlier in the week I tried to motivate them to practice hard and to carry that over into the game on Saturday by telling them that I would buy ice cream if they had good practices all week and won the game.  Well, I don't know if that is what done it or not - but they played the best game of the season by defeating the Oak Grove team and holding them scoreless.  We were able to produce a pretty good lead by halftime and coach felt comfortable enough to spread the ball around and let several players run the ball that hadn't got the opportunity earlier in the season.  I think some of them were surprised how hard it is to gain much yardage when the line doesn't block and open the hole like they are supposed to.

Good tackle to hold the Panthers scoreless.

 I was reminded as soon as the game was over about what I promised and I followed it up with providing Ice Cream for all the players and Coaches at the next practice.  Unfortunately this practice was one of the coldest of the season and was not ideal to be eating ice cream but we did...  Way to go Eagles!

MSHSAA State Cheerleading Championships

Lizzy doing what she does best - Make Noise!

The Blue Springs High School Varsity and Co-Ed Cheerleading Teams competed in the Missouri State High School Athletic Association State Cheerleading Championships in Columbia at the Hearnes Center on October 1st.  While both teams performed very well, the Co-Ed team was named State Champions in their division.  It was a very fun experience for everyone involved and we enjoyed seeing Lizzy perform on the Competition Floor again.  Go Wildcats!

Look at those muscles!

Breast Cancer Awareness

Blue Springs High School Cheerleaders participated in the Breast Cancer Awareness Month by wearing the Pink hair bows and "eye pink" during the month of October.  The football team responded as well by wearing pink athletic tape, gloves, towels, etc. and defeating all of their competition throughout the month.

Eagles vs. Warrensburg

Blocking when needed....

Another tough matchup, as the Warrensburg Tigers ran several tricky plays to catch our defense offguard to score on the big plays.  Our defense was not prepared for all of the trickery the Tigers brought to the game and although we were able to hold them on the majority of the plays - the reverse played out very well by catching our Linebackers biting for the fakes.  Again our Offense struggled to get rolling but our defense kept us in the game until they set up a few big plays by running the reverse.  Kendall had another big day by running the ball several times and getting more time on defense when coach installed the quicker boys to defend their reverse plays.  He had several great tackles and even caught them in the backfield on two occasions when they would try to run wide. 

Huge stop in the backfield...

Eagles vs. Odessa

Not exactly what we had in mind for Grain Valley Homecoming weekend, but the boys had fun.  The day started off with a great parade and the boys enjoyed riding on the Homecoming Parade Float decorated by many of the team mom's.  Then we hurried out to the Youth Football Fields for a game against the visiting Odessa Bulldogs.  We expected it to be a difficult game as Odessa was undefeated and believed to be one of the best teams in the 3rd Grade League. 

From the very first play, Odessa took the ball and ran for a touchdown and our boys were a little shell shocked.  The first half was all Odessa and after a brief cool down period and a powerful talk by Coach Gary at the half, the boys settled down and played much better and shut them down in the second half.  Unfortunately it was too late and our offense was unable to get it rolling but at least things looked more positive and held Odessa from scoring in the second half.  Keep your heads up Eagles!

Eagles vs. Oak Grove Panthers

Just beyond the fingertips...

Week three was our Bye week, but since we were one game short compared to the rest of the teams in our division - we made up an extra game on Sunday with the Oak Grove Panthers.  Wow, a nice sunny day on a beautiful field - what else could you ask for...?  The Eagles were again very evenly matched against the Panthers and made several big plays to keep it close in the first half.  The Panthers even had the ball first and goal inside the 5 yard line and the Eagles made a huge defensive stand to stop them before halftime.  The second half was back and forth as well and the game was tied at the end of regulation.  The Panthers took the ball first in overtime and scored but was unsuccessful on the extra point.  It was our turn and we were able to score our touchdown and extra point in overtime to win another close one.   2-1  GO EAGLES!!!

Incredible Defensive Stand

Eagles vs. Clinton Cardinals

Week two paired another even matchup between the Grain Valley Eagles and the Clinton Cardinals. It was another very cool night with the rain holding off until minutes after the game was over.  Papa Bob and Grandma Cindy happened to be here from New Mexico and were able to make this game to see their grandson in action. Kendall was selected as a captain of this game.  The Eagles looked much better on both sides of the ball but just made a few mental mistakes that cost us the win.  Kendall had a 65 yard run that got called back on a hold that happened about 20 yards behind the ball. In the fourth quarter the defense stopped the Clinton running back and one of our defenders stripped the ball and ran it in for a touchdown and then the referee called it back and said his knee was down prior to the strip.  Well, it wasn't even close - but that's how it goes sometimes and that's how it ended.  1-1 after the second week.

Eagles vs. Brigade

 The first week of the West Central Youth Football League found the 3rd Grade Eagles matching up with the Blue Springs Brigade.  It started very sloppy as there were several players that were confused at where they needed to be on Offense and Defense. After the first quarter things started to take shape and they looked a little more comfortable.  Defensively we looked really good, which is kinda weird since we haven't really had much practice going against another offense in practice but I guess they swarm to the ball pretty well.  Offensively things came together in the second half when we stuck to the basics.  Kendall had a great game - he had several nice runs, caught a beautiful pass and even covered up an onside kick.  Coach has him doing about everything from playing wingback where he gets to carry the ball, catch the ball, and block to being back for punts and kickoff's and holding for the extra point kick.

On the last play of regulation, one of our players was able to run for about 50 yards but was brought down at about the 7 yard line to end regulation.  The Brigade got the ball first in overtime and was unable to advance the ball in fact our defense was able to push them back about 20 yards in their four attempts.  On our posession in overtime, we attempted two runs up the middle without success and on third down the runningback was able to get wide and break about three tackles before ending up in the endzone for the winning touchdown.  Go Eagles!!!  1-0

Homecoming

Homecoming Festivities started Friday night with the football game against Fort Osage.  The game was very close through the first half and then the Wildcats made some adjustments at the half and took over the game in the second half for the big win. Papa Bob and Grandma Cindy flew in from New Mexico just in time to bundle up and watch Lizzy cheer.

Saturday morning was the Homecoming - Fall Fun Fest Parade and even though the weather didn't cooperate, the girls had a very nice float and represented the High School very well. We all had a good time sitting in the rain for the parade.

Saturday evening was the Homecoming Dance and Lizzy gathered to do some pictures with a few of her friends prior to going out to Olive Garden for dinner before the dance. Again, I don't know what happened to my little girl - she has become quite the young lady over the past few months.  As you can see, she looked absolutely beautiful in her Homecoming Dress.

Blue Springs - Rockhurst Football

Well, not a big surprise but the young Blue Springs Wildcats Football team was outmatched against the always powerful Rockhurst Hawklets on the first week of the regular season.  Metro Sports opened the season with a Live Pre-Game show before coverage of the game. To say the least, we were proud of our young lady on the sideline.  She is always there with a smile on her face - and keeping the crowd in the game.

Purple and Gold Scrimmage

Blue Springs High School held their Annual Purple and Gold Football intersquad scrimmage tonight at Peve Stadium.  It amazes me how a school can produce such talented players year after year, it's no wonder they are one of the best teams in the midwest.  The Freshman team started the evening by showing their stuff for about 30 minutes.  After they were done they announced all of the players from the Freshman through Varsity Football teams. Before the Varsity team took the field, they also announced all of the Cheerleaders from the JV, Varsity and Coed Squads along with the Glitter Girls Dance Team.

Showing off for the crowd

Pumping up the Crowd

Next Friday night will be the Jamboree with several other teams from the area and then August 26th will open the regular season with a big rival - Rockhurst High School comes to town.

Doing what she does the best.....  Making some noise!

What a Base - You should see those muscles (Gun Show).

Although it was only a scrimmage - we were very proud of our superstar.  I know for one, I had a proud Daddy's smile on my face from the time she left the house to the time she walked off the sidelines tonight.  I have no doubt she is going to be a leader at anything she is involved with.

Are you ready for some football?

Kendall has started football practice getting ready for another season but there will be some changes.  We have switched leagues and will be playing in the Grain Valley Athletic Association Youth Football League this year. Luckily, we had a few friends from his former team in Blue Springs join us in going to the new league and all ended up on the same team.  I have been super impressed with everything so far from the organization and facilities to the coaches, etc.  I think our boys have learned more about the fundamentals of football in the first three weeks of practice this year than they learned the first few seasons with our previous team.

Originally I was concerned that our new boys wouldn't get as much playing time since the team was mostly comprised of players that played for this coach for a couple of years already.  After the first few practices I learned differently as our boys were showing them how hard they can work and what talented athletes they are.  If fact I think all three boys will be in the starting lineup come opening day. 

This week in practice they boys were treated to a fun event where coach made a mud pit and they got to tackle and chase a loose ball in the mud.  As some of the boys really enjoyed that - Kendall was not a huge fan - he doesn't like to get all dirty like most boys.  He still had fun and joined in.

 After the parents spent the night cleaning up their muddy gear, the next practice was spent in a preseason scrimmage with the Storm football team from Blue Springs.  It was an eye opener as we found out where our strengths and weaknesses are and we will have a couple of weeks to improve and build on those before our first game. 

Quarterback Sack

Carrying the ball up the middle

Getting loose on the outside

I have designed a website for the team if you want to check it out on occasion to see what they are up to.  You can check it out at http://eagleswhite.shutterfly.com/ and use the password "eagles" to view the pictures, schedule, etc. Go EAGLES!!!

Family Vacation

What a busy year! We stopped long enough to notice that the summer was almost gone and the kids were scheduled to go back to school in a couple of weeks and we haven't even done anything as a family this summer.  Looking ahead at the next couple of weeks we decided that we had to make something happen right away or we were not going to get it done this year at all. 

Grandma Marge has been wanting to take the grandkids to see the Noah's Ark Musical at Sight and Sound Theatre in Branson for over a year, so we decided that since the show ends in October that it was now or never.  We packed up and headed to Branson on Thursday afternoon and took Grandma and Grandpa and Kaiya with us.  We spent all day on Friday at Silver Dollar City riding everything in the park several times.  The kids had a blast but you could tell after 12 hours of walking the hills and standing in lines they (we) were starting to get tired.  We headed back to the hotel where John and Mona came down to meet us for the show the following day.  Saturday morning we got up and went to the outlet mall for a while to fight the crowds, forgetting it was the tax-free sales weekend in Missouri.  We were able to find some great deals and picked up a few things for the kids to start back to school.   After lunch we arrived at the theatre for an incredible show that amazed everyone.  The live animals and set were amazing to see in person.  After the show we started the trek back home for a day of catching up before everyone had to go back to work.  It was a very nice trip and was something that we all will remember for a long time.

Wildcat Cheer

I think I have mentioned it before, but Lizzy started her Freshman year by making the Blue Springs High School Varsity Cheerleading Team and has really enjoyed meeting some new friends this year. They have been practicing at least a couple of days a week since back in April when they had tryouts.

Her team attended a three day Cheer Camp at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville back in June and competed at the Kansas City Regionals where they qualified for the Missouri High School State Championships that will be held at the University of Missouri - Columbia Campus in October.

The "Cats" waiting for the awards presentation

The High School Football season begins tonight with the annual Purple & Gold Scrimmage.  Next week will be the Jamboree and then August 26th starts the regular season with a big home game against rivals Rockhurst High School.  GO CATS!!!

Xtreme vs. Panthers

Mother Nature finally eased up a little and allowed us to reschedule our games with the Oak Grove Panthers friday night from the rain out last week. You could tell that it had been over a week since we had any live action as they looked a little rusty both at the plate and in the field. It was a cool, dreary night and it was just hard to get into the baseball frame of mind - it was much more like football weather.

Kendall had a pretty good night other than taking another hard hit ball off the right shin.  He was playing pitcher at the time it was a line drive shot right at him with very little time to react.  After a few minutes of attention by the coaches he stayed in the game but moved over to play second base for the remainder of the game.  He is a pretty tough little guy!  Overall the Xtreme didn't fare so well - they dropped both games.  Hopefully they will come back next week after the Memorial Day weekend a little more focused and ready to play some baseball.