Prep football

Prep football

S. Range fans exemplify good sportsmanship

Fanfare:

Nowadays you read so many negative things in sports.

At Friday’s game [Columbiana-South Range on Sept. 18], the crowd was large and the atmosphere was like a playoff game. If you are a sports fan and don’t care who wins or looses, this would have been the game for you to have watched.

I have been involved in high school sports for the last 40 years as a basketball official and for the last 25 years as a high school football coach. Something happened after the game that I have never had happen to me or our team in all those years.

The game was close; we lost 33-32. At South Range when the team leaves the field, you exit by way of a ramp. The South Range team left first and all of their fans, parents and students lined the ramp and were cheering their victory as they came off the field. Much to my surprise these people did not leave but waited for the Clippers team to leave and cheered us, high-fived, shook our hands and told us what a great game we played. I turned to Coach Pearl and said: “Can you believe this? This is for us.” This was something that I never expected for an opposing team’s fans. You will never know how good it felt to me.

What a class act the fans from South Range are. I would like to personally thank them for the sportsmanship that they showed to the team and coaches from Columbiana.

Larry Baughman Columbiana

Baughman is defensive coordinator for the Columbiana Clippers football team.