The “psych-up meeting”. It’s a Color War tradition for as long as we can remember.
The team gathers before morning activities, and then again in the afternoon. “Chain it up!”, the Captain proclaims. That’s the signal to form a circle, arms linked. Boys of all ages and sizes, linked together as either Mighty Gray or Mighty Red .
Inside the circle the Captains and Star Lieutenants pace, round and round. They are tigers inside a sturdy cage of men. As they fiercely tread, they’re inspired to share words to motivate the team. “NEVER GIVE UP!!”, one shouts. “YOU GOTTA GO FOR EVERY BALL. EVERY SINGLE BALL IS OURS”, yells another.
They say things like, “We’re one team. One heart, guys”, “Play harder and stronger than you ever have”, “You never want to have regrets about the extra effort you could have put in”.
The Captain shouts, “Bring it in boys!”. They huddle together, yell out their Color and off they run.
Now, on to the Day 2 recap:
After a slow-starting Opening Day, Red had regained a bit of momentum with last night’s Ping Pong win as we woke to a magnificent, cool, sunny Maine day. Gray felt confident after taking the early lead, and was poised to stay that way.
Red had other ideas. At least that was the tone of their morning psych-up meeting…
Even though Gray won both morning Sophomore Football games, and came back late to tie the Senior Softball game, Red wins in Cub Basketball, Tiger Hockey, Junior Waterfront, and Stars Tennis brought all to lunchtime with Color War tied – dead even!
The game on the Bunkline gridiron saw Gray score seemingly at will in a 78-56 rout. The Rec Hall field provided another thrilling finish in the other when DMan scored on the last play of the game to complete a most improbable comeback victory, 42-40.
The Waterfront event consists of 3 parts – swimming (sprints and relays), boating (kayak races), and skiing (# of times crossing the wake successfully within a preset timeframe). Gray won the kayak section while Red took the ski competition. That left the swim meet to decide it, with the outcome still up for grabs ‘til the very last event, the 4-man relay, which went Red’s way … another fantastic finish!
Red Tigers dominated both Hockey games, with Carter highlighting by scoring and assisting on all 6 of his team’s goals in Game 2.
Gray came back from a late 3-run deficit to knot the Senior Softball game, scoring 2 in the 7th and one in the 8th to tie.
In Tennis, the Stars split the 6 individual singles and doubles matches, leaving it to the skills competition, where Red again prevailed by what turned out to be the slimmest of margins, just a few percentage points…it was really that close!
However, like yesterday, the Cubs provided the most “thrill-of-victory, agony-of-defeat” moment of the morning. In one of four games played, Alex N scored and rebounded to lead a Gray win. In another, Gray led all the way when, with just a few seconds left, Zane stole the ball (his 7th of the game) and watched his last second shot rattle around the rim and fall through the net at the buzzer to win by 1, sending the Red supporters into a wild celebratory frenzy heard from Hoops to Trickey Pond!
After lunch, the teams began preparation for Songs and Cheers night (Tuesday) with their very first practice during rest hour. Before long, they were back at it again, but now, after a day and a half, we were all square.
This afternoon, the two teams once again provided plenty of action all over. At Trickey, Joey M had the best run of anyone skiing on either day so far, leading Red to victory. In Lax, the Red Cubs just had too much talent to overcome, winning both games handily. The Juniors split two Hoops games, with Jalen dominant in one for Red, while Gray held on for an exciting 1-point win in the other. In two Senior Football games, each team got a win, highlighted by great runs from Elliot in one game, and outstanding “D” by Ethan V in the other.
The Hejduk hosted the Sophomores on the diamond and the Stars on the soccer field.
In the Baseball game, Diego, Logan B and Teddy combined to toss a one-hit shutout in an impressive victory for Gray.
Our oldest competitors again battled through another tight contest as they have in each event to date, this time in Soccer. Gray controlled most of the action for about three-fourths of the game, and led 4-0 with just over 13 minutes remaining. Red dug deep though and turned it up late, and when Josh K scored to bring them within one, a furious last few minutes saw Jack B make a spectacular game-saving stop, then Red scored to tie it up with 30 seconds remaining…an incredible finish!
If the first two days are any indication, this could be one for the books. One point separates the teams, but now Red has the edge……
