"Tradition" - It Wins Games

   Many people wrote off the Lindsay Leopards high school football team, when they lost their opening game of the season at their new football stadium. They were beaten by team with supposed lesser talent, and embarrassed themselves to many former Leopards who were in attendance that played for Lindsay state championship teams of 1955, 1958, 1962, and 1963. Many who saw the game, including me, thought the Leopards didn't play very well and did not look like many Leopard teams of the past. The question then becomes how did the Leopards turn their season around, beating a very good Washington team, winning the district title, and winning the first playoff game?
   I believe it's because of an intangible factor called tradition. While Lindsay H.S. football teams have lost many games now and in the past, they have always had that traditional winning attitude which is always in the back of their minds. The thought processes which the coaching staff and many players always have is the fact that "we are Leopards" and Leopards will win. It's a winning tradition that sometimes wins football games, not necessarily the best players or best coaches. When two teams are closely matched in talent - the victory often goes to the team with the winning tradition... it's an attitude that often wins games. It's the intangible factor that "if we don't quit, we'll eventually be victorious".
   "Never, never, never give in" was in a speech that Winston Churchill made to Harrow College students in 1941, as the Nazi's swept across Europe. Many feared that Great Britain would fall just as other countries had earlier. Now, London was being bombed, and the end was certainly near for England. Many familiar with world history know what happened next - the Nazi tide was turned by the Allies, because the British never gave up... and the U.S. entered the war.
   This 2017 Leopard team reminds me of another high school football team - the Duncan Demons of 1987. I was lucky enough to help coach that team, so I was privy to what it accomplished that season: The Demons of 1987 finished the regular season with 5 wins and 5 losses, entering the playoffs in 4th place among district teams. They were to play the number one ranked and undefeated Carl Albert Titans in their first playoff game - at Carl Albert. The Demons had adopted part of the Churchill speech, "Never, Never, Never Give Up" as a slogan, and had it printed on their T-shirts, as they prepared to play the Titans. They went on to defeat the mighty Carl Albert Titans on a last minute drive - 9 to 7, because they never quit, even during the bleakest part of the regular season. The 1987 Demons went on to win two more playoff games, finally facing the Tulsa McClain Scots in the state championship game at Stillwater in December. The Demons lost that game,7 to 6, in missing a field goal attempt as time expired. They had ended their season by being as successful as they could be... by never giving in. I believe our Leopards can be successful in their march through the playoffs, no matter what... but only if they never, never, never give up. Remember the Leopards...