On Saturday night, the High Country Grizzlies played the Lehigh Valley Steel Hawks in the first home football game of the season in the Holmes Convocation Center.
However, this game wasn’t anything like what the High Country knows football to be.
The High Country Grizzlies is an arena football team, meaning it plays inside an arena, and the field is only 50 yards across, half the size of an actual football field. There are 8 players on the field at a time, instead of the usual 11 one would see at an App State game in the Kidd Brewer Stadium.
The crowd that showed up to support the Grizzlies reached approximately 2,500 people, all of whom were trying to learn the game as it was played out. Nobody was sure what to expect of arena football, but that didn’t stop the attendees from being enthusiastic and involved in the game.
Everyone in the arena was shouting, the announcer was providing perfect commentary to help the flow of the game and the High Country Honeys danced their hearts out to entertain the crowd as they cheered on their Grizzlies.
Unfortunately, regardless of how intensely the crowd supported the Grizzlies, the High Country team lost to the Steel Hawks 48-42. Even though the team lost, it isn’t about what was on the scoreboard. The game was a fun time full of sportsmanship, entertainment and new experiences about what football can be.
Photos by Ken Ketchie
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