Tropical Storm – Friday Night Football – Highlights with Derick Hingle

Tropical Storm – Friday Night Football

Friday Night Football opened up for the 2011 season with a twist last night as the opening weekend throughout southern Louisiana was impacted by storms spurred from Tropical Storm Lee that was hovering just south of the Louisiana coastline. The night didn’t start out too rough, as the St. Thomas Falcons who I was covering for The Falcons Sports website warmed up for their meeting with the Hammond Tornadoes but the weather deteriorated quickly once the game kicked off.

I knew going in it was going to be raining and miserable so I suited up my 400mm lens and Canon Mark IV in it’s protective rain cover prior to heading out, the camera and lens were much more protected from the weather than myself, but even with the rain cover I had problems with water getting on my lens numerous times during the night having to dry it with my lens cloth, eventually my lens cloth was too wet to dry the lens.

The reason I was out in this horrid weather was to document the St. Thomas Falcons capturing the Hammond Cup for the first time, and as you will see in the photo below that mission was accomplished, but since I traveled light on gear shooting only with a 400mm for the night I shot the trophy presentation looking down from the stands giving me a unique look at the celebration. Below are a few of my favorite shots from the post game celebration.

September 2, 2011: Seniors for the St. Thomas Falcons celebrate with the Hammond Cup Trophy following a 20-12 win over their in town rival the Hammond Tornadoes during the annual Hammond Cup at Strawberry Stadium in Hammond, LA.

The trophy celebration was the result of defeating Hammond in a very physical game, coupled with the stormy weather conditions, below are some of my favorite ‘physical’ shots

September 2, 2011: The St. Thomas Falcons Tyler Bradley (35) blocks Hammond Tornados Travon Hunter (6) down the field during the fourth quarter of the annual Hammond Cup at Strawberry Stadium in Hammond, LA. The season opening game was played despite continuous rain storms from Tropical Storm Lee that is impacting Southern Louisiana.

The shot above might be my favorite of the night, capturing the moment of contact between the players a spray of water flies off their jerseys.

The play above appears to be a sack by a sack by senior defensive end Modestas Bukauskas (12), but actually the quarterback as he is thrown to the ground managed to flip the ball off to a receiver standing nearby as seen in the frame below.

In this next photo below, senior linebacker Tony Miller (16) gets a vicious hit on a Hammond receiver near the sideline.

Miller also made a huge play getting to the Hammond punter to cause a turnover in the second quarter.

Senior quarterback Daryl Moore (15) pushed through a pile a of defenders before losing his balance and falling just short of a score.

One of the biggest plays of the game senior safety Steven Wronkoski (11) rips the ball away from Hammond’s Travon Hunter (6) who had just intercepted a pass, the play was recovered by the Falcons giving them a fresh set of downs to continue the drive.

The photo below, while not a positive moment for St. Thomas was on of the more physical collisions I captured on the night as senior quarterback Daryl Moore (15) is hit, notice how heavy the rain was falling at the time of the play.

Junior Garrett Richardson (25) holds off a Hammond defender with a stiff arm as he runs down the sideline for a big gain.

I’ll finish up with a few shots of the #4 nationally ranked St. Thomas Starlettes dance squad whom braved the heavy rain and performed during halt-time of the game.