Somehow the recent paralytic injury to South Summit linebacker Porter Hancock has made it even more imperative to take in tomorrow night’s game in Hebertown between the Park City Miners and the Wasatch Wasps.
There’s got to be a healing component that transcends the usual brashness associated with this most spirited annual high school sports rivalry. No doubt I’ll be leaving my trash-talk “A game” at home. It’ll be much easier to cheer for individual excellence by both teams this week — much less hanging of the head when the Miners score against my Wasps.
Perspective, of course, is what we’re talking about! Although I feel I have it in spades, it’ll probably play out closer to the surface tomorrow. After arriving in these mountains during late-summer/early-fall of 1970, I always rooted for the Miners — until 20-some-odd years ago that is, when my son and his tribe began suiting up for Wasatch. It’s unbelievable how quickly the allegiance paradigm can shift.
I’d grown up in the panhandle of Idaho as a die-hard Notre Dame football fan. As a pre-teen, I knew their history, could name the “four horsemen,” could sing their fight song, could ramble on about Gus Dorais, Knute Rockne, George Gipp and Johnny Lujack. Paul Hornung was splattered across my bedroom wall. But less than a couple of years after moving to LA, I had become a fan of USC, their hated rival.
This is not to say that I won’t cheer with a bit more passion when things break the Wasps’ way. It’s just that it’ll be the rituals of small-town Americana, such as friends caravanning to a nearby community for a gridiron match-up under the lights, searching the opposing grandstand for a familiar face, and listening to the unceasing sideline folklore of “back in my day” that I’ll most celebrate.
There we’ll be: my longtime sports buddy Henry and I, bundled up, wandering the sidelines, soaking in the ambiance and commenting ever so astutely upon the new turf the athletic department at Wasatch laid down prior to the season. The woeful Dodgers, the reborn Cardinals (one of Henry’s other teams), the NBA lockout, and our pathetic USC Trojans will also, more than likely, be given a good airing.
One sidebar to the event we’ll no doubt touch upon will be ex-Wasatch coach Steven North’s recent “no contest” plea in a deal with Wasatch County prosecutors. The incident-in-question involved a hockey stick, a student’s head, and an up-against-the-wall shove. Let that be a warning to students wishing to transfer to our fair shores: we brook no tardiness to P.E. classes hereabouts!
Tied for third place in Region 10, each with two wins and two losses, neither team is tearing it up this year, which I think will make for an interesting night of football. Park City (2-7 overall) is coming off a 21-20 home loss to second-place Judge Memorial, which earlier clobbered Wasatch 49-14.
As they say, you can throw out the record books when rivals play and tomorrow night will be no exception. The Miners could make their season with a win over the Wasps. And vice versa!
Obviously, with Wasatch on a two-game win streak and the Miners keeping it close against the Bulldogs, they’re both playing some of their best ball of the season, which, admittedly, isn’t saying a whole lot. Both lost in region to Juan Diego and Judge Memorial and came up victorious against Uintah and Union.
But who’ll end up ahead of the other in the middle of the Region 10 pack and therefore secure a higher seeding in the state playoffs is only part of what tomorrow night’s game is all about. There’s also the coaching tie-in with former Wasatch defensive coordinator Kai Smalley in his second season heading up the Park City program.
It would seem that the way things have played out on the field for the Miners this year, a victory over the Wasps would go at least partway toward restoring faith among the fan base. Whether they can rebound psychologically from the game that got away last week against Judge, however, is another matter.
With weather forecasted to be perfectly clear and moderately chilly for tomorrow’s 7 p.m. kickoff in Heber City, and with both squads looking to end the regular season on a high note, the rivalry tradition will continue. This year, however, all involved will be sending healing thoughts to their nearby neighbor, South Summit’s Porter Hancock
Jay Meehan is a culture junkie and an observer, participant, and chronicler of the Park City and Wasatch County social scenes for the past 40 years.