"Big Green" Epic Comeback

2003.

That was the last year that the Choctaw Indians beat their archrival: the Fort Walton Beach Vikings. Going into this game with five wins in a row this season, Choctaw had more to prove and more to gain against their Viking foes. The late scoring touchdown in the four quarter tied the score with about two minutes left in the game. Freddie Gray's (#21) interception catch on the Vikings drive and a touchdown a few plays later with less than a minute left in the game gave Choctaw the seven point lead that was deemed more than memorable. When the clock ran out and the Indians secured their 17-10 win, the fans flooded onto the field and cheered with the players.

Not only did the Indians break their 5 game losing streak against FWB...

They also broke the 19-19 tie in the series and raised it to 20-19.

On a night that was more than memorable to the Choctaw Indians, I found myself celebrating (silently) for one more reason than they were...

The last time Choctaw beat Fort Walton Beach was during my senior year at Choctaw. The first time I've attended the game since that night so many years ago is the time that the team finally broke the streak. Now THAT was truly the most memorable part of the night for me.



Video footage of the game along with the celebration at the end:





To say I entered into this assignment like any other football game would be a lie. Sure, a part of me is biased toward Choctaw, but I never let my personal feelings dictate how I cover an assignment. Yeah, I did want Choctaw to win, but my job is to photograph the game and capture feature images from both sides. I wanted to gather enough footage to balance the video and images with the exception of the winning and celebrating moments. If the Vikings had won, my images would have mostly contained red and blue screaming fans and players. Instead, I received a double dosage of excitement by being able to photograph and videotape my alma mater celebrating and cheering.





The closing seconds of the game were painful, that is, they were long and dragging. The energy off of the fans behind me was radiating and contagious. I wanted to break out and join them in celebrating, but I kept my focus on the task at hand. I photographed and videotaped several eager fans cheering and chanting as they waited impatiently to storm onto the field:







Once the game was officially over and the fans gathered in the middle of the field, I squeezed through the crazy Indian fans and grabbed a few good moments on video. When I discovered where the players were converging, I ran to the front in time to catch some chanting in the video and cheering in some images:



This game was by far my favorite football game to photograph/video this entire season. Covering a Choctaw game was part of it, but the suspense, the intensity, and the last-minute game-changing plays by Choctaw in this epic rivalry made this game one of the best all season. I am thankful that the staff photographer handed me the torch for this game and entrusted me with the sole responsibility to photograph football, fan & cheerleader, and band images for both teams as well as football, fan, and celebration video footage from both sides. This was by far the most work I've put into a game this season and it worked out very well.

The band photos were a lot of fun for me and made halftime fly by fast. The color guards were in front of me the majority of the shows, so I mostly have images of them performing. Here are two images from Fort Walton Beach's marching band:





These two images are from the colorguard of the Style Marchers:





If you were to ask me how that night could have been more memorable, my mind would draw a blank. If you were to ask me what I would have done differently, I would tell you a few minor issues. But, when I look at all the plays, all the photos, all the video footage, and all the screaming fans, there really couldn't have been anything better. Sure, my video camera froze on me during the second quarter and caused me to miss a few plays, and sure the intense play-making on the field had me running back and forth like a chicken with its head cut off, but it was worth it.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Stripes & Stars help us Remember

On Veteran's Day I photographed the Veteran's Day Ceremony at Beal Memorial Cemetery. In the hour-long ceremony, members of our military lined the grass by the flag pole with colorful wreaths for veterans in different cities and wars. The Fort Walton Beach city wreath (pictured below) was one of the components.



The event was meaningful and sentimental, but also very predictable from a photographer's standpoint. I looked toward the crowd for some versatile images and discovered a mother holding her daughter while they sat in a lawn chair (top picture). I watched them intently and captured an image of both of them gazing up at a miniature flag. The moment doesn't tell the story of the event too well, but it adds a special touch to the overall setting. Both images were published in the daily paper as well as the Eglin Dispatch.

Tropical Storm Ida

POST-IDA:

On Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, Tropical Storm Ida made landfall on the gulf coast near Mobile Bay. The Navarre, Fort Walton Beach, and Destin areas prepared for strong tropical strength winds and heavy rain leading into Monday night. The storm had passed through by Tuesday morning leaving a handful of damage in the areas close to sea level. I took a drive out to Destin today and photographed some of the damage found in the Destin Point and Jetty East condominiums. The top photo is one of the houses that had severe damage in the garage area. Below is an image of a worker at Jetty East cleaning up the parking garage area.:



The driveways were broken in half as well:



Another house a few doors down that lost the entire garage floor just a couple days after they repaired it. The paint was still drying on the walls when the storm hit and pounded the cement to the shore with a sound that resembled "bombs dropping" as the resident said.



The same house as a few pictures up, but with a wider view of the area. Trees were on the ground, garages were destroyed, and driveways were almost non-existent:



On my way back, I stopped on Highway 98 between Okaloosa Island and Destin to capture an image of some of the flooding by the road:



Before I returned home, I stopped by Meigs Park in Shalimar to see if it had any damage. I saw some of the wood by the seawall was uprooted but nothing else noteworthy. I took a snapshot of this woman walking along the damage:



PRE-IDA:

Before Ida make landfall, I drove to Okaloosa Island to look at the impact the storm was having on the beach. The waves were roughly crashing against the pier:



One guy was skim boarding on the water until he was told to stop because of the danger. I'm sure there were plenty of skim boarders finding a wave that day:



Underneath the pier:



A woman and her child walked along the beach before the storm:





www.nwfdailynews.com