Wanamaker Sports Photography

Before Friday’s game between the Warriors and Port Jervis, I met up with Loretta at the Modified Girls Soccer game against Monroe-Woodbury. It was a welcome break for her and gave me a chance to shoot some High School Soccer – which I don’t get a chance to do often.

With the sun already creeping behind the trees, there were some long shadows on the field that challenged the settings of each shot – but it was still fun to cover nonetheless.

Here are a couple of my favorites from the game …

 

Yesterday afternoon was the Saturday edition of Friday Night Lights for Goshen and Burke Catholic – two rival schools. It was also homecoming for Goshen … so the stands were packed and it felt like the entire town had come out to watch the game!

With both teams playing extremely hard, it felt like a repeat of Friday night between Minisink and Port Jervis with yellow flags being thrown almost every play. Luckily, no one got ejected from this game!

With a few fumbles, some incredible catches and lots of running, Loretta and I were able to capture some awesome actions shots from both sides. One of these shots was of a Burke player going after a long throw and making the catch almost sitting straight up. When I reviewed the shot (which is included below), it looks as if he was even sitting on the bench! Another was of a Goshen player running up the sidelines, clearly still on the field – yet the officials called him as stepping out!

By the end of the game, Goshen had pulled a slim lead over Burke and when the final seconds counted down … the stands erupted in cheer like nothing I’ve heard before!

 

After a beautiful 80 degree day, someone decided to switch off the heat just before the start of the yellow flag filled Minisink Valley versus Port Jervis football game in Slate Hill last night. Thankfully, we had checked the weather before heading out and grabbed enough layers to keep us warm throughout the night!

As practice got underway, Loretta and I set ourselves near where all of the players were practicing pass catching. The light was perfect and some of the catches we caught made some of these guys look like NFL stars! One of them (in the gallery below) actually looks like a classic Michael Jordan – just with football pads …

After about 30 minutes, all of the players left the field, the officials arrived and everyone got ready for what was sure to be a great Friday Night Lights game!

Almost immediately after starting the game, Port Jervis landed a Safety and scored 2 points. Not wanting this to become a regular thing, Minisink fought back – and fought back hard. As things heated up between the two teams, the officials started throwing yellow flags for holding, pass interference and unsportsmanlike conduct. They threw so many flags that it seemed like every play just before half time had one. After half time, it was no different … and it eventually led to a Port Jervis player being ejected from the game! In the end, Minisink only let Port Jervis get one touch down – ending the game 28-to-8!

Overall, there were two things that I’ll remember about last night …

The first was the half time game between the Minisink Youth Football Mighty Mites. These little guys ran around the field, tackled each other and played the game as if Friday Night was THEIR night!

The second would have to be my close encounter with Jesse Valenti (#7) along the sidelines just ahead of the Minisink Valley end-zone. As he broke away and ran up the field, I squatted on the side near the 10 yard line and captured every shot of him coming right towards me – until I noticed that he was getting a little too close for comfort! Just a few seconds before impact, I stopped shooting, stood up and darted for the fence as quickly as possible with Jesse just a few short feet behind me running at full speed. Luckily, I was fast enough to avoid being tackled and was even applauded by the crowd standing nearby. One spectator even yelled, “Nice move cameraman!”

Gotta love football season!

 

Last night was the official kickoff to our fall sports season with the first Minisink Valley Football game of the season against Newburgh Free Academy! As you might remember from last year, Minisink Valley went head to head with Newburgh Free Academy on their quest for the state title but lost the game with only a few minutes left in the final quarter – and last night looked very much the same.

Minisink and Newburgh battled for field position on each down and only moved the ball a few yards before handing it back over. There was a mix of interceptions, fumbles and just some bad plays from both sides that left the score tied at 0-0 going into the half.

As each of the teams returned to the field for the second half, you could see a bit more fire in each of the players. Unfortunately, the fire was a little stronger in the players from NFA as they scored the only touchdown of the game just before the end of the 3rd quarter.

Though it may be a rough start for Minisink Valley, it is still early in the season and we are looking forward to covering more of their games this season! Ah, gotta love football!

 

Last Friday, we were asked to attend the Minisink Valley Youth Football Friday Night Lights event at the Minisink High School. It was a fundraiser and mini-training camp for the participants of the youth football league (who we recently contracted with for portraits and action shots).

Not only were all of the youth players there, but the entire Minisink Valley High School Football Team as well! They were the “instructors” at each of the stations and helped the kids perform the various actions – from throwing like a quarterback to kicking field goals to tackling.

It was a great opportunity for us to interact with some of the children we would be photographing this fall and for the parents to get to know us and what we do! Here are a few shots from the event …