The game was excellent. Rugby lead for a lot of it, surprisingly, considering the down year they've had so far, and it was 29-28, Rugby leading, going into the locker room at half. Four Winds went on a tear in the 3rd to go up by 14-ish, and the Rugby came back-ish and ended the game 61-58 Four Winds. That was all fun.
And by couldn't help but notice, I mean it was kind of in my face obvious. The National Guard used the day as a recruiting day in Rugby, and looked like they'd been there most of the school day too. And they gave Rugby special uniforms and warm-ups for the game. Four winds just got warmups. And during the game, it felt like they were really pushing home the point that they were there to stop any trouble. And it didn't help that the police were brought about some guys videotaping and doing stupid things.
Now, honestly, I'm not saying anyone did anything with malicious or racist intents, but it does seem odd, that they wouldn't make an attempt to reach out to both teams, especially after the controversy at state last season. (NOTE: we are not talking about that story here. Too many differing opinions and no one answered a dang thing with any evidence or proof on why the other was wrong.)
I mean, I clearly DO NOT know the full story here and maybe Four Winds just didn't want the National Guard stuff, but on the surface, it really didn't look good for either town.