Ellis, 34, is entering his 10th Major League season and was a free agent before agreeing to the terms with the Dodgers, which also includes an option for 2014. He hit .248 with a .288 on-base percentage and .346 slugging percentage in 132 games for the Oakland A’s and Colorado Rockies this season.

Ellis is a career .266 hitter with on-base percentage of .331, and spent nine seasons in Oakland before being traded in June to Colorado. With Dee Gordon to start at shortstop and Juan Uribe at third, second base was considered one of the Dodgers’ offseason needs. Ellis is best known for his strong defense, with a fielding percentage of .991 and only 51 career errors.

Ellis is a Type B free agent, meaning the Rockies will receive a supplemental draft pick for losing him to the Dodgers.

For more updates from IDS, follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/InsideDakSports

With the temperature dropping, and the wind howling, South Dakota high school cross-country champion Tony Smoragiewicz quietly repeated as the Nike Heartland Regional champion Sunday afternoon at the Yankton Trails course in Sioux Falls that he describes as his favorite cross country venue in the country. His time of 15:19 was seven seconds faster than North Dakota prep champion Jake Leingang of Bismarck, and secured Smoragiewicz a place in the Nike X High School National championship in Portland next month, where he will run against the best high school runners for the second time in two years. Last year’s 9th place finish in the Nike X Nationals was Tony’s coming out party as one of the country’s elite high school runners.

Watching Tony run is like staring into fire, or unscrewing the back of a Rolex watch and becoming mesmerized by the precision of the gears. In two years, I have watched him run ten times. I like to hug a tree near a curve in the course, where fans and parents rarely stand, and get close enough to touch him as he runs past. I have never seen stress wrinkled across his forehead, impatience in his rhythmic gait, doubt, or fear in the creases of his smile. Tony runs, and wins, like a man at peace with himself.

But for the last two years, while he has been traveling the world, dazzling teammates and competitors, rising through the national ranks, Tony has also been piecing together a puzzle of uncommon difficulty. He has been trying to decide where to go to college, and how to make all the pieces of his life fit together. Last Friday, he made his decision.

The first piece of the puzzle was academics. Tony has a GPA above 4.0, and he’s carrying four Advanced Placement classes (physics, calculus, government and English). He wanted a university with a top-notch mechanical engineering program. After being heavily recruited by a dozen schools, he narrowed his final four to Minnesota, Princeton, Stanford and Michigan. It’s amazing how a 4.0 GPA makes life easy for a college coach. With those four choices, let’s just say that academics took care of themselves.

Anyone who has followed Tony for the last few years knows that his path to glory has been unconventional. To South Dakota high school running fans, he is a cross-country and track champion, but his passion has always been the three-headed monster of endurance—the triathlon. Last September, he won the bronze medal at the Junior World Triathlon Championship in Beijing, China.

In selecting a college, Tony looked for a coach who would support his passion. Because triathlon is not an NCAA sanctioned event, there are no scholarships, and let’s face it, why would a coach give precious scholarship money to a runner who wants to spend time swimming and bicycling? Track and swimming coaches look upon triathletes as hot potatoes. Tony understood that running will pay his way through college, but he wanted a coach who would also support a training regime that included swimming and bicycling. He found that coach in Alex Gibby, who built an international reputation at William and Mary College in Virginia, and then moved to the top cross-country spot at the University of Michigan last year.

So last Friday afternoon, Tony Smoragiewicz called Coach Gibby and made a verbal commitment to wear the maze and blue of Michigan for the next four years.

“Coach Gibby may well be the best coach in the country because of the way he interacts with his athletes and his training philosophies in terms of individualization of workouts and periodization.” Tony told me. “He’s made a great impact at Michigan in such a short time and it’s something I want to be a part of. Even though my long term goals are focused
toward representing the United States on an Olympic Team in triathlon, I know the only way to reach my potential is to improve my running by competing at a Division One school in cross country and track and field over the next four years. I’ll also receive help from the
coaches of the swimming program at Michigan, which is currently the best swim team in the nation. I can’t wait to run for Coach Gibby and be part of a running program that’s on the rise of being one of the best in the country.”

Tony cannot sign a formal letter of commitment until February, but judging by the grin on his face at lunch last Friday, he has little doubt that his decision is final and unshakable.

“Where do you think you will fit in on the Michigan cross-country team?” I asked him. “You’re world class at the high school level, but those guys are four years older, and four years bigger and more experienced.”

“I definitely won’t be at the top of the team,” he explained. “But I should be able to compete against the top seven.”

With the summer triathlon season behind him for another seven months, and his college decision squared away, there is nothing left for Tony to do but run…(and, of course, pass four AP exams).

I asked him to reflect on the cross-country season that just finished, and he shook his head: “I was more tired than I thought after I got back from Beijing.” He told me. “I took two weeks off, but I never really got going in cross country. Now I’m rested, and I’m training again.”

In two weeks he will run in the Footlocker cross country qualifying regional in Kinosha, Wis., followed the next week by the Nike X Nationals in Portland, and then followed one week later by the national Footlocker Cross Country championships in San Diego. He will come back to school after each event, and fly out the next weekend. If he thought he was tired after Beijing, his next month of travel is just as grueling.

Next spring, he will return to the Arcadia Invitational Track Meet, in Southern California, where last April he ran his first sub-9 minute 3,200.

“At the end of the Nike and Footlocker races, I will have spent 96 days on the road in 2011. It’s hard on the body, and hard on my ability to keep up a consistent training schedule.”

Tony’s pace will be just as aggressive for 2012. But, instead of using world-class events to discover his potential, and find his place among the elite runners, starting now…he will be running to win. When he is back home, he has set some sparkling goals for the 2012 track season. “I’d like to run the 3200 under 8:45. My best time in the 1600 (mile) is 4:16. I’d like to lower it to 4:05 this year.”

“4:05 is so close to 4:00.” I kid him. “Why not set a goal of running a four-minute mile?”

He looked at me incredulously. “Five seconds is a lot! Four minutes is really fast.” Then he broke out laughing.

Tony’ best time in the 1600 is 4:16.

At least he won’t have to worry about where he’s going to college.

Rapid City native and former Central Cobbler Adam Vinatieri's game-winning kick while playing for the Patriots against the Oakland Raiders in the 2002 Snow Bowl.

It was the end of practice. It wasn’t like it mattered, but Taylor Houchin was frustrated. A slight wind? The setting sun in his face? A distraction from the sidelines? His kick had plenty of distance, but it drifted right, just outside the goal posts at North Middle School.

Taylor hates kicking practice. He plays safety on defense, and either quarterback or running back during offensive drills. By the time kicking comes around he’s exhausted. Kicking adds another twenty minutes to afternoons that are already too long.

He keeps telling his coaches that he doesn’t even want to be the kicker. If he had wanted to kick, he would have stuck with soccer. When he was a freshman and sophomore, it was a way to get on the field and contribute. Now, well…he’s stuck with the job.

Central’s head coach Trent Pikula smiles across his desk and nods. “He doesn’t spend a lot of time kicking. We have to tell him, ‘Taylor, go kick’”

Taylor Houchin wants to be at the center of the action, not out on the edge of the game. He never wanted to be the skinny kicker who linebackers roll their eyes at sitting on the corner of the bench, waiting for that one fleeting do-or-die moment when a kicker takes the field.

Like most good running backs, Taylor likes to hit people. “People don’t see it from the way I run.” He told me recently. “I’m kind of shifty. But I love contact. If I weighed 225, I’d run over people.”

That’s the rub. Taylor has the heart of a fullback and the attitude of a linebacker, but the 175-pound body of a high school running back who has spent his whole career in the shadow of players who are just a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger, or a little bit faster. High school has been a four-year struggle just to be recognized.

Except for his leg. The kid’s got a golden leg.

He smiles sheepishly when he describes his predicament. “I’m not really that interested in kicking. But it has always been just a natural thing for me to kick a ball.”

Taylor started playing soccer when he was four, and played on competitive club teams for ten years. “I never played at Central.” He told me. “But a lot of my best friends are on the soccer team. I remember that I didn’t really want to play football in the seventh grade. But my dad said, ‘Give it a shot.’ So I played midget football. I was on the best team in the city, with Coach (Mike) Purcell. I remember the first time I broke a run open, and scored a touchdown. It felt so amazing. From then on I had more of a love for football. I knew I wanted to play varsity football…under the lights.”

Taylor Houchin runs the option against Sioux Falls Lincoln earlier this fall. (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

So there he was a few weeks ago, on the practice field at North Middle School, surrounded by his teammates, suffering through kicking practice. Kick a few from one distance, and then move back. Kick a few more, and move back. It was tedious, and besides, he felt like he had to figure everything out on his own. No one on the coaching staff was much help.

“None of us has ever kicked. None of us coaches on staff can help him.” Pikula said. “So he’s never had anyone sit down with him and say, ‘Here’s the technique’. He just muscles himself through the ball.”

As usual, the coaches and the rest of the team were standing around watching. “I was frustrated and thinking about why the kick had gone wide right. But I could hear the coaches and players talking. So I asked one of the coaches… ‘How far was that kick, anyway?’”

“63 yards.” The coach answered…the exact distance of the NFL field goal record.

63 frickin’ yards–for a high school field goal kicker who weighs only 175 pounds?…for a kicker who’s never taken a lesson or been to a kicking camp?…for a kicker who’s not even interested in what he’s doing?

Only nine kickers have ever made a field goal in a game from beyond 60 yards. Taylor Houchin’s got a big time college leg, and an eighth grade interest.

Make no mistake. He’s raw. He’s untrained. But imagine how good could he be if he was actually interested?

Taylor Houchin kicks a field goal against Sturgis earlier this season. (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

I first saw Taylor play against Douglas High School a month ago. He was dominant at running back. But then again, it was Douglas, so it wasn’t clear what “dominant” really amounted to. What I remembered most about his performance was the fact that he drove every kickoff into the end zone (and a few out the back end). It was just a footnote in the game. It wasn’t what he wanted to be remembered for. But let’s face facts…at Nebraska, or Alabama, or Texas, a kid who can consistently put a kickoff in the end zone, and keep it out of the hands of a 4.3 sprinter, gets a free ride to college for four years.

Against Mitchell three weeks ago, Taylor ran for 250 yards. He flashed speed and power beyond his size. He ran with a ferocious heart. He intercepted a pass from his safety position. It was a spectacular high school performance, but what I remember from the game wasn’t a breakaway run, it was his second quarter field goal. 48 yards…with ten to spare. 48 yards…right down the chute.

It was the kind of kick that makes Division-1 college coaches smile.

___________________________

A Career in the Shadows

Who can blame Taylor Houchin for wanting to bask in the glow of being Central’s star running back. He spent his first three years waiting in the shadows.

For two years he waited behind Jake Sharp, and the way things looked at the end of last season, he expected to wait again this year. Desperate to find a way to get Taylor’s athleticism on the field, Coach Pikula encouraged him to work out at quarterback. But then Jake Sharp transferred to St. Thomas More, and after only a few days, dropped out of school altogether. In the flash of a few weeks, Houchin began to see his senior year in a whole new light.

“Part of the reason I love this season so much is getting away from the Jake Sharp shadow.” Taylor explained. “Last year everything was about Jake Sharp, and this year we already have more wins than all of last season. We have more of a team identity this year rather than a single person. And also, for me personally, I was in his shadow. He was a great football player, but I never had a chance to show what I could do until this year.”

“Taylor has never been the kid who will be in the limelight, ever, until this year.” Coach Pikula told me recently. “We put a lot on his shoulders this year. Originally we thought he was going to be the quarterback. And as a QB, he wasn’t very good. He’s a good athlete, but he doesn’t throw well. He runs. That’s what he does well.”

This season, Houchin leads the Cobblers in rushing yards, touchdowns, points and interceptions. (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

“I think he realized that the natural part of him being an athlete wasn’t good enough. He needed to make himself bigger, faster, stronger, so he really took it upon himself after last year to hit the weight room hard. He’s been very disciplined about getting in the weight room.”

The football field isn’t the only place Taylor has emerged from the shadows this year. He has also broken through a cocoon of indifference about his schoolwork. “In middle school I was a goof off.” He confesses. “That’s just the way I was. And then I came out of it in high school. I’m beginning to realize a lot of things now that I wish I had done differently. But that’s the past, and I’m just trying to go forward now. My English class is really fun, and last year I loved anatomy class. It was awesome. I’ve never thought about a career in medicine before. I just took the anatomy class for an extra science credit, and I loved it. It made me curious about whether that’s where I might end up. That’s the kind of stuff that stuck with me because I really enjoyed it, and I was good at it.”

“I think what made the light go on was that I finally realized this is my senior year. I just decided I might as well go out giving everything I’ve got. It started with football, and then at school as well, I knew I needed to mature, so that if I ever got the opportunity to play in college, I needed the academic grades.”

It’s all a part of growing up. But even as he matures on and off the field, the one piece that hasn’t yet fallen in place is Taylor’s refusal to come to grips with the power of his leg, and what it could mean for him.

Central High School participates in an Internet video service that allows coaches can exchange game videos from week to week. Pikula encourages his players to use the service to edit their own highlight videos and make them available to college coaches. “Taylor made a video,” Coach Pikula told me. “It shows off his running skills. Maybe it has a few defensive plays. I don’t think he put a single kick on the video.”

After the Roosevelt game in Sioux Falls last weekend, Taylor tagged along with a teammate who had scheduled recruiting visits to several east river colleges. Taylor stood in the shadow, and shared his aspirations when the coaches asked. He talked about how dedicated he was to running, how committed he was to lifting weights and making himself stronger. He never mentioned his kicking. Finally, one coach asked, “Are you the kid who hit the 48 yard field goal?”

“Yes.” Taylor answered, more defeated than exhilarated.

“He came in to talk to me last week when he was recovering from the concussion, and we talked about college.” Coach Pikula told me. “I said, ‘You’re a fool if you don’t put yourself out there as a kicker first.’ I talked about Adam Vinatieri. He was a famous, great QB here at Central, and a defensive back. But he wasn’t going to play QB in college. Then there was the kid from Aberdeen who kicked at the University of Wisconsin; he was the starting QB at Aberdeen Central. But he was never going to play QB in college, so he put his kicking out there. He even kicked in the NFL a little bit.”

“I basically told Taylor, ‘If you’re going to play college football, it’s going to be as a kicker. If you want to sit for four years and be a redshirt freshman, and get some playing time as a redshirt senior, maybe you could do that. But as a kicker, you could probably play as a freshman anywhere you want to go.’”

Sitting at lunch together, my questions have Taylor maneuvered into a corner. He’s talking about how much he loves the University of Nebraska, how he’d give his right arm to play at the University of Wyoming. His eyes sparkle when he talks about big time D-1 football. “So here’s the question.” I tell him. “Would you rather be a second string running back at a D-2 college studying anatomy, or a kicker at Nebraska on your way to making a few million dollars in the NFL as a kicker?”

He grimaces. I can see him struggling with the choice ahead. “Yeah…that’s really tough for me.”

Taylor has struggled so hard, with such determination, to break out of the shadow as a running back. Everyone from coaches to old reporters is chipping at him about kicking. No one seems to understand what really drives him. No one seems to appreciate why he loves football. It’s the crunch of the collision, not the technique of a kick.

There is, of course, one person who does understand what Taylor is going through, one person in the world who knows on a very personal level what it means to be a star quarterback at Central High School and then make a new path for himself as a kicker—Adam Vinatieri. Wednesday afternoon I spoke with Vinatieri from Colts headquarters in Indianapolis. His advise to Houchin was not what you might think.

Adam Vinatieri celebrates a game-winning kick for the Indianapolis Colts.

“I always tell kids, ‘Have fun.’ If you’re having fun, you’ll have no regrets.’ If that means playing at a small school as a running back, instead of trying to go to a bigger school, then do it. There are a lot of 175-pound running backs in the first year of college. The important thing is that whatever Taylor does should make him happy.”

“He’s in a situation where you shouldn’t believe everything that people tell you. If you do that, you’ll never do anything in life. I had a lot of people tell me I couldn’t make it as a kicker. I never believed anything anyone said. I just believed in myself. I wasn’t willing to give up my dream and my goal.”

When Vinatieri enrolled at South Dakota State University in 1991, it was a small Division-2 school. He was the third string quarterback, behind a sophomore. He was also the kicker. “I dreamed of playing in the NFL.” Vinatieri told me. “But I had no idea how realistic that was. I wanted to get my schooling paid for because I wanted to become a doctor if football didn’t work out.”

“If Taylor loves playing running back, but also focuses in on kicking, that doesn’t necessarily mean giving up on your dream. At the end of the day, if he wants to go to a place like the University of Wyoming, and he can get a scholarship to be a kicker, and it’s more important to get your schooling paid for than what position you play, then he probably ought to go and kick. Then once you get there, keep working, and all of a sudden you impress the strength and conditioning coach in the weight room. And you go and say, ‘Hey, when I’m not kicking balls, I want to run some scout team running back.’ And they say, ‘Hey, this kid is really good.’ At 175 pounds, you can be at 200 in one year in college because you eat a lot and you lift a lot. The fact that he’s a 4.5 guy, that’s not slow. You can develop that. You can get bigger and faster.”

“So, number one, I’m saying, go get your education. Number two, go and have fun playing football. It doesn’t matter if you are at the Division-3 level or a Division-1 huge school. Football is fun no matter where you’re at.”

_______________________

On Thursday night, when Central and Stevens are locked in a close game, you can bet your last dollar that Taylor Houchin will be in the thick of the battle. The game may hinge on a breakaway run. It may hinge on a swing pass out of the backfield. Or, it may hinge on a 50-yard field goal.

Put yourself in Trent Pikula’s shoes: fourth-and-three on the Stevens forty; with the game (and the season) on the line. Does Pikula run Taylor off tackle, behind big Aaron Beaird? Or does he try a 55-yard field goal?

This is the moment that every high school football player dreams of. There are no more shadows. There is only the spotlight of center stage…well earned.

“I hope the best for him,” said Vinatieri. “The more South Dakota kids who get out there and show what we can do, the better…Go Cobblers.”

“If the game was on the line Thursday night.” Pikula told me without a split second of hesitation. “I would feel comfortable putting him out there to kick a 55-yard field goal. I think he could make it. I have no doubt in my mind.”

If you make it, Taylor…add it to your highlight video.

http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/track-and-xc/post/_/id/82/tony-smoragiewicz-dug-deep-for-bronze

http://insidedakotasports.com/cross-country-elks-invite-a-scorcher

http://insidedakotasports.com/sam-hurst-interview-with-tony-smoragiewicz-following-his-bronze-medal-at-the-world-championships-in-beijing

http://insidedakotasports.com/smoragiewi%E2%80%8Bcz-wins-bronze-at-world-championsh%E2%80%8Bip

http://insidedakotasports.com/rapid-city-triathletes-win-national-relay-championship-tamara-gorman-repeats-as-national-champion

http://insidedakotasports.com/smoragiewicz-2nd-at-edmonton-triathlon-qualifies-for-world-championships-in-beijing

http://insidedakotasports.com/smoragiewicz-gorman-and-gorman-on-top-as-always-but-why

http://insidedakotasports.com/“what-i-did-this-week-to-make-myself-better”-tony-smoragiewicz

http://insidedakotasports.com/the-science-of-talent

http://insidedakotasports.com/raider-girls-win-15th-state-title-in-16-years-cobblers-finish-3rd-in-boys-and-girls

http://insidedakotasports.com/ids-podcast-tony-smoragiewiczs-quest-for-the-state-record

http://insidedakotasports.com/smoragiewicz-breaks-9-minute-barrier-in-arcadia-invitational-track-meet

http://insidedakotasports.com/tony-smoragiewicz-third-in-pan-american-junior-championship-top-u-s-finisher

http://insidedakotasports.com/smoragiewicz-competes-in-brooks-national-invite

http://insidedakotasports.com/tony-smoragiewicz-needs-thirty-seconds

http://insidedakotasports.com/smoragiewicz-3rd-at-foot-locker

http://insidedakotasports.com/smoragiewicz-9th-at-nike-cross-nationalsgorman-30th-in-women’s-race

http://insidedakotasports.com/tony-smoragiewicz

http://insidedakotasports.com/tony-smoragiewicz-third-in-foot-locker-regional

http://insidedakotasports.com/smoragiewicz-wins-nike-heartland

http://insidedakotasports.com/west-river-dominates-state-meet-gorman-and-smoragiewicz-take-individual-titles

http://insidedakotasports.com/tony-and-tamara-in-2020

http://sd.milesplit.com/athletes/1066799-tony-smoragiewicz

http://www.bendbulletin.com/article/20110912/NEWS0107/109120323/

http://www.footlockercc.com/2010/2010_finalist_bio.php?ID=mb3

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/09/12/mile-posts-weekend-update-with-sammy-rotich-erin-moeller-tony-smoragiewicz-nathan-white-tami-ritchie-tyler-mulder/

It was finally answered on Tuesday night. All it took was some new blood instead of bad blood.

New Post 22 head coach Mitch Messer made a proposal last week to new Post 320 head coach Paul Pool suggesting that the two programs set aside past differences and play each other next season. Pool said he didn’t even hesitate at the offer and the dates were set shortly after.

Post 22 will host Post 320 twice during the 2012 season and all proceeds from the gate will be distributed to a charity to be decided on at a later date. The first-ever regular-season meeting between the two Rapid City Legion baseball programs will be on June 19th, 2012 at 7 p.m. at Fitzgerald Stadium. The other scheduled regular-season game will be played on July 10th at 7 p.m., also at Fitzgerald Stadium.

“It will be great for everybody,” Pool told IDS Tuesday night. “It was not a tough decision for me. I would read about the situation in the paper when we came to visit (his wife’s family in Newell) from Texas and it didn’t make sense to me. In Allen, (where Pool previously coached baseball) we wouldn’t drive more than 30 miles to play a game. Here, sometimes you have to drive six hours. Why not just play the team across the parking lot?”

In one of his first decisions after taking over as Post 22 head coach, Messer immediately broke with his processor’s policy of refusing to ever play Post 320. Dave Ploof would not schedule or play Post 320 unless it was a forced meeting during post-season play.

“I wanted to play them,” Messer told IDS on Tuesday. “I wasn’t here in Rapid City for most of the bad blood, but I am also not naïve that this has been sore spot for the community. There were strong emotions on both sides, but I saw the opportunity to reach across the fence and mend the relationship with Post 320. Now, hopefully we can move past this and just play some baseball.”

Pool, like Messer, will be starting his first season as a head coach in Rapid City after taking over for Jim Brandt who retired this summer. The new Post 320 head coach said he sees nothing but positives from playing Post 22 during regular-season.

“There will be a huge crowd and the kids will enjoy playing against each other,” he said. “It will save money on travel. It is going to be a good thing for the community. Post 22 is the powerhouse and they have achieved so much. If we want to compete with the best we have to play the best.”

The Hardhats and the Stars have met 19 times since Post 320 formed its program in 1998 and all of those games have been played in the post-season. Post 22 has won 18 of the 19 meetings against Post 320. The Stars one win came at the 2009 state tournament that was held in Rapid City at Fitzgerald Stadium. Post 22 rebounded in that tournament and came back to beat Post 320 in the state championship game.

Watch more video of Tony Smoragiewicz on flotrack.org

Watch more video of Tony Smoragiewicz on flotrack.org

Colts quarterback Preston Arity runs for a first down against the Patriots Tuesday night in 7th grade Midget Football action. (Photo Sam Hurst/IDS)

There are games and then there are important games. There are rivalries and then there are rivalries that get personal. There’s Michigan versus Ohio State. There’s the Bears versus the Packers.

…and then there’s the three-year old midget football league smack down rivalry between the Patriots and the defending champion Colts.

For three years, this has been the most hard-nosed rivalry on the youth gridiron, played between boys who are close friends, cousins, all-star teammates and middle school classmates while the sun shines on Tuesday afternoon, transformed into rival beasts when the sun sets on Tuesday night.

It was often commented over the summer that the Harney All-Stars, who played their way to the Little League World Series, were among the most talented group of athletes to come through Rapid City in a generation. Now imagine those same boys evenly divided, smashing into each other on two rival football teams, coached by their fathers. On the Colts: Erik Petry, Kyle Maguire, Seth Brewer, and Cameron Fees. On the Patriots: Riley McSherry, Madden Pikula, Hayden McGriff, Timmy Paris, and Zach Solano.  Imagine these boys surrounded by teammates who are sometimes bigger, sometimes faster, and just as good.

Midget football is an instructional league, a size and age appropriate introduction to the complex strategies of football that boys will see if they play at higher levels. For most boys, confronted with one or two eye- popping tackles, and a smothering pile up, these games are last time they will ever play. The Patriots and Colts are different. Their formations are tight, and the quarterback cadences are crisp. The runners hit their holes with power and speed. It’s easy to watch a Patriots/Colts game and imagine half of the starting lineup at Central and St. Thomas More in five years. (By the way, that’s Central High School Head Coach Trent Pikula coaching the Patriots from the sidelines).

This is football with its most primal male instincts played out full throttle, and there is nothing more primal than bragging rights between cousins and friends.

For the last two years, the Colts and Patriots have split their regular season games, and played their way into the championship game. Both years the Colts have emerged as champions. This season the teams were split 1-1 entering Tuesday night’s showdown, with the #1 seed for the playoffs on the line.

(Photos Sam Hurst/ID

The first half was a slugfest where neither defense was willing to give a yard. Hard running tailbacks Cameroon Fees and Zack Diehl pounded the middle for the Colts, but could make no headway. The Patriots countered with speedy Riley McSherry and Madden Pikula, but they could not turn the corner until Pikula broke free on a brilliant 45 yard run midway through the 2^nd quarter for the game’s first score.

The first half ended with the Patriots up 6-0.

The Colts turned to the power running game of Cameron Fees and Zack Diehl in the 3^rd quarter, and took over momentum in the game when Diehl scored on a two yard punch up the middle. The Colts defense, led by Erik Petry, spent most of its time in the Patriots backfield, disrupting passes, forcing fumbles, and sacking Patriots quarterbacks.

The game stayed knotted at 6-6 until the 4^th quarter, when Colts quarterback Preston Arity bootlegged his way around the left side for a 30- yard touchdown run. Petry’s extra point kick made the score 14-6, and the Colts were in control.

After the ensuing kickoff, with time running out, Patriots quarterback Madden Pikula went to the air in a desperation attempt to get his team back in the game. Pikula was looking for Zack Solano in the flat, but Zack Diehl jumped the route and took the interception to the house. “I saw Madden peeking over where he wanted to throw, so I knew it was coming to Zack. I just stepped in the way.” Diehl told IDS after the game.

Final score: Colts 22-Patriots 6.

“How important is it to beat these guys?” I asked Diehl.

“For us, it’s just like the Packers and the Bears. They’re a really good team. They’re hard to beat, and you have to play every play hard to win the game.”

Midget football league playoffs start in a week. Odds are, the Colts and Patriots will be right back on the field for the championship game; one more chance for the Patriots to break through, one more chance for the Colts to secure their dynasty.

After the championship comes a long, cold winter of bragging rights.

Tony Smoragiewicz (Photo Jake Nordbye/IDS)

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Jake Sullivan (Photo Kevin Cox/IDS)

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