Graham Kislingbury

I’ve enjoyed shooting Friday night high school football games for the past two years. I mostly used my Sony Handycam during the 2007 and ‘08 seasons. I’ve used one of our two Canon XH A1 cameras at 10 of 12 games so far this season. It has a better zoom, and the external mic is great for postgame interviews.

In recent weeks, I started looking for different angles. During the Corvallis-Crescent Valley boys soccer game three weeks ago, I tried shooting from the press box with the camera mounted on a tripod. It was OK and there was no problem zooming to all parts of the Field of Dreams But there were limitations. The press box window opened only so far and it came into view when I shot toward the corners of the field. On that cold night, however, the heated press box was the biggest plus for me.

Since last month, I had been eyeing the perch above the announcer and radio guys at West Albany’s Memorial Stadium. That’s where coaches from both teams communicate to their respective sidelines and where each team has someone shooting video. With driving rain last night, I thought it would be a good time to try the perch.

After getting the gear and myself up the ladder to the perch, I liked what I saw — a dry area with mostly unobstructed views. Some of the stadium’s support structures block parts of the views to the end zones, but it’s no big deal.

I shot the first half from the perch. By halftime, West led 62-0 en route to a 75-0 win. I’ve never witnessed such a lopsided game. The Bulldogs came well prepared for their second-round state playoff game, outmatched the Grizzlies in every phase of the game. My prediction is that West will play for its third-straight 5A state title three weeks from today at Reser Stadium.

I packed up before halftime Friday and decided to do something I’ve never done before — interview a player and coach at the end of the first half. For all practical purposes the game was over, so I asked Coach Randy Nyquist if I could do a quick interview with him and Anthony LaCoste before they headed to their halftime huddle. He gave me the OK.

LaCoste, one of the best running backs anywhere, rushed for five touchdowns before he came out of the game early in the second quarter.

In the video, you can see his interview along with perch-view highlights

Tweet This Post