EDITORIAL: For Socorro, A Chance Of a Lifetime Saturday

By John Severance, Editor

No matter what happens Saturday, the Socorro football team should stand tall.
The Warriors, who have endured a slew of injuries, have captured the imagination of the city and they are 48 minutes away from winning the school’s first football state championship since 1977.
Socorro has done it with defense, an opportunistic offense and with the help of a hometown crowd.
Socorro’s run to the state title brought back some high school memories of my own.
I did not play football. I was way TOO skinny. I’m not now but this was close to 30 years ago.
Not surprisingly, I was the editor of the high school newspaper. We had a lot more drama to deal with than Socorro does.
Our newspaper uncovered that the football coach illegally placed a tape recorder in a rival locker room. He was subsequently fired. He apparently thought our rival high school was going to try and cheap shot some of our best players so I guess his intentions were good.
Near the end of the season, one of the teams that beat West Springfield High School had to forfeit all of its games because of an illegal player. And with the added win, West Springfield gained a spot in the playoffs.
Nobody expected the Spartans to do anything. Yet, we made it all the way to the state finals after three very exciting playoff games.
Reality hit in the finals, though, as Hampton (from southern Virginia) came to town. We played them tough but we lost something like 14-6.
Most people thought we would lose by five touchdowns.
Anyway, Socorro already has exceeded the expectations of everybody. With its hometown support and its toughness that has been instilled by coach Damien Ocampo, the Warriors can compete with anybody.
And hopefully Socorro has a little more magic left in the tank.
No matter what happens, it should make for a spectacular Saturday.

EDITORIAL: For Socorro, A Chance Of a Lifetime Saturday