Rivalry Rekindled

Lions to face Bastrop in Alumni Game

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

Changes in school sizes and district lines brought to an end one of the longest-standing football rivalries in Lockhart history. That all changed this fall, when Alumni Football USA offered former gridiron stars the chance to relive their glory days, and breathed new life into an old passion.

The Lockhart Lions are currently seeking players for a full-contact, full-gear showdown with the Bastrop Bears tentatively scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011.

Team co-captains JR Krcmar, Rob Ortiz and Ross Alexander, who learned about the Alumni Football USA opportunity last week, went straight to work attempting to put together a team.

“This will be a nice tradition to get started,” Krcmar said. “It will be nice to compete with some of the guys you poured blood and sweat with.

Krcmar, who now lives in Bastrop, said he’s been hearing “smack talk” about the Lions from die-hard Bear fans still living the rivalry, which ended when Bastrop High School was reclassified as a 5A school several years ago.

Although alumni games have been popular in north and west Texas for years, the tradition has only recently caught on in Central Texas, thanks in part to the fact that Alumni Football USA understands that old rivalries die hard, and gridiron glory dies harder.

Having organized alumni games across the United States for more than 20 years, Alumni Football USA offers a unique opportunity for players to get back into the game – and to earn money for their school. The schools that offer their fields for Alumni Football USA games earn money not only with facility use fees and ticket sales, but also concession sales during the game.

Earlier this year, the Alumni Football game drew the largest crowd in field history to Crane High School in West Texas. During the 2010 season, other schools have reported earning as much as $10,000 for Alumni Football USA events, and other activities associated with them.

For the players, however, it’s all about the football.

“The last time I was in full pads, I scored twice and had over 150 rushing yards,” Krcmar said. “It was the perfect game to finish the senior year – and it was against Bastrop. We killed ‘em. And we will do the same this time.”

Other Lions who want to get in one last hit, one last touchdown, or one last perfect pass are encouraged to sign up for the team, which had eight confirmed members by Tuesday morning. The fee, $75-$100 (depending on sign-up date) is payable to Alumni Football USA, which provides everything for the games, from officials and playing fields, to pads and uniforms.

While Bastrop has only three slots left to fill their roster, the Lions need several more players to field a team.

The Bastrop team seems to think that won’t happen. Chatter on the Bears’ Alumni Football USA-sponsored Facebook page goes something like this:

“Still no one from Lockhart is signing up?”
“Fear.”
“That’s what I was thinking. They were always second place.”

A team meeting will be held on Saturday, Nov. 20 at noon at the Texas Grill, 101 Highway 71 West in Bastrop. All players interested in participating in the alumni game are encouraged to attend. To register, visit www.alumnifootballusa.com.