Senior Tackle: Cade Stover reflects on homecoming as harvest looms
Ohio State commitment Cade Stover is set to embark on his final season of high school football and basketball at Lexington (Ohio) High School. Lexington, a small town of just about 4,700 people near Mansfield, is a farm community that’s played an instrumental role in raising Stover, the country’s eighth-ranked outside linebacker. He committed to the Buckeyes in late April this year, picking Ohio State over Penn State, Notre Dame and 20 other schools. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound athlete is on the verge of becoming his school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball, and Cade Stover will share all of the ups and downs of his senior year with Lettermen Row in this weekly journal.
Last Friday, we defeated West Holmes 34-33, a tight contest against the team that was at the top of our conference coming into the game. With the win, we’ve put ourselves into a good position. We can now win the conference and make the playoffs if we win out. That or we lose and have no shot at all for football in Week 11.
I wrote last week a little bit about homecoming and guess what? Bridget, the girl I escorted? She was named Homecoming Queen! That was a really special moment for the school and the town. She was named queen and jumped up in excitement and gave one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard, thanking the Lexington student body and everyone that has helped her. Then, to top it off, she sang the National Anthem at the game on Friday night.
After spending Saturday at Homecoming, Sunday was back to work for me. I spent the day with Dad getting the combine ready for the harvest. A combine, for those that don’t know, is the giant piece of equipment that cuts and then removes the grains from the field. This season, harvest season, is by far my favorite time of the year, but getting that combine ready is a complete chore all of its own.
We have to go through and grease all the fittings, powerwash everything, change the oil to get everything running smooth and clean. I think that sounds simple, but it’s a really complicated task that takes a good deal of time to get done and to do right. But Dad and I always have a great time doing that. It doesn’t feel like work really because we both love the harvest, and this year we have more corn out than ever, so it just means more time in the combine. I think we both feel beyond lucky to get to do things that we love.
Because of harvest, it is harder for me to get to Columbus for Ohio State games. So this weekend when the Buckeyes play Minnesota, I am going to take a few hours to head to campus. I need to get down there and watch the Buckeyes get after it. There’s really nothing like being in my future home and just feeling the love that I get, not just on campus, but everywhere in Columbus as a city. There is no place like Ohio State, with the entire state behind us and supporting us.
I’ll talk to you all again next week. Thanks for reading.
Go Bucks!
