I get a little nostalgic at the end of every high school football season. Scenes of a season ending bring a flood of memories from my final days as a Gulf Breeze Dolphin 38 years ago.

For all the fanfare and hoopla surrounding Senior Night and one last game at the home stadium, the deepest emotions are wrapped up in the concept of team.

Anybody who ever played a high school or college sport understands those emotions.

I won't pretend football teammates share deeper bonds than volleyball or baseball teammates. I will suggest that those bonds are different simply due to the physical requirements of football and the nature of the game. They instill a certain reliance on each other, along with a trust and accountability that might not be found in other sports.

 Baker running back D.J. Thomas has had a special senior season, but he'll be the first to tell you he couldn't have put up his big numbers without the blocking of a strong offensive line and a fullback willing to lead the way.

Great linebackers often make a staggering number of tackles, but those tackles aren't made without defensive linemen willing to engage the offensive line and keep them from the linebackers.

A team's Friday night game plan can only be executed as well as it was practiced that week. Often, the guys running the scout team seldom or never hear their name called over the public address system on Friday night.

We — and I say we because I was one of those scout team guys — are happy to know we played a part in getting our starters ready for the upcoming opponent.

It has often been said that there is no I in team. And that's the way it should be, as a team is not one player, but a sum of all the parts.

To be a team member is to be a part of something larger than one's self.

The last 38 years, I've been fortunate to be a part of some good teams at work, at church and even at play. None of those teams compare to those 1974 and 1975 high school football teams I was blessed to be a part of.

As I sit here writing this column, a role call of coaches and teammates flows through my mind and I strain to remember all the names and faces from that special time.

With each passing year, the big games' details slip further into the past, but the memory of teammates and what we experienced burns as brightly as our days of youth.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

Watch the "North End Zone Sports Report," 6 p.m. Wednesdays at crestviewbulletin.com/video, for more of Randy Dickson's insight on North Okaloosa sports

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Celebrating the team concept

I spent a lot of time over the weekend trying to research relevant storylines related to the Crestview High School and Baker School football teams' big wins Friday night.

It’s hard to determine whether Friday’s simultaneous wins were the most significant for these programs. The passing of time can make tracking down old schedules difficult at best to somewhat impossible.

Baker and Crestview won district championships in the same year in 1981, 1982, 1985 and 1993. But after 20 years and more I can’t tell if the teams clinched any district titles on the same night. 

There is no denying that Baker’s win over Northview was huge because it gave the Gators their first district championship since 2001. And some might argue that Crestview’s win over Niceville was even bigger, as the Bulldogs hadn’t beaten the Eagles in football since 1982.

I would say both teams would have a valid argument for the historical significance of their respective win.

Baker’s District 1-1A championship is the 16th in the program's history, but first in a dozen years. The Gator seniors were in kindergarten in the fall of 2001, when quarterback Vernon Jones led Baker's attack. The Gator’s sophomore quarterback, Jon Beck, was 3 years old and maybe didn’t know football existed.

Crestview’s win over Niceville snaps a streak that goes back 30 years, but those years weren’t consecutive, so it’s hard to tell how many straight games the Eagles had won in the series. There have been several years when the teams were in different districts or classifications and they didn’t play each other.

Even when considering the years the teams didn’t meet in the regular season, it stands to reason that Niceville won at least 15 or 20 straight games over Crestview. I can confirm that from 2007-2012, Niceville and Crestview played each other in the regular season and that the teams played each other in 2003 and 2004.

It is fun to speculate how the 2002 Bulldog team, which advanced to the Class 3A state championship game, would have stacked up against the Eagles that year. Niceville was the District 1-4A runner in 2002, and I have to believe that a game between Crestview and Niceville would have been a great battle that might have seen Crestview ending the streak.

The best chance the Bulldogs had of ending the streak was in 2010, when the Eagles won by a single point. A missed extra point by the Bulldogs prevented the game from going into overtime and a missed Crestview field goal late in the game allowed the Eagles to leave Jack Foster Stadium with a win.

I’ve been covering high school football in Okaloosa County for 13 years, and there is no doubt in my mind that Friday is the best night the two teams have shared.

For now, Crestview and Baker can celebrate milestone wins. The big wins that each team enjoyed last week are what make high school football the special game that it is.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: A special Friday night

As a Gulf Breeze High School senior, my classmates prophesied I would one day replace broadcasting icon Howard Cosell as the great American sweetheart.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out I came up a little short of replacing Cosell in the broadcast booth or the hearts of Americans. Even so, I've always had an interest in broadcasting, and often catch myself doing a play-by-play as I watch a ball game on television.

I've even made a few guest appearances on local sports talk radio shows and, several years back, I appeared a few times on the Raider Report television show that rounded up Northwest Florida State College sports.

I never thought I'd be able to quench that thirst I have for broadcasting right here at the Crestview News Bulletin.

I hope you've had a chance to watch the “North End Zone Sports Report” webcast, a recent addition to the News Bulletin sports coverage.

 Later today, the fifth webcast will appear on www.crestviewbulletin.com, and you can go back and view previous shows.

As is the case with many good ideas, the webcast’s concept just popped up in a conversation I was having with News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni. I was probably preaching the virtues of the good old days to Thomas, who is more years my junior than I would care to admit.

In the course of our dialog, I found myself visualizing something of a webcast. Thomas, who has a passion for broadcasting, quickly jumped aboard.

It took a week or two of planning — and one dress rehearsal, which didn't make it to the Internet — before we were ready to make our product ready for public viewing. Each week, things seem to run more smoothly as we iron out the webcast and set’s wrinkles.

The show’s concept is simple: I talk about local high school sports, with some college sports and big news from the middle school ranks mixed in as well. Think of the game previews and analysis as supplements for the print edition.

As football and volleyball seasons wind down, we will begin talking about basketball, soccer and whatever else is on the local sports scene.

Currently, Thomas and I co-host the show, but we will try to get some outside or local celebrity co-hosts in the months to come.

I hope you'll check us out and give us your feedback.

Maybe it's not too late for me to be the Great Okaloosa County Sweetheart.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

Watch the “North End Zone Sports Report” at 6 p.m. Wednesdays at www.crestviewbulletin.com.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Check out the 'North End Zone Sports Report'

Next Monday would have been my dad, Jim Dickson's, 81st birthday. And a week from today, it will have been three months since he passed away.

I still get teary eyed and even find myself sobbing at times. Saturday, after our Tennessee Volunteers upset South Carolina in football, was one of those times. It was the first big Tennessee win we haven't shared since I started following football almost 50 years ago.

I'm guessing I'll get a little weepy this week too, no matter what happens in the Tennessee-Alabama game. Dad really loved this game when fall is in full color and football games matter deep in the Heart of Dixie.

The last three months have been time for healing, but my heart will have a Dad-shaped hole in it the rest of my life.

A big part of my healing takes place each Friday night when I return to the sidelines for another Baker or Crestview football game. The local high school stadiums, even amid the craziness that is high school football, have always been a sanctuary of sorts for me, but the last few months the stadiums have been a special place of healing.

Yes, the games provide a release to focus my thoughts on the playing field. But the games are only part of the healing process. So many coaches and fans have been quick to inquire not only about how I'm holding up, but also wonder how the rest of my family is doing.

The kind words and gracious thoughts have been a comfort as I've walked this unknown path.

I would like to think of myself as a Christ Follower of deep faith and someone who knows the Bible well. Some people would say I know the Bible very well, but I can't tell you if the people in Heaven know what happens on a high school or college football field.

If I had to make an educated assumption, I would say there is no ESPN streaming into Heaven. Personally, I don't think the people up there are too concerned about football.

I do believe those who have gone before us take great joy in the comfort we give one another, and that Dad is smiling with each kind word or deed that you in the community have directed my way.

So here's a big THANK YOU to all of you for your continued support.

I'll see you at a game.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: A time for healing

There is little doubt that Baker School tailback D.J. Thomas is enjoying a stellar senior season. Thomas has amassed more than 1,108 yards rushing and scored 19 touchdowns after six weeks of the 2013 season.

In other words, through six games, Thomas was averaging 184.7 yards and just less than three touchdowns a game — and he accomplished that despite being limited to nine carries against Holmes County, 12 carries against Freeport and 15 carries against North Bay.

Thomas' 17 touchdowns match the total he scored in 10 games last year.

If Thomas continues on his current rushing and scoring pace — and the Gators make it to the state championship game, which would be the season’s 14th game — he would finish the year with 2,585 yards rushing and 40 touchdowns.

Where would an almost 2,600-yard season place him among the all-time state leaders? That's a question that's easier asked than answered.

I've done a lot of research and found two players — Derrick Henry of Yulee and Travis Henry of Frostproof — who rushed for more than 4,000 yards in one year.

As far as I can tell, the players are not related and Derrick Henry ran 4,265 yards last season. Travis Henry had 4,087 yards in 1996.

The fact is, school records are difficult enough to track and state and national high school records are harder to find.

Whereas most colleges and all the pros can count on staffs of professionals to keep records in order, high school records often get lost from one coaching staff to the next. Newspapers help somewhat, but those of us covering high school sports often have to rely on coaches to get us the stats from games we miss and there can be gaps in those records.

I've found that longtime coaches who attended the school where they coach can often help fill in the blanks, but that's no guarantee either.

Back in 1994, while working for a Tennessee paper, I covered a game in which Sweetwater High School tailback Heath Hawkins rushed for 360 yards that night. I had only been on the job a few weeks and I didn't realize it was a single-game school record.

The following Monday, the advertising director, who also was the Sweetwater head coach’s wife, ripped into me for not crediting Hawkins with his record. Since she seemed to know it was a record, I asked her whose record Hawkins broke and she couldn't tell me.

I checked with the coaches at the school, the team radio guy and just about everyone else other than the kid working the drive-thru at fast food place. Everyone I asked was certain that Hawkins set the record that night, but nobody knew who held the previous record or what is was.

I've been around the area long enough to see Cameron Domangue rush for something like 1,700 yards as a senior at Baker in 2008, but I don't know if that's the school record.

If Thomas can avoid the injury bug, continue on his torrid pace and the Gators make the playoffs, he could easily surpass the 2,000-yard mark this season.

It will be fun to see how the season plays out for Thomas and the Gators — and what records he might set along the way.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Big numbers for Baker's Thomas