Keeping track of what is going on in a high school game is much harder than covering Maryland or the Ravens. The colleges and the pros do everything for you. They keep the play-by-play and the statistics. All you have to do is watch the game, look for key plays and get quotes after it is all over.

Piece of cake.

When you cover high school football you not only have to keep a running tally of all the plays, but also the statistics. Believe me, it's a lot harder. I plop myself in the press box, take out a notebook and some statistical sheets, and start writing down everything. By the time I am through writing down the play -- how many yards the player gained and total yardage -- the next play is ready to start.

For a while I had trouble seeing the numbers of the players and got a little worried. I thought it was my 65-year-old eyes. But News-Post sports writer John Cannon told me he had the same problem and his eyes are a lot younger than mine. Some other people in the press box also had problems with the numbers.

It turned out it wasn't my eyes that were the problem. It was the lights. The lighting is not that good at some of the fields, especially around the end zones, where it's kind of important to know what is going on. So when something happens inside the 10, I am always asking people in the press box if I have the right number.

When I started covering high school games in the late 1960s, there were no press boxes in the county. (The first one was built at TJ for the 1972 U.S. Women's Olympics Trials). Of course, only Thomas Johnson and Frederick had football then. When I went to my first TJ game, I sat in the stands and put my stuff on a raised platform.

It rained.

Soon I began walking the sidelines at games, something many reporters still do. It gives you a unique view of the action. You just have to do a lot of running back and forth, dodging football players as you do. You also have to watch out in case the ball carrier comes your way.

Years ago I was on the sidelines at a Frederick game being played at McCurdy Field. I had written a column criticizing the Frederick fans for not supporting their team. It must have worked. The stands were packed, and the fans let me know they were there.

In those days, high school kids got their news from the newspapers, not the Internet.

So far this year I have seen six games and six teams. The most unusual game was Linganore 's 72-6 win over Winters Mill. I have never been to such a lopsided sporting event. They should have had a running clock in the first quarter.

Fortunately, the Linganore kicker tied the state record for career extra points so I didn't have to write much about the game.

From what I have seen, football in Frederick County is much better than in surrounding areas.

I won't be covering a high school game this week because I'm needed on the desk. But I will be back covering games the next week and for as many times as I can through the rest of the season.

I've come to realize how much I missed it, and I wonder what took me so long to start again.