Tobias Bechdholt, starting quarterback for the junior varsity Birmingham Community Charter High School (BCCHS) football team and third-string quarterback for the varsity team, traveled to Austin, Texas with his teammates for a game against Texas’ top 16th best high school football team.
The BCCHS varsity football team lost to Steele High School 49-7 at the Lehnhoff Stadium on Sept. 22. Steele’s team ranks number 1 in San Antonio and number 16 in all of Texas. Friday night football games are a big deal in Texas and the size of their high school stadiums prove that.
“It was definitely bigger than any stadium that we play at,” sophomore Bechdholt said. “There were multiple bleachers on every side of the stadium and they had a big band and a whole area for the band. It was different and you could tell that football was really a big thing over in Texas.”
Despite the loss, Bechdholt views the trip as a memorable experience.
“We went over there to do our thing and that’s what we did. (But) not as good as we could have done,” he said. “Once you start warming up, it’s just playing football but in a different area.”
BCCHS is the first non-private high school to travel out of state for a football game in history. This opportunity provided the players with experience in traveling out of state for football games, according to the website High School Fan Nation.
In the days before their game, they did some sightseeing, including exploring San Antonio and The Alamo. They also toured schools in Texas such as the University of Texas at Austin (UTA) and Texas Christian University (TCU).
“We didn’t explore too much of the campus but from what I did see, it was a really nice campus, and the stadium was amazing too,” Bechdholt said about UTA. “The stadium was huge and it was a really nice stadium and a beautiful campus and we interacted with some pretty nice people.”
Bechdholt wants to play football as a career after graduating college. His dream college is the University of Oregon and one day he wants to play for their varsity team.
“My end of the year goal for football is to win state,” Bechdholt said. “We came close last year, so the goal this year is to win state. After that, we just keep on moving. Over the next summer, we really need to practice hard. A lot of the starters on varsity are all seniors, so they’re going to be gone next year. Because of this, if we want to keep the streak of winning city, we need to practice and win state so we can be prepared for next season.”
