Hi y'all! I'm new here. My kids go to ACHS - daughter is a cheerleader, and my son plays on the middle school team (QB). I usually serve as the team's photographer, but I didn't make tonight's game due to too many other things going on. We played Morgan - a team with 7 players that is 3 hours from Abilene. My wife was texting me the scores, and it was 45-0 way before halftime. It ended that way, as I'm sure the 3rd string got to play a lot.
Anyway, I was thinking how our bus drove past a lot of really good 6-man towns to play 3 hours away tonight. I was wondering why in the heck we can't schedule more teams like Ira that are better and closer to us. In my boredom and internet searching, I stumbled upon this really cool 6-man football forum. I haven't yet found the answer to my question of why we drove 3 hours to play 7 guys tonight, but I was interested to see a thread about ACHS.
But then I read the comments from a couple of the ACHS fans. I type all of this drivel just to say that I hope you fine folks don't think that the couple of posters here represent all ACHS fans and supporters in their cocky attitudes. Now, we're mighty proud of our team, just like everyone else is of theirs. I've watched all but a couple of games the last few years, and I can tell you that the Panthers have some great athletes and a very good team this year. But it's entirely possible that they're beatable. ANY team is beatable.
We haven't played a strong team yet, so it's hard to know for sure how a game against a great team like Ira will go. ACHS is really untested so far, as some have stated. ACHS is certainly head and shoulders above the struggling teams, but we haven't played a top tier team yet. We'll find out next week. I personally think that we have a good chance to win, but it is certainly going to be a much more competitive game than we've had all year.
I appreciate 1987's comment here:
It's pretty much impossible to talk a kid into coming to ACHS if he/she is a true D1 college prospect. ACHS benefits some from getting transfers from Abilene's public school programs (Abilene High, Cooper, and Wylie). But we lose more kids to those programs than we gain - usually in middle school, and usually kids that are some of our top athletes. A lot of good athletes leave when it's time to start playing school-sponsored sports. My son's class lost a couple of great athletes to the public school programs in 7th grade, and it happens in every class. We lose girls to track and tennis programs too (at least 2 of those in my daughter's class). We also have a lot of children of college professors and doctors and such as well as foreign exchange students from all over Asia - very smart, but not NFL prospects by any stretch. HaHa!
Our kids are there because of the Christian atmosphere and good academics. The sports programs are great, but if that was the most important thing to us then we'd be sending them to one of the public schools instead. It is a blast to be involved in 6-man football though. What a GREAT sport! We get to go to some of the best communities in Texas to play, and I am always impressed by the friendliness of all the towns we play in. I hope we return the favor when y'all come and play us in Abilene.
In the meantime, it does look like the makings of a REALLY good 6-man football game in Ira next week. You can bet I'll be there. I hope some of y'all that can will make the trip. If you do, come sit on the Panthers' side and cheer 'em on. We'll take all the help we can get! 
