Keeping football stats for preps

For basketball, I long ago came up with this scoresheet. Two sheets stapled together, and you put a tick mark in each stat column as it's recorded. Just flip back and forth between possessions, and add up the total stats for each team between periods (probably the hardest part, especially between the third and fourth quarters).
I use the back of the first page to write down rosters. The back of the second sheet is the second photo -- score by quarters, team stat breakdowns for each quarter, and a space for halftime leaders and notes.
It's not perfect. I don't break down offensive and defensive rebounds, have a running point-by-point score. And if you're not there from the opening tip it's kind of worthless, because you're not going to have an accurate running total. It also requires A LOT of concentration and good short term memory for when you get into those rebound scrums under the goal. So it's impossible to use if you have to shoot photos. And forget about using it for college games. They're just too fast.
But, still, it's worked well for me over the years for high school basketball. There's a space for almost everything if you can keep up and master it.

 

Somewhere between old_tony and amraeder, I fall. I've detailed it before on here. Reporter's notebook. Tear one sheet out for running individual and team stats (first downs, penalties, punts, fumbles).

Play-by-play, a line at a time.

C45 M 24 run LT 14 1stD
C31 M 8-80 pass R X
C31 M 8-81 pass L 31 1stD, TD, 8:02, 6-0

In nice, neat rows if you're anal-retentive like me.

You can have the stats done by the time you're out of the stadium parking lot, especially if you use running totals on the individuals.

 

I've hit the jackpot this year. The team I cover for my beat has a math teacher doing the stats and he posts them online right after the game ends. I keep stats, but just in case he forgets to post them. I've sat beside him in the box. He's meticulous, so I can trust them.

 

There's another site I've found that some teams use. It's similar to Game Changer, except for football -- live stats and scoring, and a full box score right at the end of the game. A couple of our area teams use it, so it's become pretty handy for the games we only have to write a few sentences on. Might be worth it to some of you to check and see if your teams are on there:

Digital Scout - Live High School Sports Scores and Statistics.

 

A team I covered this week sent me their automatic scorebook after the game ended. My heart fluttered.

 

Stat of the Week: Two Texas morans sack their hopes for scholarships.

High School Football Players Target, Light Up Poor Official [UPDATE]

 

I enjoy GameChanger for baseball/softball and basketball, but I still keep football stats on paper. I tried a stat app last year and it kept crashing. Plus it wanted defensive stats, and I'm just fast enough to keep the offense and take notes.

Because of my back injury, I won't walk sidelines for fear of being hit, so I don't have to shoot. But having to constatntly do Twitterz and video for YouTube makes it a challenge.

The brass says we should change the way we cover these things, start relying on the teams to provide stats. Sure, only problem is that I work in an area that doesn't take this stuff super serious. When I ask for stats to be provided, it's "our iPad crashed so we don't have them" or "my fifth-grader kept them tonight and I don't think they're right" or I get them 30 minutes after deadline. Brass says "why do you need stats anyway?" To which I respond "it's only the how and why of these stories."

I question just how much I need my paycheck some days.

Then I remember I started sorta covering the local NAIA Div. II team (I'm fuckin' big time now!), which does a great job with info and makes it so easy for me to do those things like live blogs and web videos and focus on writing the best story I can.

 

I remember how cool that was, after weeks and weeks of covering preps, to pick up an NAIA game and actually have time to think during the game about how you would write the story/sidebar/notebook. Accurate stat sheets and play by play? Given to you after each quarter? It's like eating dessert.

 

I still keep my own stats when I cover college games. Force of habit, I guess, although it does help me find and recognize certain things more easily when I start writing.

 

I went to the Digital Scout link but couldn't find and stats, etc. from the game posted

 

That site is similar to MaxPreps. Someone from the team has to score the game or input the stats, and not every team does it. You need to hunt around for the teams you cover and see if they do.
It's just another web site to keep in mind.

 

I had two teams in my coverage area who used Digital Scout the last 2 or 3 seasons. It was easy to find everything. Now they have partnered with NFHS and I can't find anything on those teams other than the score