Trojans Stun Top-Seeded Cougars

        On Friday, November 9, Wissahickon, the district’s No. 16 seed, had toppled not only the No. 1 seed in the district, but a team which was ranked as the sixth best team in the entire state. To say the least, it was completely unexpected. It was perhaps the upset of the year as far as local high school football is concerned. Both teams fought hard from beginning to end, but a last-second field goal by Wissahickon brought them out on top to upset top-seeded Downingtown East 38-35 in Friday's District One AAAA opener. The victory was a historical one for the Trojans, who became only the third 16 seed in District One to knock off a No. 1 seed in in the postseason since the district adopted the 16-team bracket. 

Mike Prince, a Sportswriter for Montgomery Media, wrote this article in response to the unpredictable upset by the underdog, Wissahickon to start of the District One AAAA state playoffs. The purpose of this article was to entertain the audience with a thrilling underdog story about a team who had the world against them, but came on the field with nothing to lose and walked away with a victory. The audience of this story is people of the Wissahickon area and the surrounding townships who are interesting in sports, along with other teams competing in the State playoffs. This articles was a source of entertainment for the general public, and a warning sign to teams who thought Wissahickon was a team they could beat with their eyes closed.

There are several rhetorical devices Prince uses to accomplish his purpose. Two worth focusing on are comparing and contrasting, and process analysis. Through out the article, Prince was constantly comparing and contrasting the Wissahickon football team to that of Downingtown East. This helped create Wissahickon’s position as the true underdog in the game. With the contrasting aspect, Prince made readers realize why this event was such a historical upset. Without this rhetorical device used, readers would not understand the position Wissahickon was in going into the game. Additionally, Prince uses process analysis, a pattern of writing or speaking which is characterized by it's explanation of how to do something or how something occurs, to present the sequence of steps and show how those steps lead to a the result of the game. In other words, he gave a play-by-play of the game so readers understand how Wissahickon came away with the victory. This made readers feel like they were experiencing the game first hand. The story of the game was very detailed to make sure it was illustrated effectively. This detailed process analysis assisted reader’s comprehension and brought in the emotional aspect of the article. Even though I was unable to attend this game, I feel I got the idea of the events that took place that night based on Prince’s narrative.

Overall, I do believe the author accomplished his purpose of entertaining the audience with a thrilling underdog story about a team who overcame all the odds forced upon them. Between the enthusiastic writing, detailed description, interviews, and statistics, readers got a taste of the scene and what feelings were like that night. Prince did a great job of accurately portraying this unforgettable football game. He gave us the necessary background information to understand the players in the game, and then included a nicely told story to recreate this event for readers.