I am covering the Dunbar-Poly football game being played tomorrow evening at Mervo. It will be my first high school game in years.

How many years? Let’s just say that female reporters were as rare as four-leaf clovers when I covered my first high school football game.

Getting ready for this game has brought back memories.

It was in Warrenton, Va. and I was working for the Fauquier Democrat, a large circulation weekly newspaper, and the local team was the Fauquier Falcons. One of my many jobs at the Democrat, where I was a feature writer, sports editor, copy editor, staff photographer and dark room technician, required me to write an advance for the Falcons’ game against the Osbourn Yellow Jackets of Manassas.

Dutifully, I called the Osbourn coach, whose name has long since left my memory, and asked him all the requisite questions about his football team.

He told me everything.

The story ran and game time arrived. As the game progressed, it became very clear the opposing coach had told me absolutely nothing. Everything he had said was the opposite of what it actually was. His power running game turned out to be a deep-route passing game. His "small" defensive backs were all over 6 feet tall. Even the jersey numbers and names of the players failed to match up.

After the game, when I approached him while wearing my press pass and was introduced by the Falcons’ coach, Osbourn’s coach had the good grace to be embarrassed.

"I’m sorry," he said immediately. "I thought you were a friend of the coach or a player’s girlfriend calling for information to take advantage of us. I never once thought you were a real reporter."

Acceptance did come. In fact, a few years later, a new coach at that same school invited me to go through two-a-day workouts with his team so I’d have a better understanding of the game. It was a wonderful learning opportunity. But it was also painful. Even today, I still cringe when I see a player take a big, jarring hit.

Tomorrow, I will be safely on the sidelines, looking forward to the competition between two of the stronger teams in the area. I’ll also be looking forward to the post-game interviews in which -- I’m sure -- both sides will tell me everything there is to know.

-- Sandra McKee