Showing Appreciation

For those of you that didn’t attend Friday night’s home game because you assumed that the Broncos would dominate Wilbur-Creston (WC) because of an earlier rout of the Wildcats, shame on you.

This is the time of year that our local team needs as much support as possible. The team can’t hear you cheering from your home.

Playing any team twice is tough enough but WC came to play Friday night and they have some quality players that forced the Broncos to step up their game and come up with some big defensive and offensive plays in order to capture a victory. The Wildcats would have been one of the favorites to compete for a1B 8-man championship this year had their enrollment for the schools been a few students less. But that is the nature of small schools and the numbers game for the teams. Having adequate depth is a premium.

Wilbur-Creston should be commended and congratulated for their valiant effort Friday night. They believed that they could upset the Broncos and with the exception of a few plays they outworked LRS for much of the game. I know that the LRS coaching staff warned the Broncos all week to not take the Wildcats lightly but that usually doesn’t really occur to the players until the opponent smacks them in the mouth a time or two.

I believe this game will help LRS more than hurt because now they know they will need to be prepared for the rest of the playoffs starting with the opening kickoff.

The tournament starts with 16 teams and every one of them believes they have a chance to be holding up the championship trophy when the final second ticks off in the Tacoma Dome on December 5.

Since Veteran’s Day was November 11th I need to acknowledge the local American Legion Post and VFW. The presentation of the flag at midfield is greatly appreciated and the local members of this organization do a great job in presenting the colors.

I am also very impressed with the respect from the teams following the Star Spangled Banner as they wait until the flag is off the field before they show their exuberance. The American flag should always be respected in this manner.

On Saturday, I was in Cheney cheering on the EWU Eagles in a very important victory over the Griz from Montana. I sat behind two Montana fans and we had a great visit. They were very knowledgeable about EWU. They both thought that the Eagles would win the game and when the Eagles were up 33-10 they said that the game was over because the Griz weren’t built to make big comebacks.

I told them that I had seen too many EWU-Montana games and I knew the Griz QB wasn’t done and I was right. A play here or a call there and it could have been a different outcome.

The game was finally decided with a late field goal that put Eastern ahead by 10 with 38 seconds left and I could finally breathe easier. The EWU-Montana rivalry is an impressive one.

EWU has the upper hand right now but it is only a matter of time when the Griz get some more recruits that will make football games difficult for all Big Sky opponents.

This is the third year in a row where EWU swept both Montana schools and that is no easy feat. Congratulations Eagles!

For the past several seasons prior to the singing of the National Anthem, EWU honors three individuals that served in the military and also have ties to Eastern.

Some served in the military and came back to attend school at EWU; some graduated from Eastern and served while others served and are now employed at EWU in some capacity.

I am very proud of my alma mater for this great ceremony. It shows a great appreciation for those that served in the military and thank them for their service to this great country.