The Wildcats were fired up for our first game against Western Oregon over the weekend. You can only practice against your own team for so long before you start to go crazy. Especially going against our defense which seems to run every blitz known to football and a few others that aren’t. So finally getting to step onto the field against a different color jersey was a great relief, made all the sweeter by the margin of victory. WOU answered on their first drive to knot things up at 7, mostly riding their monster tight end. Our defense made their necessary adjusments and from then on, it was all ‘cats. The offense scored on all but 2 of our possessions; punting once and turning the ball over on downs at the end of the game.
The defense came up big with 5 turnovers, two inside the 3 yard line while WOU was threatening. The first was a pic by DE Brandon Tom at the 1 and the second a fumble recovery by DE Jeff Denney at the 3. And the reward for building a large lead is the opportunity to watch younger guys play. Many were able to play almost all of the 4th quarter and moved the ball pretty well.
This week we have Wisconsin Stevens Point which should prove a much more formidable challenge. Last year they played us tough the whole way, leading for 3 quarters. We started working hard from the start of the week, including our typical monday recovery day so we’ll be in top form come saturday.
The team has been presented with an awesome opportunity for next spring. We have been contacted to possibly play in Vienna Austria after the school year as part of their professional league’s preseason. It would be a 9 day trip, 5 spent travelling to different cities in Austria. Around 80 guys expressed serious interest and we’ll begin fund raising soon.
Speaking of fundraising, many different groups around the country have been collecting and donating money for the gulf states and Linfield is no exception. We asked all the guys to donate whatever they felt appropriate which resulted in approximately $550. Not bad for an impromptu effort. Other groups on campus are doing their own events including an on-campus concert Wednesday night.
It is often in times of great hardship and tragedy that people’s true characters are revealed. Many people are great people when everything is going right. It is when life gets hard that you find out who is truly strong. Which is another reason why I believe football and athletics in general to be extremely valuable. You learn how to handle challenges and adversity. Everyone will face hardships in life, but it is how they respond that will determine their success.