WITH AUTUMN just around the corner, Fall sports are kicking into gear with the
first football game of the season that took place on Sept. 7. The LC Pioneers faced off against the University of Puget Sound Loggers on a hot Saturday afternoon, and earned their first victory of the season, 59-21.
Walking into Griswold Stadium at the start of the game, one could feel the excitement in the air. A robust crowd turnout gave the stadium a festive and excited spirit that was infectious even to those (namely me) who watch football fairly infrequently. The parking lot on the way into Griswold was full of tailgaters and a taco truck, and fans dressed in orange, cheering and clapping as they watched the Pioneers take to the field.
And yet, I was struck by a sense of apprehension — not at the idea the team may not win, as I am both filled with school spirit and also not particularly hung up on the outcome of sporting events. Rather I was concerned at how well I was going to follow the events that were about to unfold on the field before me. After all, that apathy toward final scores and conference performances has had the totally predictable effect of rendering me fairly clueless about the basic rules of football.
This basic truth about myself, unchanged even by the efforts that multiple members of the LC football team have made to explain the game to me, made the two and a half hours the game would end up taking daunting. As I sat with my snacks and a friend, I leaned over to them and muttered “I’m going to have a lot of really stupid questions for you.”
To save you, dear reader, from those questions yourself, I feel it appropriate at this point in the article to share the answers I was given. Football is not as scary as I assumed it would be to learn — there are 11 players on each team on the field during play, for a total of 22 players. Players can be offensive (focused on scoring) or defensive (focused on preventing the other team from scoring) and each individual team member has a specific role they play within those two categories (quarterback, running back, lineman and linebacker, for example).
Getting the ball down to the 10-yard end zones in order to score is the main goal of the offensive players. Each team gets four attempts, or downs, to move the ball from their
starting point to the end zone and score, with a quarterback handing the ball off to a receiver or running back in order to move down the field. Downs reset each time the team moves more than ten yards, resulting in another four downs, but if the team cannot move far enough down the pitch, the ball turns over to the other team.
The other team’s defense stands against the offensive efforts, attempting to win the ball back. Defensive players execute preplanned strategies (communicated through signals from their coaching staff) designed to intercept the ball, prevent movement by the other team, and generally frustrate the efforts of their opponents.
I found the strategy of the game particularly appealing. Forget whatever stereotype your mind offers upofadumbjock—ittakesalotof mental energy and quick thinking to get ready for a specific, preplanned play (of which teams have dozens) and then adapt that plan to the actions of another team. Mental strength is as important here as physical, and as members of the team have assured me, each play requires every athlete to function in tandem with their fellow players on the field for it to be successful.
Luckily, the Pioneers enjoyed quite a bit of that success from the get-go. They scored their first touchdown in the first few minutes of the game (running the ball into the end zone, which carries a greater point value than other plays such as a field goal.) The early score set the tone for what would be a winning game, galvanizing the team to play hard for their
eventual resounding victory. And in writerly cliche, as I watched the crowd go wild, I saw that enthusiasm reflected back from the field.
It is worth giving a shoutout here to the Cheer and Step Team, a student-run club who leads cheers and performs dances at LC sporting events. They have an infectious spirit that got the entire crowd engaged, even through the heat of the afternoon. It all fed into the energy of the day and gave those of us who got lost with what was happening on the field something to come back to.
Something one lacking in knowledge notices is that the crowd does not just cheer for scores — they cheer for turnovers, for downs, for well-executed plays or impressive tackles. After all, while scoring is important, it is not all that happens during a football game. One quickly comes to recognize the skill of the athletes on the field and finds immense amounts of excitement when plays heat up, even when they are tens of yards away from actually scoring. To watch a particularly thrilling down play out or an opposing player go down hard, certainly can be invigorating when sitting in the stands and hearing the excitement of the fans.
The Pioneers played hard, and lived up to the hopes of their home crowd for their first home game of the season. Even for this writer, still a football novice, it was a sight to see.
Anyone wanting to see LC Football play for themselves can come out to their Sept. 21 game at 1 p.m. in Griswold Stadium versus the University of Montana Western.
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