While many of us were feeling hopeful going into our first night game under the lights, it did not turn out how we had hoped.

The team gathered in the locker room 5 hours before kick off to prepare for the close to 3 hour road trip over Highway 33 into Maricopa.

We all put on the lower half of our pads and so that when we walked off the bus we could get right into our pre game warm ups.

The bus ride was filled with many people sleeping, listening to music, and having a good time.

The team has not played a game under the lights for a while, so seeing lights on a field was pretty exciting.

While it was not a huge stadium, it was still a stadium none the less.

Seeing as we arrived about an hour early we spent some time running around on the field to get accustomed to the grass, and pass the ball around, having a good time, smiles could be seen on all of our faces.

At about 6 pm we all entered the final stage of game mode.

We quit the messing around, grabbed our bags, and walked over to a covered area to finish dressing and spend time thinking about our assignments, and what we wanted this game to be like.

It was almost completely silent as we all helped each other grab straps on our pads, and get pumped for the game.

After we were all ready we lined up in two lines, two men across, holding hands, and walking out in complete silence, as one well oiled machine.

As we walked out we could hear our fans cheering, which is something we don’t always have.

Oddly this was the farthest game a spectator could come to this season, and it seemed that this game had the most.

It is a great feeling to have so many people cheering for you and your team, holding signs, and having a good time watching the game.

After we all walked out of the dugout we dressed in, we got into our pre game warmup, doing a lap from the 40 yard line, ending up in our four lines that we run through our agilities in, led by our 4 captains.

After the agilities as always we went into specified groups to practice specific tasks for the games.

I went into the lineman group, to get some pre game contact and warm our bodies up.

On the way up to the school I was feeling a little off, most likely caused by nerves, but it affected how I warmed up, and the beginning of how I played.

I felt as though I was going to throw up every time I would start moving, or get up and off the line to block.

I could tell this was going to be a problem, so I told my coaches that I needed to feel better to play better, and that someone needed to take my spot on the starting lines I am on.

While it hurt me to say that, and as much I wanted to play, I needed to be fair to my team, and allow someone who would better accomplish the task at the time.

Although, still not feeling great, I knew I needed to buck up and get out there, and so I did.

As my coaches told me, the worst thing that is going to happen is that you will throw up on the field, don’t worry it has been done before.

At that moment I realized I was going out on that field, and I was going to leave it out there even if it meant literally.

The first few runs I took, I felt pretty crappy, but as the game progressed I shoved it to the back of my mind, and just wanted to play the game.

The first 10 minutes of the game went great.

It was a battle back and forth between the two teams, but after that the Indians were able to take a lead, that would give them the fire they needed to continue on through the game.

At the end of the first half, which seemed to go on FOREVER, the team was battered and bruised, heads hanging down, most players upset and angry on how we were playing, and that they were beating us.

Maricopa happened to be a very physical team, with big guys, but we should have been able to handle it.

At the half we marched off the field, and went to sit on the bleachers.

The coaches stood back and let the players talk to each other for a little until they stepped in.

It sometimes takes peers to knock some sense into each other, but the coaches stepped in and we good voices of reason.

It was pretty clear at that point that we most likely weren’t going to come back from how big of a lead they had, and that we should go out and have fun, and learn something above all else.

Coach Titus asked a few players what they wanted to accomplish, he asked me and I said, “I want to leave it all out there even if that means literally,” he said great, and we got a few chuckles around to lighten the mood.

Kirril, who is brand new to the game of football was confused on what coach was asking as his first language is not english.

When he said, “I don’t know,” he was yelled at by an upset player, but after that he had the fire under him to respond louder than I have ever heard him speak with, ” I want to win,” in his very thick Russian accent.

After this realization that all we needed to do now was play our hardest, we picked our heads up and jogged back out onto the field, with an uproar of our fans screaming for us.

We tried to play the last half of the game with all our hearts, and we poured everything into it.

Many of the our guys were getting hurt and bruised, and I imagine I took a knee more than 5 times last night, but that just shows that we were really trying to get down and dirty with the other team and show them that we were not going to give up.

Many players who were knocked down, and slow to get up, when finally up ran back into the action, sometimes to get hit again, but I guess that’s just what football is.

As the clock wound down to less than a minute left in the 4th quarter the refs told the other team that we could just stay out on the field if we wanted and not play until the clock hit zero.

Many teams in our position would have jumped at the chance to end the loss sooner, but us being the warriors we are, we begged the refs to let the game continue even though our opponents said they would just wait out the 30 seconds or so.

Many of us were yelling, don’t quit now, let us play you until the buzzer rings.

The ref said no let’s just end it on a safe note, and many players were still begging to play, myself included.

Although the numbers on the board ended with a 0 on our side and a 44 on the home side, I believe we played a very good 34 minutes of football, but sadly it takes a good 48 to win games.

Hopefully next weekend we can pull through with our second victory of the season against the Dunn Earwigs.

If you can please come out and support, be loud, make signs, and cheer us on for another win.