Who’s got pride?

Sean Pearson
Over the weekend, a group of young men traveled north to represent Homer in a way that many people have a tendency to scoff at anymore:
Football.
And while the Homer Mariners didn’t return from Saturday’s game bearing any State Championship trophies, they did make history – and returned from Nikiski with a great deal of respect.
Head Coach Cam Wyatt took his Mariner football team further than any other in the history of the sport at Homer High School with a 24-15 win over the Nikiski Bulldogs.
Football is an interesting sport, likened to everything from a game of chess, to a battle of wills, to a brilliantly choreographed dance in which the players’ finest moments often exist amid both elegance and brutality.
Across the United States – on any given Friday night or Saturday afternoon – the number of cars parked at a high school for a home football game can give a pretty good indication of the health and stewardship of the community. There is a sense of community spirit and pride in cheering for the home team; a reason to get together and share a common goal.
Football games are good places to hang out, support the kids you’ve watched grow up around town, or just spend some time out of the house among friends and fellow football fans.
Saturday’s playoff game against the Bulldogs was a perfect day for football. And while some could complain that the biting wind in 45-degree weather went a little over the top as far as August ambience was concerned, it didn’t stop Homer High fans from turning out in impressive numbers to support our boys in blue.
Expectations for Mariner football ran fairly low at the beginning of this season. Gone were the days of big Fraley boys in the backfield, or a contingent of growling Crums lining up opposite center. Today’s M’s looked much smaller in stature and certainly less than intimidating.
Maybe that was the plan all along.
What Coach Wyatt seemed to know and firmly believe from the very beginning, was that this year’s M’s had something special. And, with enough enthusiastic convincing, he got others to start believing it, too.
Homer players trained, practiced and made sacrifices to be able to compete. They stayed on top of academics to remain eligible on the field, and pushed themselves to work harder at every practice.
And, in these tough economic times, it often falls on parents to shoulder the cost of their kid’s participation in high school sports – or raise it through endless hours of fundraisers and booster club meetings. Double-digit unemployment has many households more concerned with keeping the lights on than buying a pair of football shoes. Yet, Homer parents not only took up the task, they embraced it.
The powerful contingent of Homer parents and friends that turned out at Nikiski to rock the stands with stomping feet and cow bells showed just how much pride a community can have in its student/athletes. From the kid willing to don the Mariner outfit and fire up the crowd, to the parents selling watered-down hot chocolate at halftime, it takes a village to field a football team.
Despite the flagrant commercialism of professional football and its tendency to glorify the accomplishments of individual players and idolize them to a public willing to pay millions to watch them strut their egos, Coach Wyatt took a fledgling team of young athletes and taught them to work together as a team and take pride in each others’ accomplishments. He taught them to respect other teams, respect authority and – most importantly – respect themselves.
Regardless of what happens against SoHi on Saturday, Wyatt’s “Midget Mafia” has already proven themselves a team of strong character, unconquerable school spirit and incredible heart.
The Mariners have shown that working hard and believing in yourself go a long way toward reaching your goals. They have learned about pride for themselves, their schools and their communities. They have learned how to win gracefully and how to keep their heads up in defeat.
Maybe there’s something to be said for the importance of athletics in school after all.
Or, maybe it really is just a game.

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