Posted by Pueblo Sports Blog back on Sunday, October 29, 2006

College football returns to the Dutch

CSU Pueblo 45 Adam State 21

Wishful
Thinking?

Now
only if "CSU Pueblo" could put a football team together. Hey come
on......Grand
Junction's Mesa State College has a nice program on their
budget. Hey USC Error CSU lets get the football rolling. Build it and
they will come.

Altitude 2 It Is On

Chadron State's Mark Haag crosses the goal line in the Eagles' 37-26 win over Adams State last Saturday.

Eagles to play ‘new kid on block” at Pueblo on Saturday

An overflow crowd is anticipated Saturday when the Chadron State College football team tangles with “the new kid on the block” during a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference contest in Pueblo, Colo.

The Eagles will be the first home RMAC opponent of Colorado State-Pueblo, which has revived its football program this fall after dropping the sport in 1984.

Kickoff will be at 1 p.m. at the new Neta and Eddie DeRose ThunderBowl.

Understandably, Pueblo fans are excited about their team. The ThunderWolves have a 2-0 record after downing Panhandle State of Oklahoma 24-13 at home on Sept. 6 and then surprising Fort Lewis 37-7 in Durango on Saturday night. They are the only undefeated team in the conference.

The score at Fort Lewis was 7-7 at halftime, but the Thunderwolves came up with six turnovers in the second half to crush the Skyhawks. The Pueblo placekicker, freshman Kyle Major, was named the RMAC Special Teams Player of the Week after booting three field goals in the second half.

The Wolves also scored three touchdowns in the second half.

Pueblo isn’t exactly restarting its program from scratch. The school has obtained strong community support and reportedly already has the full quota of scholarships. Nearly 10,000 attended the season-opener against Panhandle State.

The head coach is John Wristen, a graduate of CSU-Pueblo who was an assistant coach at the University of Colorado, Northwestern and UCLA. His assistants include offensive coordinator Wayne McGinn, the head coach at Adams State the past eight years, and running backs coach Steve Sewell, a running back for the Denver Broncos from 1985-92 after being the team’s No. 1 draft choice following a great career at Oklahoma.

More than 30 of the more than 100 players listed on the roster are transfers, including five from Glendale Community College in Arizona and five from Adams State, who followed McGinn to Pueblo.

One of the Adams State transfers is quarterback Bobby Washington, last year’s RMAC Offensive Freshman of the Year after completing 82 of 160 passes for 1,022 yards and five touchdowns.

Washington started the first two games, but suffered a broken arm against Fort Lewis, according to a story in the Pueblo newspaper. He was replaced by Sean Gavin, a freshman from Canyon Country, Calif. Gavin completed eight of 11 passes for 43 yards and rushed five times for 10 yards against the Skyhawks.

CSC coach Bill O’Boyle said his team was lethargic and made too many mistakes in the early going during its 37-26 victory over Adams State on Saturday.

“We didn’t do anything right in the first half, but fortunately, bounced back,” O’Boyle told those attending the Eagles Booster Club luncheon on Monday. “We dodged a huge bullet.”

On the bright side, O’Boyle noted that the running game “came alive” in the second half.

“Our offensive line was knocking them off the ball at times,” O’Boyle said. “That’s something we hadn’t seen in Adams State’s games against Montana State or Southern Utah.”

The Eagles had an injury against Adams State. Richard Smock, a senior offensive guard, suffered a sprained ankle and is questionable for Saturday’s game. If he can’t play, his replacement will likely be sophomore Jake Finnerty.

Saturday’s game between the two schools, which is the first-ever meeting, will be televised by Altitude. The “RMAC Football Game of the Week” will be shown live on Altitude 2, and Altitude will air a tape delay broadcast on Sunday. For Great Plains Communications subscribers in Chadron, Ch. 4 will air the football game live on Saturday. Altitude 2 can be seen on Ch. 444 on the Dish Network and Ch. 682 on DirecTV.

Cutway (Cutler) Redeems Bronco's Sportsmanship

It was a call of sportsmans ship. Even with the bad taist of P. Rivers lasting from last season. "The Broncos won on Mike Shanahan's gutsy call to go for two". The Broncos gave the Bolts a chance to win the game. All cards on the table. An all or nothing. The bet paid off for the now 2-0 Broncos on a 39-38 beating .

P. Rivers Breaks QB Protocol on field with opens mouth trash talk

Phillip Rivers and LaDanian Tomlinson enjoy a laugh on the sideline during a Christmas Eve win over Denver in December. Both say rehab work on their balky knees is ahead of schedule.

Thunderwolves Fight Song

Thunderwolves Fight Song Red and Blue, we're fighting for you.

Colorado ThunderWolves are coming through.

CSU-Pueblo we'll always be true.

From our den we always will defend until the end.

(All: chant first time together)

Pack attack! We are the ThunderWolves! Always ready to fight.

We've got you in our sight. We're on the loose, we're on the prowl, you better watch out!

Hear us howl. (add in second time, singing under chant)

We've got the power and we've got the will to win

We've got the power and we've got the will to win

We've got the power and we've got the will to win (Group 2) ThunderWolves (Group 1) Are a pack (Group 2) Lightning strikes! (Group 1) We attack! (All) Howl! Go, Fight, Win!