Softball diamond football — back in the day, it was played in the farms in the outfield of the old Parrish ball diamond. The boys would come from the farms, the mission and some even from Brimley to play for the glory of the win. As time went on, it must have lost its appeal. The boys got older and, with all the PlayStations, XBoxes, Internet and more to keep the next generation indoors, who needs an outdoor fall sport anyway?
I thought I didn't miss it — thought I didn't miss it at all. But, on Saturday, Oct. 4, standing in the middle of the outfield in the mission ball diamond ... I can smell the crisp clean of fall in the air, it's cold enough that I've got my hood up and my coat zipped tightly up to my neck, the boys of fall are arriving one by one. The field is beginning to fill and I am brought back in time. I did miss the game after all.
Someone decided a reunion game would be a good idea and somehow they made it work. Some new faces appear on the field, but a lot of old ones have come out, too.
They decided to separate the teams by having one wear white or light-colored shirt (we'll call them the “Rez Light”) and the other wear black or dark-colored shirts (“Rez Dark”).
With 10 minutes to the pre-set game time, Rez Light had more than enough players. Rez Dark was still recruiting. Jay Parker, the captain of Rez Dark for the day, was busy on a cell phone calling people — some people still needed to be dragged out of bed (we won't mention any names).
With the rules of Indian time in force, the game kicked off about one-half hour after the original planned start time. The roster was more than full for Rez Light and Rez Dark had just enough players.
They were, for Rez Light: John Napelatano, Chad Cameron, Dale Carrick, Gabe LeBlanc, Rob Heyrman, Jack Kronemeyer, Judd Kieliszewski, Kevin Lyons, Carl Cameron, Joe Carrick Jr., Bobby Cameron, Justin Teeple, John Rader, Jim “Skip” Skipper and Dean Cameron.
Rez Dark's lineup included: Jason Parker, Ben Carrick, Mike Carrick, Mike Willis, Bill Cameron, Rich LeBlanc, Joe LeBlanc, Arlen Kuzmik, Andy Lyon, Josh Parish and Nate Bowen.
Rez Dark opened things up on a touchdown pass from Ben Carrick to Mike Willis. Not long after, he tossed another one to Josh Parish. In old rez fashion, the boys handed out seven points per touchdown, making the score 14 to nothing.
Rez Light seemed to be mounting a small comeback after Ben threw an interception to Chad Cameron. Judd was taking some snaps and completing pretty well and John Rader completed some good running plays.
That quickly ended, though, when Gabe LeBlanc stepped up for a snap and threw an interception to Josh Parish, setting up another touchdown pass on the next play from Ben to another wide open Mike Willis. After another touchdown pass from Ben to Josh Parish, the boys called it half-time with the score 28-0.
The second half opened up with a boot from Nate Bowen returned by Joe Carrick about one-half the length of the field. It seemed Rez Light was coming to life until they fumbled and Jay Parker was there to jump on top of it.
The Rez Light team made good use of a rather large and strong line with Jack Kronemeyer, Rob Heyrman, John Napelatano, Justin Teeple, Dale Carrick and Skip Skipper looking pretty intimidating (at least to me anyway).
The defensive forcefor the most part on the Dark side was made up of Andy Lyon, Rich and Joe LeBlanc, Bill Cameron, Mike Carrick and Jason Parker — all rough and tough in their own right.
Some bickering back and forth on the field led to some skirmishes and push-and-shoves, which a Rez football game just wouldn't be the same without.
This commentator noticed some fast wheels on the field throughout the day on both sides of the line of scrimmage, including Arlen Kuzmik and Mike Willis on the Dark side and John Rader, Dean Cameron and Gabe LeBlanc on the Light side.
I kept getting side-tracked by the smack-talk of Kevin Lyons to whatever unlucky guy was across from him over by my side of the field. He kept me laughing all day.
Another interesting situation for both teams was the number of quarterbacks to be seen. Rez Dark was led by Ben Carrick for most of the game, but had a total of six different guys take at least one snap while Rez Light was split pretty evenly between four different quarterbacks throughout the day.
Rez Light finally opened things up on a touchdown pass from Carl D. to Chad. The tackle of the game came on Rez Dark's next drive when Ben threw a long pass to Mike Carrick and was taken out mid-air by Chad Cameron, drawing “oohs” and “ahhs” as he valiantly got up and resumed his position. (Mike asked me, by the way, not to comment on how much that hurt! Don't worry, Mikey. I won't tell anyone!)
Soon, Ben decided he'd had enough and sat out. This left the Rez Dark team one short. But, in good spirit, Rez Light sent Bobby Cameron across the lines to make a complete team.
Rez Light scored on a 10-yard run form John Rader to close the gap to 28-14.
Rez Dark went on another good drive with a long pass complete from Josh Parish to Bill Cameron who was met quickly by John Napelatano and Justin Teeple. On the next play, Joe LeBlanc took a snap and delivered it interception-style to Chad Cameron.
Around this time, I saw some spectators wandering in and out of the field. I saw Mitchell Willis had stopped by on his way to work. The Light team picked him up for one play in his dress clothes. Who could blame him? He who shows up on the field must play. Period.
With the second half being about three times as long as the first half, the game started to wind down. Rez Dark finished off the Rez Light on a touchdown pass from Bill Cameron to his forever-open cousin, Mike Willis, to end the game 35-14.
The MVP for the game was Mike Willis, a unanimous decision among both teams. I would like to send honorable mentions out to John Rader (offensive player) and Big Jack Kronemeyer (defensive player).
It was a good day. The boys say they'll be back to play some more, but nothing will ever beat that first time being back on the field after so long. Here's to you guys for coming together for some old fashioned fun. Here's to you guys for making it happen.
