Raiders top 80 points in football victory

SPORTS

From the Bleachers

COLUMN BY KURT MARGGRAF IN CHICAGO

The Chicago Bears will be, at

the very least, tied for first place after the results of the second week of the season are complete.

An exciting game with the Cincinnati Bengals brought the Bears their first victory. What appeared to be a minor injury to Bear quarterback Andy Dalton gave rookie Justin Fields his first extended opportunity, and he, along with a defense that created three straight turnovers on interceptions, pulled out a thrilling 20-17 victory.

Next week, the Bears will face the more formidable Cleveland Browns, and it will be quite interesting to see who starts at quarterback.

The Sunday night football game between Kansas City and Baltimore was a real barn burner.

Many of the games so far this season have been really exciting with the outcomes being in doubt until the last minutes of the game. Most teams appear to be good enough to win on any given Sunday, and the race to see who will be able to reach the playoffs looks like it will be intense.

This could be THE year for a team or two that haven’t been to the Super Bowl for a while to get another opportunity.

The Bears haven’t won the Super Bowl since 1986, and many of the players from that team are still Chicago heroes.

Last week, we discovered that one of those heroes has been stricken with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

It got me thinking about our struggles with diseases. Cancer, diabetes, heart, and many other maladies rage on, while just this week some regular civilians took off to circle the earth for three days and returned successfully.

The progress being made in so many areas often astounds me. So very much progress has been made on so many medical fronts, but the eradication of some diseases continues to elude us.

Back to the ex-Bear with ALS. Steve McMichael, affectionately known as “Mongo,” was a key member of the Bears defense when they last won the championship.

He was as tough as nails, and his personality was that of a big kid, who at times seemed like a bully, and at other times, seemed like a teddy bear. On the field, he was as tough as anyone who ever wore a uniform. He was married to a beautiful woman, and together they were often in the spotlight.

One of my favorite memories of “Mongo” was when he sang the Seventh-inning stretch at a Cub game. He called out the umpire, and ended up being ejected from the ballpark. His hijinks on the sports segment of the news after Bears games was legendary.

It’s not a surprise that “Mongo” received the first ALS Courage Award. He was a Bear with the heart of a lion, and I wish him comfort as he continues his courageous battle.

Katherine Wolf said, “Perhaps some detours aren’t detours at all. Perhaps they are actually the path.”

Refuse hate. Talk to you next week. Peace, love, and happiness.

Raiders top 80 points in football victory

BY STAN MADDUX

The Red Arrow Raiders notched their first victory in the high school football season in a big way. three passes for 37 yards with six touchdowns. Bombin was also a major contributor on defense with eight tackles and two interceptions.

The team comprised of students from New Buffalo and River Valley defeated the Twin City Sharks 82-12 at Lake Michigan Catholic High School Saturday, Sept. 18.

Head Coach Matt Johnson gave some of the credit for the lopsided victory to correcting mistakes in execution during a hard fought loss the previous week to Tri-Unity Christian.

“We spent a lot of time on that and the kids were hungry to win,” he said.

Johnson said he was surprised at the margin of victory because of the level of talent the Sharks have in key positions, like quarterback.

The Sharks also defeated TriUnity Christian earlier in the season.

“They had some really good athletes,” he said.

The Twin City squad consists of students from Lake Michigan Catholic, Michigan Lutheran and Countryside Academy.

Leading the Raiders on offense was quarterback Michael Bombin, who completed seven of his 11 passes for 144 yards.

Bombin also ran for another 101 yards on six carries and scored five touchdowns.

Eli Thomas ran for 107 yards on seven carries and caught Ben Coffeen added 47 yards on seven rushes. He also ran 52 yards for a touchdown after recovering a fumble. Johnson also gave credit to his defense line for consistently pressuring the quarterback and offense line for protecting the quarterback. The Sharks were able to gain just 46 rushing yards on 17 carries and 152 passing yards on 32 pass attempts. “Everybody contributed,” Johnson said.

The Raiders (1-2) play again Friday, Sept. 24, at Eau Claire.

“Eau Claire’s got some kids that can play. They’ve got a pretty good defense. Their quarterback is elusive. They got a running back that is really good. We have to be ready for a battle,” he said.

Johnson said his team is still not where he wants it to be. However, he believes the victory over the Sharks was a step in the right direction toward what can be a solid season.

“We’re always striving for perfection so that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to keep working to try and be perfect and be better this week than we were last week,” he said.