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[ 21 WeW FORm C POCWET TV MWRMWC MRERRRC MICI S es w VC 1 P And while everyone at the school held their breath right _ No more so than head coach Dary Easton and the rest of up to the opening kickâ€"off at 3 p.m. Friday, Vikings wasted . the Viking coachingâ€"staff who have dedicated themselves to little time in letting everyone know they are back and they turning willing but not necessarily able bodies into inâ€" are for real. telligent, &ick-thinkln( football players. Taking fully into consideration that Galt can hardly be _ ‘"I told the guys before the game today this could be the considered a Ieagn: powerhouse, Vikes nevertheless ran most important game of our season," said Easton. ‘"With as and passed and blocked and razzle â€"dazzled on offence and much inexperience as we have, who knows what a defeat . _ hounded and tackled and crunched on defence and in the end . might have done. Now we‘ve got a win under our belt, the \m-m“-m“\m-.mmm.fi e mmmune a .‘.J £ Sport‘Vaterloo Page 20 â€" Waterloo Chronicle, Wednesday, September 24, 1980 MANY HAPPY RETURNS A poke in the nose from his worst enemy couldn‘t have wiped the smile off the face of Jeff Mathers late last Friday afternoon. _ Mathers, a lowâ€"toâ€"theâ€"ground running back, was trotting across the gridiron at Waterloo collegiate with Viking teamâ€" mate Phil Israel, the pair whooping it up over their club‘s 24â€"0 whitewash of Galt Ghosts only minutes earlier. Maybe winning a senior football game doesn‘t seem much to write home about, let alone write a column about, but it is when you‘ve waited as long as Waterloo collegiate has. _ The ecstasy among Viking troops wasn‘t only the result of a victory in their first game of the 1980 season, but because it was a victory of sorts for the entire football program at a school whose powerhouse reputation was devastated by a midâ€"1970‘s dearth of talent. The senior program at WCI became such a useless propoâ€" sition that after the 1977 season it was decided to drop senâ€" ior, where inexperienced pigskinners were merely being fed to the lions, and instead focus on beefing up a funior proâ€" gram for the next two years. o t The baby Vikes, still inexperienced but at least able to compete with teams more comparative in skill level, achieved a modicum of success that led them to the league semiâ€"finals by the end of last year, sufficient progress to warrant a return to senior ranks this year. were every point deserving of what the{ got. A 24â€"0 win, their first of the year, WCI‘s fir: senior football. "Allllliright, I‘ve been sitting out for two years waiting for this day to come, you better believe it‘s an unbelievably good feeling,"‘ said Mathers, the only surviving relic from a team that several years ago considered it a moral victory when the opposition put less than 50 points on the board. _ *People are still probably saying ‘oh, we play WCI next, ‘*People are still pmbabl{vsaylng ‘on, we tg:.ny wWUCL next, here comes an “n? win‘. We want to let them know ‘that we‘re for real, and to get our first win in our first game should help. You wouldn‘t I;tlieve how much I‘ve been lookâ€" ing forward to this day." ~‘~~~~ _ f RICK CAMPBELL s first since 1974 in Chronicle Sports Line 886â€"22M.0 guys can come back to pra‘ctice Monday full of spirit and enthusiasm, ready to improve that much more for next week. f 3 Gait‘s offense under an avalanche of team tackling. â€"‘"I‘m not only happy for the guys and the other coaches, but for our entire school. They‘ve waited so long for a win, it‘s been six years since a senior team has had a win here."‘ While admitting there is room for much improvement, Easton had nothing but praise for his charges, especially the versatile Ian MacLean who assumed the quarterback conâ€" trols and performed admirably, back Bruce Loney who got WCI‘s first major and gave 110% all Rd:dv and the defense spearheaded by the aggressive Fred Redekop which buried _ Harold Bryan and Mathers had the other WCI touchdowns while brother Shawn Mathers added a first quarter 21â€"yard field goal and three converts. _ _ _ "I was worried early in the first half when we moved the ball so well but didn‘t get any points,‘" admitted Easton. But in the second quarter the offence really took charge, and although we slipped a bit in the third, the guys realized that maybe they were taking the win for granted and came back with a good fourth quarter."‘~ _ . M _ Easton estimates that 90% of this year's'zlior squad played either last year or the year ‘R:evious his junior club, and sees the development of that personnel as a most ‘‘You can already see the results around the school, everyone seems more interested now that we‘re back at a competitive level. It used to be we‘d be teaching junior footâ€" ball to senior kids, but not -nrmon lzhichIsgaotlnemforwc . And bad news for everyone else. Just like it used to be. rewarding factor. es