(Anita) For the first time in school history CAM will play football in the dome. The Cougars are in the 8-Player semifinals and will face Audubon on Wednesday.
Coach Barry Bower admits they are still soaking it all in after a 64-13 quarterfinal win over Newell-Fonda on Thursday. “Each and every day that we have had practices or pep rallies or just congratulations from phone calls to e-mails and everything like that it has been absolutely wonderful. Just to see the joy on our community members faces and the kids and the parents and our whole entire community I think that is probably the best thing for me is seeing the joy. You can never, ever get that taken away from you and I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”
With that said, they aren’t just happy to get there. This team has been focused on playing for a state title since day one and now they are a victory away from that opportunity. “That’s one of the things that’s really, really exciting. Yes we can celebrate, yes we can get the monkey off our back, but I think now it’s the realization that there are bigger goals to be achieved. I’ve said this all year long, if you do the little things correctly then the big things can be achievable. Right now we are doing the little things correctly and we are striving to make the big things achievable. I truly feel that with the district that we had this year it’s really prepared us for this moment.”
A familiar foe awaits. CAM beat Audubon 58-42 in Week 5. Bower indicates each team had some things they’d like to do better than they did in the regular season meeting. The Wheelers have gone on the road to defeat undefeated opponents in back-to-back weeks. “They are very well coached. They are good up front from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. They have great skill players.” Bower says, “It’s just an all around squad that we have to prepare for again. It’s going to be a fun ball game and this time we get to play it indoors.”
CAM has practiced in the gym, practiced on field turf, and practiced early in the morning all in an effort to get ready for a 10:00 kickoff inside the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. “We’ve tried to find an itinerary to match that type of atmosphere, but nothing is going to match what it’ll be on Wednesday. That’s going to be exciting.” Bower adds, “Once that kickoff goes, football is football. You still have to block, tackle, throw the ball, run the ball, and do those little things correctly. Once that kickoff hits I think both teams are going to be in the exact same spots and we just have to make sure we do it a little bit better.”
We’ll have the game on KSOM with pregame coverage at 9:30 a.m. The matchup kicks at 10:00. CAM’s Lane Spieker has broken the 8-Player single season rushing record with his 2,951 yards. He went for 396 yards and seven touchdowns in the team’s quarterfinal victory. His 65 touchdowns (rushing, returning, receiving) are also a single season state record. For his career he has 6,475 rushing yards which is 2nd most in 8-Player history behind Adair-Casey’s Clayton Plowman who had 7,646.
