Sprint football arrives: Woods' home opener Saturday

Sep. 22—Last Saturday's come-from-behind, program-opening 34-28 overtime triumph at Calumet College of St. Joseph was thrilling and all for Saint Mary-of-the-Woods' sprint-football team.

But there's one thing to remember, fellas. That was just your first game.

This Saturday, the Pomeroys will play their home opener — starting at 2 p.m. at West Vigo High School's Jay Barrett Field — against Midwest Sprint Football League (MSFL) opponent Quincy from Illinois. After that, there will be four more contests — two home and two road — on their 2022 regular-season schedule.

Players and coaches will definitely go into this matchup feeling good about themselves.

"I thought we played really well, especially against a really good, well-coached team in Calumet," Woods coach Blaine Powell reflected Wednesday. "We played well the whole game offensively and dominated the second half on defense. Our team wore them down and gained momentum and ran with it in the second half. I was really proud of how well our coaching staff prepared our players for the game, considering we went into it blind with no film on Calumet."

Freshman middle linebacker Jake Skinner, who played for Powell when Powell coached high school football at Sullivan, also took fond memories away from last Saturday.

"Saturday's victory was honestly like a movie," he told the Tribune-Star. "I've never been part of a comeback like that, but I knew we had it in us and we came out and took care of business. Never doubt The Woods. Remember that."

Not that they needed added motivation, but Powell and Skinner are using left-over excitement from that win to spur them on to play well in front of their home fans Saturday.

"It's a very exciting deal to be playing football at SMWC, because everything we do is making history," Skinner said. "This home game is gonna be crazy, man. This is the first home game in SMWC football history and I'm just very thankful me and my teammates get to be a part of it. It definitely means a lot to me and something that I'll never forget."

Asked what he would tell potential spectators about what to expect Saturday, Powell replied: "I would tell them that this is high-level football. There really is no difference in sprint football and regular football, other than there are more athletes on the field in sprint football [because none weigh more than 178 pounds]. The skill and technique in sprint football is much more evident because size really isn't an important indicator during the game."

SMWC's starting quarterback is freshman Brennon Landry from Louisiana, while freshman Patrick Perea from Texas should do most of the ball-carrying at running back. Primary wide receivers are Corey Miller from South Vermillion, Kevonta Jones from Georgia and speedy Andrece Miller from Terre Haute and the tight end is Carlos Munoz from New Mexico. Powell said two of the starting offensive linemen are freshman center Lane Sluder of Sullivan and junior right guard Chris Torrence of South Vermillion.

In addition to Skinner, another Wabash Valley starter on the other side of the ball is freshman defensive tackle Trey Carter of Terre Haute South.

Admission is $5 per person and tickets can be purchased online in advance at bit.ly/smwcsprintfb, with an option to get a catered meal for an extra $15.

For those unable to attend, radio station WNDI-FM 95.3 out of Sullivan will broadcast the action live. The contest also will be videostreamed live on the wmmcradio.com website.