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November 29, 2008

Vikings make history despite 55-7 loss

By RYAN HUTCHINS

SYRACUSE — There it was, years in the making for this small school that defied all expectations — an opportunity to win a state championship.

And not just that. The Moriah High School football team, accompanied by hundreds — maybe thousands — of fans, got the chance to stand and play in the Carrier Dome, a behemoth of sports that seats nearly 50,000.

Cloaked in orange and white, the concrete building is a place where legends have been made and destroyed.

There are reminders of it along the walls of the press box where photos hang of Syracuse University players who have gone on to make history in the NFL. A huge banner above the stands at the edge of an end zone proclaims one of the school's own, Jim Brown, the "Greatest Player Ever."

So it's probably no surprise that the sort of big-time play Saturday's game offered, for a town of just 4,557, moved so many Viking fans to take the 250-mile highway trip to Syracuse. Before the 11 a.m. kickoff, in what is an indescribably huge structure, those North Country locals filled the building with screams and cheers.

"If you're going to rob anybody in Moriah, today is the day to do it — nobodies there," said Tim Breeyear, a 1970 graduate who used to coach the team's offensive line.

He drove down Friday with family and saw the Orangemen inch past Virginia in a basketball game he watched with his son, a freshman and junior-varsity football player for Moriah.

And that game was witnessed in the same building as the crushing loss the Vikings took Saturday, just hours after the basketball game ended. Crews of just a few dozen converted the multi-purpose field to the football setup in six hours, using forklifts to move sections of bleachers hundreds of feet down the field. The game was over at 9:15 p.m. Friday and workers left by 3 a.m.

But all the excitement of playing such a high-stakes game in such a big-name arena faded early, as Moriah fell goals and goals behind. By the end of the first quarter, the score was 28-0 in favor of the rival Red Dragons from Maple Grove, another small town south of Buffalo.

Fans tried to stay optimistic, though.

"We're trying to make history," Brenda Sherman, a 1988 graduate, said just before that first quarter ended. Her son, Carl Woodard, plays on the team.

Sherman's husband, Jimmer, a 1979 graduate, echoed that same early optimism.

"Hopefully they can step it up a little bit," he said, pausing to watch a play. "We've got a lot of faith in them."

The rest of the fans seemed to have that faith as well, donning Viking helmets and red T-shirts with the slogan "Tradition Never Graduates!"

There was at least one reminder of another recent victory, the win of President-elect Barack Obama. Fans at one point yelled the often repeated campaign chant of "yes, we can."

But, in the campaign to be the greatest Class D football team in New York, the competition got the best of them.

Except the fans and the players seemed to hold on to that dream to the end. The Vikings posted their only score with 5:30 left in the final quarter. The fans, of course, went wild.

"They haven't given up all year," Head Coach Don Tesar said after the game. "They played hard all the way through."

And that strengthened an already loyal fan base. There were about 2,500 people at the game Saturday, counting Maple Grove fans.

"I'm just really proud of the kids," said Breeyear, the former coach, during the game. "Really proud of the town."

The loss stung, though, for the players, who went further than any other football team in Moriah history.

Like the fans who seem to care for them, the players seem to care for their fans. It was evident after the game, in an empty locker room, as Jim Carlson, a senior who won the Most Valuable Defensive Back award, tried unsuccessfully to fight the tears that built up in his eyes.

"You can't beat our fans," he said. "And I kind of let them down."

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