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Panthers take time crossing state
By John Gunther, Sports Editor
Friday, November 20, 2009 | No comments posted.
When Gold Beach football coach Kevin Swift started his successful team camp, one thing he hoped it would do is generate good relationships with other coaches and schools.
Those relationships are paying dividends during the Panthers’ trek across the state for Saturday’s playoff game with Vale.
Gold Beach left early Thursday to break the trip into two days.
The Panthers practiced Thursday afternoon at Bend High School, one of the teams that often comes to the camp.
“They fed us tonight,” Swift said by phone after the team settled into its hotel for the evening, explaining that the moms of some of the Bend players put together a meal for the Panthers.
Gold Beach will finish the rest of the trip today, stopping for a walkthrough at Vale’s field and heading to Ontario, where the Panthers will stay tonight.
If the trip goes well, Swift hopes to cross the Idaho border and drive into Boise to watch one of his camp’s other regular visitors, Capital High School, play for its state title tonight.
Swift won’t jeopardize his team’s chances of winning Saturday if the weather isn’t right for the players to watch the game tonight.
But he would like to do it, because he expects the folks from Boise to come support his team on Saturday.
“We have a lot of fans,” Swift said. “We have a good relationship with the Boise schools. They like us; we like them.”
The Panthers drove through snow when they crossed the Cascade Range on Thursday. The forecast for Saturday is temperatures around 40 degrees.
Swift isn’t concerned about the weather.
“It can be cold or it can be hot,” he said. “All we care about is (the field is) 100 yards long and there’s stripes every five yards.”
The Panthers, he said, just want to show up, play their game, and try to come home with a win.
And though the trip to Vale is nearly 600 miles from Gold Beach, he’s not too concerned about how his team will handle the long bus ride.
“I think our kids are a lot more experienced at traveling than people give us credit for,” he said.
The game will kick off at noon, Pacific Standard Time, on Saturday.
Those relationships are paying dividends during the Panthers’ trek across the state for Saturday’s playoff game with Vale.
Gold Beach left early Thursday to break the trip into two days.
The Panthers practiced Thursday afternoon at Bend High School, one of the teams that often comes to the camp.
“They fed us tonight,” Swift said by phone after the team settled into its hotel for the evening, explaining that the moms of some of the Bend players put together a meal for the Panthers.
Gold Beach will finish the rest of the trip today, stopping for a walkthrough at Vale’s field and heading to Ontario, where the Panthers will stay tonight.
If the trip goes well, Swift hopes to cross the Idaho border and drive into Boise to watch one of his camp’s other regular visitors, Capital High School, play for its state title tonight.
Swift won’t jeopardize his team’s chances of winning Saturday if the weather isn’t right for the players to watch the game tonight.
But he would like to do it, because he expects the folks from Boise to come support his team on Saturday.
“We have a lot of fans,” Swift said. “We have a good relationship with the Boise schools. They like us; we like them.”
The Panthers drove through snow when they crossed the Cascade Range on Thursday. The forecast for Saturday is temperatures around 40 degrees.
Swift isn’t concerned about the weather.
“It can be cold or it can be hot,” he said. “All we care about is (the field is) 100 yards long and there’s stripes every five yards.”
The Panthers, he said, just want to show up, play their game, and try to come home with a win.
And though the trip to Vale is nearly 600 miles from Gold Beach, he’s not too concerned about how his team will handle the long bus ride.
“I think our kids are a lot more experienced at traveling than people give us credit for,” he said.
The game will kick off at noon, Pacific Standard Time, on Saturday.
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