UPside of Life: Still on the bubble

Another tough loss. Another tough week. Another weekend of tossing and turning and wondering what the heck went wrong.

The Mid Peninsula Wolverines held a 28-14 halftime lead in Three Lakes last Friday. When the game was over, they walked off the field with their heads down and a 52-28 loss.

It was rough to watch. A great game suddenly imploded. The visitors were left holding the loss.

And the coaches? All we could do was ask ourselves how we correct the ship.

The answer sounds like an easy one: Pride. Pride in everything we do. Pride in every play. Pride in our mascot, our school, our orange and white.

But how do you teach pride? It's an intangible. It's not coachable. It's something that is either on the table or it's not, right?

The Mid Pen football team aims to find out this week. Currently the record stands at 2-3 and somehow, thanks to the miracle of playoff points and how they are accumulated, we are still in the hunt for the playoffs. If they started today, we'd likely visit undefeated Rapid River in the first round.

With three home games upcoming (Ewen-Trout Creek Friday, Posen next week and Rapid River the week after), it's time for the Wolverines to showcase their pride. It's our school. It's our field. It's our house.

I was proud yesterday, coaching the boys as they worked through defensive drills. I told them how much I love the Wolverines. How much I love them. They are my family. I love them each like little brothers. I told them that I know the importance of protecting their house and reminded them that I had done it myself a decade and a half ago.

"I bled on this field," I said as I explained the importance of each individual playing their part of the defensive machine. "The grass is green here because my sweat is on it."

But what I didn't tell them was the grass had grown with many tears, too. Loss after loss. In my junior and senior years, my teams went a combined 3-15. Losing was what we knew best.

But I wouldn't say it.

We're on the bubble for the playoffs right now. A win over ETC puts us back in the hunt. A win Friday restores the roar at Mid Pen. No longer can this team shuffle their feet thinking that nothing is expected from them. They are just Mid Pen, right? Who cares?

I care. Head coach Jeremy Herman cares. Coach Ron Koski cares. And each and every Wolverine on that football field cares.

Eight men play at a time, but it's going to be a team that wins this Friday night. We'll have pride in every snap. We'll have pride in every tackle. We'll have pride with every win that has yet to come and class in every loss.

Mid Pen football is far from done. Starting Friday night, the tide of the 2012 season is going to turn.

Loud and proud, boys. Let's go, Wolverines!

Sam Eggleston is the managing editor of U.P. Second Wave. He was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula and played varsity football at Mid Pen under the coaching of Kim Carlson. He can be reached via email.