Belief factor still prevalent

The Dalles senior football player, Payton Eaton, is one of the leaders on a Riverhawk team. He is using his status to be a positive role model for a burgeoning program that dressed down seven freshmen Friday night in a 54-14 loss to Summit on Homecoming night at Sid White Field in The Dalles.

Once he graduates, the biggest goal is that these Riverhawks can use 2014 as the breeding ground for success down the road.

Not too long ago, The Dalles endured a similar process, going from one win in 2008 to the playoffs in 2009.

At this point in the season, The Dalles remains winless at 0-4, but Eaton is of the mindset that focusing on the positives and building teammates up through encouragement are more important than what the lights read on the scoreboard at the end of the night.

“We are looking to get better and better every day,” said the veteran running back. “I think we are tired of losing and we are tired of losing like this. It is time to change. It comes down to all of us coming out and competing as hard as we can in practice and then bringing it all on the field. We need to be that underdog team to beat the odds.”

In Friday’s tilt, Eaton tossed a 51-yard touchdown pass to Devin Wilson on a flea flicker play to put The Dalles on the scoreboard early in the third quarter.

He would then use the blocking from his young line to bust loose for an 80-yard jaunt.

Except for a couple of long plays executed by the No. 15-ranked Storm, the Riverhawk defense held strong, holding the visitors to 14 points in the second half of play.

When the chips were stacked against them, Wilson did not lose sight on the morale and attitude his team showed in that second half.

It is a fruitful notion not lost in his mind.

“I don’t think we are going to give up on the season,” Wilson said. “In the second half, we played good. In the first half, we played good, just we had too many mistakes that cost us. Otherwise, I thought we battled pretty well against these guys.”

All week long, the focus will be there, not just because this team goes about its business in such a manner, but because there is so much more on the line in the future – there is an opportunity for redemption, a chance to erase the jeers, jokes and snickers from their peers.

All of the hours of preparation will prove to be a benefit; not all the repetitions are for personal gain – more of a responsibility to teammates to work as hard as or harder than they have through the years to try to build a reputable and winning program.

Talent, skills and size will not deny this group of hustlers, fighters and gridiron warriors – heart and pride describe what they are dealing with on a daily basis.

Eaton may not have an opportunity to see the process play itself out.

Wilson, a junior, has one more year of eligibility remaining, so he, along with Antonio Argueta, Izaac Tapia, Jacob Wetmore, Henry Lee, Dominique Seufalemua and some of the other names need to take some mental notes and dole out some reciprocal punishing blows soon enough.

Both Eaton and Wilson echoed the same sentiment in regards to staying the course.

They have not wavered one iota in their belief of the program and the direction it’s headed.

Of course it is tough to deal with a few lopsided losses, but there are better results coming down the pipeline.

They believe, they care and they will do just about anything to ensure that the loveable loser stigma is switched into a moniker that can never be taken away – champions.

How sweet the feeling, how sweet the sound.

These boys now know what it took to get to the mountaintop and now they have a chance to climb to the highest peak and bellow out a shriek of cataclysmic proportions.

“We lose as a team and we are going to win as a team,” Wilson said. “It may not be the next game or the one two weeks from now, but we will get ours. We will get our chance. We need to stick together and fight through it. If we do that, we will be alright.”