The foundation is rebuilt

After a three-year hiatus, those sounds were a booming message to the football world and a comfor for a program looking to methodically construct a sense of ownership and a sense of pride to surge back into postseason contention next year and beyond.

Tristan Gillis, a transfer from Liberty High School, was last seen running around Maupin nearly a decade ago, nine years when the Redsides earned a Big Sky Conference title enroute to a runner-up finish in the state championship.

Coming from a big 5A school, he missed the small town vibe.

“At the end of the day, it is all about fanfare,” Gillis said. “You don’t get that much from the big city. Here, you are playing for family, you are playing for friends and you actually have emotion here. It is not just a sport. You are not playing just to be cool. That is what really makes me come out here, to be a part of that.”

In order to cap a winning feeling as part of the 2014 season, SWC’s defense stood tall in the second half and junior cornerback Brody Myers knocked away a deep ball for a game-saving stop with four minutes and 33 seconds left in regulation.

Myers, Gillis, Ellis Rager Aaron Curtis and Jeff Jimenez were the standouts on the defensive side of the ball, as they joined together to hold Washington School for the Deaf to 22 yards on three possessions. One drive ended in a fumble, another in a punt. Then with less than a minute remaining, Jimenez, Curtis and Rager flew to the ball to bring down speedy quarterback Tre’dynn Selvog to force a loss of downs.

SWC then had possession inside the red zone and kneeled down to run the clock out.

“They showed a lot of heart this week and they dug their heels in and fought,” said SWC head coach Mike Waine. “They fought as hard as they could and it ended up that our defense won the game in the second half. That is huge.”

The Redsides did all of their scoring in the first stanza, setting the tone with a four-play opening drive.

Colton Nannini, capped it with a four-yard touchdown scamper to make it 6-0 with 8:39 left in the first frame.

Late in the first period, Jimenez rumbled in from two yards out to give the Redsides a 12-0 cushion.

The score reached 18-0 midway through the second quarter, as Gillis started things with an 18-yard run to move the ball to the 8.

From there, Jimenez blasted through a gaping hole in the middle of the field for a touchdown to swell the cushion to three scores at the 6:48 marker.

Through the course of the game, Washington School for the Deaf had a few solid drives, but had them fizzle late. They did score twice, however, on big plays.

The first came on an 80-yard reverse by 5-foot-6 inch, Wyatt Hurd to inch his squad to within 18-6 at halftime.

Washington scored on its first possession of the second half to make things interesting, as Selvog lofted a perfect pass to a streaking Randall Smith for a 78-yard scoring connection to run the count out to 18-12 with 7:59 to go in the third.

Washington would only threaten one other time, with time running out in the third, as a fourth down conversion run by Josh Marvel wound up being inches short of moving the chains.

“I thought our defense really stepped it up,” Jimenez said. “We wanted to intimidate them and play physical to keep them from moving the ball. We had some good hits and made tackles, that helped us out.”

This year, the Redsides were able to accomplish a lot with the 17 players on the roster.

Getting a second win does a lot about bringing passion back to the gridiron.

Losing five seniors will hurt, but that group bought into Waine and assistant coach Michael Carter’s philosophies and it all worked.

Waine wants to hit the lab again real soon after a solid first year.

“I am really excited and I know Coach Carter is very excited too,” he said. “We just hope to build a program and hope that the kids will want to come out and play for us next year. As far as the program goes, I think these kids can talk about it all winter long and say, ‘hey, we had fun out there.’”

Losing Nannini, Dustin Silvey, Logan Wraught, Jimenez and Gillis will hurt, but Rager is treating 2015, his senior campaign, as one of unfinished business.

“I feel like we really didn’t put it all together yet, but I feel like next year we will have more talent because a lot of the same people will be here. I think next year we will be able to wrap it all up and turn it into something great,” Rage said.

Although Gillis is set to graduate he still intends on having his hand on the pulse of the program bringing mentorship to the youth coming up.

He has a stirring message for those young players.

“Kick some butt. That is all I would say to them. I believe in them,” he said. “I hope that they can keep this legacy going.”

“Because there will be a snowball effect I can tell. This town needed something, and they got something, we gave it to them. We will use football to bring the community together,” he added. ­