Most of you will never experience the feeling of a drop dead gorgeous November Saturday afternoon watching 8 Man football. If you're making a list of things to do before you die. Do this one thing. Its said to be worth brownie points in heaven if you make it that far.

Rumor has it that after every St. Paul Rodeo, the grass farmers in the area and the local booster club host a large picnic with cold beverages, and a cornucopia of summer culinary delights where the rodeo grounds are plowed and leveled and seeded with the prettiest football field in America. If Kevin Costner heard voices years ago to build a football field, he could have saved the crops and just relocated to St. Paul. Then again, there is an entire coffee table book waiting to be photo essayed on the 8 Man Football fields in Oregon.

St. Paul and Joseph battled Saturday afternoon with the Buckaroos advancing to host a very good South Wasco Redside's squad next weekend. South Wasco beat Joseph 44-22 in mid-Septmeber. It wasn't easy but the final score Saturday was 34-28. Like a season of farming in a climate of uncertainties there were twists and turns that put this final in jeopardy the whole way. It was two teams that knew how to 'bring it' until the Buck's hit the first down in the final minute to ice the game, both teams and their fans sat glued to their seats with optimism they would live to play another weekend.

The first half started with St. Paul receiving the opening kickoff and marching 12 plays and scoring on a 26 yard Jeff Annen quarterback keeper to take an 8-0 lead after converting the coversion on an Annen to Ruben Rivera two point conversion. The Eagles would find themselves in quicksand for the first two drives that wouldn't generate a single yard on offense. In the second quarter, the Eagles would finally start to click when their bruising running back Ben Garnett would take a host of Bucks's on a 45 yard piggyback ride down to the St. Paul 12 yard line. He would follow it up with an eight yard touchdown run and after he ran it in for the deuce coversion, the score was tied at 8-8 at 10:12 left in the second quarter. However Joseph wasn't done. This time it was Chris Harshman's time to take over as he ripped off a couple of long runs before taking it in from 13 yards out to put the Eagles back up 16-8 after Garnett would plow in from three yards out with 6:47 left in the half.

Most of us have no idea of what the smaller classifications endure on a weekly basis. With Friday football games being a puny two hour drive, those were rivalry games to many of the smaller schools! Joseph fans totalled about 120 fans in St.Paul and since they had a total of 15 kids dressed down, it equates to eight fans for every player who were willing to gut out the 800 mile round trip. Nike should have a shirt distributed to the smaller classifications to taunt the larger schools that says..."Can You Do It?"

The Bucks decided enough was enough. Taking the opening kickoff from the Eagle 15, they would again put together a long drive. This time 10 plays for 85 yards capped with a 15 yard scamper from Ryan Pierson and with the 2 point pass right back at Pierson, they would knot it at 16-16 with 1:44 left in the half. Joseph recieved the kick but disaster stuck after two plays with a lost fumble and St.Paul had it at their own 49 yard line. This may have been the most important sequence of plays in the entire game. The Eagles fumble and the Buck's throw four passes in the final 30 seconds with the last an Annen to Ryan Pierson 19 yard TD catch as the gun sounded for a 22-16 lead leaving the Eagles stunned.

For the half, it would paint a picture of St. Paul dominating with 13 first downs to Joseph's 6. The Bucks would rack up 254 yards to their visitors 128. They would pass for 121 yards to the Eagles puny 30 yards. Yet they were lucky to go in ahead at the half.

Opening the second half, the Eagles would receive and put togehter a nine play drive splitting duties between Chris Harshman and Garnett, who would take one in from six yards out to knot the score at 22-22 after a two point conversion failed with 7:04 left in the third quarter. Yet St. Paul would answer the bell with a quick five play drive going 65 yards and finalized with a 31 yard touchdown run by Pierson. After a botched two point attempt, the Buck's led 28-22 with 4:47 left in the third quarter. Into the fourth quarter, St. Paul will score with 4:52 left in the game when quarterback Jeff Annen would scamper in on a crucial fourth and one from 14 yards out and St. Paul would coast in with a 34-22 lead. With 2:07 left, Eagle QB Erik Steen would run in from four yards out to cut the lead to 34-28 but a failed onside kick and St. Paul would run out the clock to win the game.

If there were two players that were impressive for Coach Rusty Eschler's squad, it was Harshman and Garnett who were thunder and lightning for Joseph. For Coach Jay Phillips Buck's it was their quarterback Annen would didn't appear to do much until you looked at the tallied stats for the evening. Annen is the type of quarterback you never see for the stats the receivers and running backs are putting up but clearly he was the engine that made the St. Paul car look pretty and go.

It is exactly 360 miles from Joseph into Portland. To the many Eagle fans driving past the Multnomah Falls all adorned in fall foilage colors with salmon struggling up the creek as twilight set in on Saturday, and knowing you were just 20% of the way home, I salute you. Be proud of your boys and what the Eagles accomplished. All 15 of those kids were proud of you. To St. Paul, keep on trucking. Just know a Redside for what it is. A slippery beast often taken for granted until sliding out of your hands back into the river to live yet another day. For any football purist next weekend's game in St. Paul will afford you a look at what Eight Man Football is all about. It should be a doozy between two great teams.

In other 1A action, Mohawk continued their scoring machine roll as they thumped Adrian 90-12 and Crane wasn't to shabby either in an 84-36 win over McKenzie in Friday night action.

Joseph 0 16 6 6 - 28

St. Paul 8 14 6 6 - 34

1^st. qtr.

St. Paul – Jeff Annen 27 yd. run (Annen pass to Rivera)

2^nd. qtr.

Joseph – Ben Garnett 10 yd. run (Garnett run)

SP – Ryan Pierson 16 yd. run (Pierson run)

J – Chris Harshman 4 yd. run (Garnett run)

SP – Pierson 19 yd. pass from Annen (pass failed)

3^rd. qtr.

J – Harshman 9 yd. run (run failed)

SP – Pierson 31 yd. run (run failed)

4^th. qtr.

SP – Annen 15 yd. run (pass failed)

J – Steen 2 yd. run (run failed)

Rushing

Joseph 37-233

St. Paul 40-254 (Pierson 14-141)

Passing

Joseph – Garnett 2-3, 0 TDs, 0 Int., 49 yds.

St. Paul – Pierson 10-21, 1 TD, 0 Int., 138 yds.

Fumbles-Lost

Joseph 3-3

St. Paul 0-0