OSG NAIA: Rome's Last Ride Was A Good One...

And, it was a good one...

The HQ has had its hands in the NAIA for a few years now, and we enjoy our time there...

It's towns like Williamsburg, Barbourville, Central, Pulaski, McKenzie and, at the same time, places like Jackson, Montgomery, New Orleans, Hattiesburg, and Georgetown (Kentucky, not DC)...

It's athletes that do really cool things on the field of play and, at the same time, have their priorities straight in their late

teens and early 20's...

It's kids who had nothing or, in some cases- less than nothing- and are making something of themselves. There are political prisoners, emigres, third-world families, and such that see something in this country and decide to make something of themselves...

And for the sixth, and last, time the football championship was in Rome, Georgia- about 90 minutes north of HQ. It's heading to Daytona Beach for a three-year gig next season...

Grand View started a football program only six years ago, but they made it to the title game. University of the Cumberlands (KY) is from that Williamsburg I mentioned earlier and made it through the eastern gauntlet to play for a title for head coach John Bland.

FOSG Courtney Lyle had the preview
((HT: WBIR-TV))
Cumberlands had 18 athletes on their roster from the HQ's perview... and we knew the schools and the talent pools of all of them. Grand View, from Des Moines, announced that it will be creating a football team in the fall of 2008 with the hiring of Mike Woodley in July 2007. Woodley was head coach at Pasadena-Sam Rayburn (TX) High School and had a lot of Texas influence in his roster- as any growing program should... Woodley stated when he took the job: “Anybody who’s been in this business long enough knows that the opportunity to start a program from scratch is very rare. There are so many exhilarating things happening on campus with the addition of athletic programs, new student housing, and new buildings. Grand View is headed in the right direction, and I want to be a part of it." The team went from 2-7 in year one, to 8-3 in year two, and they haven't looked back...

Cumberlands was the site of the first-round playoff game the HQ attended a few years ago, and John Bland has created a monster in the Mid-South Conference. Scholarships have to be doled out over a lot of kids on any given roster and UC is no different... "A lot of them have to pay for school on their own. These guys make sacrifices, tremendous sacrifices," says University of the Cumberlands head coach John Bland told WBIR-TV earlier this week. "A high percentage have work study jobs, well over 50%" "I mow yards, pressure washing, landscaping and stuff," said senior, linebacker Weston Hazelhurst. "My job is in my dorm, I work in the Rob Cooke computer labs." said junior, running back D'Angelo Jordan. "I think its kind of difficult for us to do school, work, work study, and football. I think we're some special guys to be able to do something like that," explained Hazelhurst. And that's what makes the NAIA special... There are tremendous athletes that, on rare occasions, make it to the NFL. But, in reality, these guys are playing on their last level of organized football... And that's what makes title games like these special... You find out about guys like Derek Fulton, Adam Craig, Jordan, Jason Gladfeldner, and Hazlehurst... You learn, through your time in the NAIA about talented QB's like Josh Hollingsworth at Faulkner- and hope he gets a chance to show his stuff... somewhere... And for the record, Grand View adds their name to Rome's title game history with the likes of USD, Carroll, Saint X, and Marion (IN) for wins in Barron Stadium. It will be interesting to see how football continues to grow from here... Here's the highlights... ((HT: Grand View their own selves))