We are Eastern Greene

Photo by Pamela Deckard

What’s your favorite sports movie. In Indiana, many would say “Hoosiers” or “Rudy.” Those are up there but for me “We are Marshall” is my choice. It’s where Marshall University in West Virginia found a way to put a team on the field a year after the 1970 team died in a plane crash. The game of football became something bigger than two teams on a field.

Sadly, Eastern Greene is in a similar situation Friday night. One player, junior Jedd Cummings tragically lost his life in a car accident over the weekend. With all the adversity, EG football will take on North Central Friday night in Farmersburg with the Thunderbird trophy on the line. NC and EG are the only two schools in the state called the Thunderbirds. The two schools share a trophy as the winner of the annual meeting in mid-October gets to hoist it up as if it is the Old Oaken Bucket. North Central has taken the trophy the past two years as the 2022 edition is a toss up.

It was a toss up until what happened over the weekend. Eastern is playing for Jedd now. Heck, the county is. Linton and Bloomfield had prayer circles. WRV and Shakamak kept stadium lights on to honor Jedd. So did schools outside of Greene County.

Friday night, emotions will be higher than ever for a regular season football game. I expect a passionate effort from EG and that’s all I can bank on.

All of this occurs a key moment for Eastern Greene football. The Thunderbirds have won just four games in four years. A soccer program is coming up soon. Small schools like Eastern can’t really support soccer and football easily. I heard a someone outside of the school district suggest this season that Eastern will not have a football team by the end of the decade.

A year ago, EG fans were lobbying for their coach to get fired. Coach Travis Wray took over this year and has the team going in the right direction. Now, I think Friday night we will see the communities of Solsberry, Cincinnati and Owensburg behind get behind its football team like they did in 2017. When the Thunderbirds reached the state finals.

Friday night is more than a game. It’s a time for a community to heal and find its passion once more as I hope to take it all in. Friday night will be a new movie called “We are Eastern Greene.”

Nathan Pace is the Sports Editor of the Greene County Daily World and can be reached at npace@gcdailyworld.com. His “Low Budget Sports Show” airs weekly on Facebook Live.