The Winning Streak

Like most sports enthusiasts I am fearful of the jinx.

There are certain rituals players might do before each game like wearing a lucky pair of socks; a wrist band, sweat band whatever the case may be or never talking to the pitcher when he’s throwing a no-hitter. You can add never talk about the streak when your team is on one because you might jinx it.

As Bronco fans we have been on an unbelievable high watching our favorite team win two state championships, three league championships and as of last Saturday make three semi-final appearances. They also won 38 consecutive games along the way. What this year’s team kept going is impressive.

At the beginning of the season the LRS Broncos were picked to place third in league after losing a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, several of those athletes were chosen All State at their respective positions, so third place probably sounded about right. I was more hopeful than that because there were a bunch of players returning that knew what it would take to keep winning.

Now this year’s team wasn’t as dominant as last year’s team but then the competition within the league was better as well. Because of that this year’s team probably had a bigger target on its back because every opponent perceived this version of Bronco Football as being vulnerable.

So there weren’t a lot sure wins this year. Most had to be earned with a lot of hard work and determination. A lot of players stepped up and made plays from each class represented on this team. That was fun to watch.

We may have been spoiled last year but because we were so much better than most every team we played we didn’t really get to see how good that team really was. But it did allow for younger players to earn some key minutes which was beneficial to this year’s team’s success.

There is something I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time and feared the jinx so I didn’t say a word. But I will now. It has been quite a long time when we could absolutely count on the point after touchdown and for several games this year Auto‘Matt’ic Leffel couldn’t miss. Matt made 32 PATs in a row before he missed against Wilbur-Creston the first Friday in November. I’ve watched a lot of Bronco football games in my time as a fan and player and no one has come close to that mark and I guess it will be a long time before someone comes close to that mark again. By the way, Matt also made several field goals this year, two of which were important in big Bronco victories. Well done, Matt I hope you gave some pointers to the next Bronco kicker.

Next year LRS will need to regroup with players that got a lot of playing time this year gaining valuable experience. The JVs had an outstanding season and the weight room will be calling them and the returning varsity members over the course of the next nine months.

I want to thank all of the seniors for having great success this season and earning a semi-final trophy. This trophy and the last two state championships are their legacy. 38-1 in three seasons will live on for a long time in our three communities.

I know that the many of these players had tears in their eyes and felt they let down their fans. Losing was something they haven’t been a part of in a long time. One senior saw me and apologized to me for the loss. I told him that all of the fans were proud of this team and he had nothing to apologize for and I thanked him for this magical run and another great season.

I have a great deal of respect for this team and the coaching staff. We Bronco fans are all very proud of this team and the coaches and we were appreciative of the success over the last three seasons. No one bragged about the winning streak or showed arrogance. We knew this was special and we treated it as such.

It is said that all things must come to an end at some point in time. The Bronco winning streak finally ended at 38. It was sad but the Okanogan Bulldogs are a worthy state finalist. It took a very good team to finally bring the streak to an end.