CFL heads review opener

The organizers of the Commonwealth Football League can finally exhale with one week in the books as fans and players were witness to an exciting double-header at the CPA Airport Field that featured dominating defense, awesome air attacks, and grueling ground games under the sun and in the rain.

As soon as all four teams took to the gridiron, months of planning finally paid off. The yard and side lines were down, the yard markers were laid out, the chain gang was ready to go, as were the seven referees, and everything came together in time for the opening kickoff.

After the final whistle sounded to complete the Shell Lightning’s victory over the Express Electronics Eagles, CFL board chairman Clyde Lemons expressed his relief that the games went off without a hitch.

“Thank God it’s over. Thanks to the coaches, player reps, and officials we got it done. With two games under our belt and a four team league again, I am happy with the results of the day,” he said.

While everything didn’t go according to plan, Lemons said that the organizers will only have to address some minor details in order to improve upon the events of the day, and a little planning should take care of that.

“Just some technical things like food and water for the refs, getting the booth up, the sound system and the scoreboard up and going again. If that’s the only thing that goes wrong, I’ll be pleased but I won’t be satisfied. We’ve got some minor things that we saw so we’ll talk to the teams and officials about them,” he said.

In his first season haunting the sidelines as a neutral observer, the former Barbarians coach said that he enjoyed being able to simply watch the game for a change, but that there were a few instances when he had the urge to help his old team out..

“It’s great. There were a few times when I wanted to say ‘Hey, you’ve gotta…,’ but other than that, it was nice to see it,” said Lemons.

With Lemons feeling good about the way things panned out in the opener, returning CFL commissioner Jesse Stein said that he will work with the rest of the league brass to ensure that things go just as smoothly this Saturday.

“As long as the chairman of the CFL is satisfied, I think I accomplished what I needed to do. He’s happy, so all we have to do is meet on Tuesday to lay it all out again, and after that get ready for Week 2,” he said.

Stein added that pulling off the start of the new season was a team effort and while it’s impossible to make everyone happy, that opening day was a success.

“I’d like to compliment the officials. They were outstanding for the first two games of the season, and while some of the calls weren’t too pleasing all of the players and coaches, that’s the name of football,” he said.

The 100-yard battle continues this Saturday, Oct. 1, as the Tinian Typhoon take on the Lightning in a battle of the undefeated teams at 10am, followed by the struggle between the Barbarians and the Eagles at 1pm.