Typhoon ready to welcome Eagles

Much like how the 100,000-plus fans in Mexico City welcomed the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals last week for the first National Football League regular season game held outside the continental United States, the people of Tinian are just hours from playing host to the first regular season contest of the Commonwealth Football League.

Tinian fans have the added benefit of being able to cheer for their hometown team tonight as the Typhoon square off against the Express Electronics Eagles under the lights at Tinian Municipal Field tonight at 7pm.

The Typhoon certainly have their work cut out for them if they plan to edge the Eagles. For starters, they will have to tame their tendency to stop their own drives with penalties. Just two games into the season, Tinian has been flagged for 30 penalties totaling 190 yards. To put it into perspective, that’s 73 yards more than their offense has produced.

Another thing that the boys from across the channel could use is a complete four quarters from wide receiver Ringo Reyes. The CFL rookie lead the Typhoon with 73 yards and has showed flashes of things to come, but the kid dropped passes that could have continued key drives.

Reyes is not alone in the “room for improvement club” but the squad somehow finds a way to stay in each of their games by their fierce intensity and determination. The new team has stuck together through trying moments, and the Green Machine plan to give them a few more tonight.

Eagles’ running back Stanley Iakopo was already thinking about tonight’s game after he took off the pads following his team’s 30-14 win over the Barbarians, and he said that Tinian will have plenty to deal with when they storm ashore.

“We’re going to be ready for Tinian. They better be ready for us. It’s going to be a different environment and it’s going to be a whole different ball game, but that’s okay because we know our game, and we’re just going to do what we did today—maybe even better,” he said.

The Eagles’ top-rated offense has put up a league-high total of 463 yards on the strength of a potent running attack—something not lost on Typhoon linebacker Keith Nabors. After giving up 248 yards to the first place Shell Lightning, the menacing middle man said that his boys had to focus if they didn’t want to repeat last week’s performance.

“It’s going to be a tough game. Their ground attack is heavy. As you can see today, our ground defense—we got run over I feel,” he said.

Aside from the match-ups on the field in Tinian, Eagles coach Pete Le’au expressed that his concerns touch on how many of his players will even be able to make the trip over there.

“Our main concern is how we’re going to get over there because a lot of boys on the team are young and they don’t have jobs,” he said.

While some might complain that it isn’t fair for the Eagles or any other Saipan team to make the trip if their players can’t pay for the ferry, they should first consider that the Typhoon players face the same issues every week that they have suited up to play at the CPA Airport Field. That is just one of the benefits of having a home field advantage. Another will be having the people of Tinian coming out to cheer for their hometown boys for a college-like Saturday night of football.

While his team enjoys a bye with the Barbarians and still has about a month before making the trip to Tinian, Lightning player/coach John Blanco said that he already knows the challenges that await them across the sea.

“We play in Tinian on Nov. 12, and judging by the way they played [against us last week] it’s going to be a rough one. I’m sure that some of their guys probably didn’t make it on the boat. I can imagine what it’s going to be like down there. I know that all of these guys are gunning for us. As you can see, there are no blowouts. The teams are more evenly matched. It’s anybody’s ballgame.”