Typhoon coach pleased despite loss

Even after suffering a 40-14 defeat at the hands of the Express Electronics Eagles, the Tinian Typhoon have plenty of reasons to celebrate their first full season as an off-island power in the Commonwealth Football League.

After lugging their gear over the Marianas Trench to join teammates on a variety of teams in the league’s five-year history, the Tinian players finally had a team of their own and a chance to play at home. Be that as it may, those facts did little to console the road warriors as they boarded the ferry at Charlie Dock and began the wavy ride home.

When the final whistle sounded, the Eagles had earned the right to play the Shell Lightning for the third time in 2005, but the win didn’t come as easy as the score would indicate.

Both the Eagles running and passing attacks were held below their averages, and they were far less effective in the second half as the Typhoon tightened up on defense to allow their offense a shot. Unfortunately, the same explosive squad that riddled the Lightning failed in its efforts to regain the flash they experienced under the lights in Tinian, and they were eliminated from the postseason.

According to their head coach Andre Winston, the Typhoon didn’t lose because of a lack of effort between the hash marks, but the challenges faced by the young squad were compounded when many of them were forced to take on new roles in a moments notice.

“We lost some key players to on field injuries and that hurt the chemistry of our game plan. We had to place players in positions that they were not accustomed to. The Eagles took advantage of that and executed an effective mixture of runs and passes to score on our defense,” said Winston.

When looking back on the year, the coach said that his squad did what it could with the players that they had available, and that his team showed incredible heart throughout the season despite having a lack of experience.

“I can say the Typhoon accomplished a lot. 75 percent of the players are under the age of 25 and had never played tackle football before this year. From the early start of 2005, these guys were fund raising and conditioning in order to be competitive in the CFL. They have answered the call and have definitely made a name for themselves as well as to set the tone for the amount of football talent that hails from Tinian. We made a statement this year—that this team can play some football and be competitive in the process,” he said.

The good news for the Typhoon was that they didn’t have to do all of the fundraising alone as their organization found a friend in their new sponsor—Saipan Waste Management. Each time they took the field in their brand new white uniforms with green numbers and yellow highlights, the Typhoon had a newfound air of confidence that was bolstered when they won their season opener against the Barbarians.

“We are grateful to Saipan Waste Management for assisting us financially by sponsoring team jerseys for us. Not only did we play hard, but also we looked sharp in the process,” he said.

Winston also expressed his appreciation to the league organizers who recognized the difficulties involved with shifting their football operations to Tinian for a pair of night games and went through with the games in spite of them. The coach said that he hopes that he believes this season to be just the beginning of the CFL’s presence overseas, and that the Typhoon will try to reel in their counterparts from Saipan for even more meaningful games in the future.

“I received wonderful comments from fans, officials, and even opposing players. This may very well be the beginning of the CFL expanding in true form to its namesake. Who knows, maybe next year Tinian will host a playoff game or even the championship game.”