Another 'first' for Cedar Valley

CEDAR RAPIDS -- It's a middle school now, and it's a different game.But varsity football returns to LaSalle Middle School on Friday night, after a 15-year absence."Everything is ready to go," Cedar Valley Christian Coach Ed Betsworth said as the Huskies (0-1) prepare for their home varsity debut against Valley Community (0-1). Kickoff is 7 p.m.The lights and the scoreboard have been tested. Principal Jeff Pospisil has a crew of 24 people in place to work the eight-man contest.Cedar Valley broke into the football ranks last year, playing a four-game varsity schedule -- all on the road. An independent last year, the Huskies are a member of Eight Man District 4.Friday's game is the first of five "home" games, and is also the Huskies' first district game.A 6-mile, 15-minute drive from the Cedar Valley Christian, LaSalle was a high school until merging with Regis in the fall of 1998 to form Xavier High. LaSalle and Regis now are middle schools.Betsworth is the athletics director at LaSalle and the coach at CVCS, helping make the facility available.The field will be 80 yards long, 53-1/3 yards wide, which means it's the length of a standard eight-man field, the width of an 11-man field. A typical eight-man field is 40 yards wide.Betsworth said that the north end zone will be left alone, and that "we'll slap a pylon on the (south) 20-yard line (for the goal line) and another on the 10 (for the back of an end zone)."He added that all kicking plays will be made at the north end zone.Cedar Valley played a JV game at home last year. That was a Saturday-afternoon game at the practice field, St. Joseph Elementary School in Marion.But this is a Friday night game. A varsity game."The kids are excited to put on their blue uniforms," Betsworth said. "They're looking forward to it."The Huskies dropped their season opener last week, 76-0 at HLV. They had 12 players available for that game. Friday, they'll have 16."We're happy with the direction we're heading," Pospisil said. "We've got our junior-high and fifth- and sixth-grade teams started."We know it's going to take a few years until we're established. But the pieces are in place to get going."