The sun brought the heat and the Wildcats brought the fire. Another year of Linfield football has officially begun. The season kicked off with a bang yesterday with loud hits, big plays and a roaring Homecoming crowd. The ‘Cats stacked up against Chapman for their first game, fully intending to prove they deserve to be considered amongst the most elite teams in the Northwest Conference with their number 3 rank.

Linfield certainly demonstrated that they are the same elite program they have been for years after they sent Chapman home with a towering final score of 52-14. The ‘Cats scored in nearly every possible way yesterday and on both sides of the ball.

Despite Linfield’s dominance of the overall game, it was Chapman that struck first with a rapid drive to the end zone scoring a touchdown off of a one yard run by Jeremiah McKibbins, 9, a mere two minutes and thirteen seconds into the game. Chapman’s time with the lead was almost as brief as their drive as Tavon Willis, 7, punched into the end zone with a 10-yard run just over three minutes later.

Sam Riddle, 10, and Spencer Payne, 8, connected on a 29-yard pass to capture the lead for what

remained in the first quarter, and every minute after. In total, Riddle and Payne connected for 128 yards and two touchdowns. There was a notable confidence and chemistry between the two yesterday that they have been developing even over summer.

“Sam is kind of my role model on the team, I definitely look up to him and we worked a lot this summer. Every day we threw so the connection was there,” Payne said.

Even with a game as huge as Payne had yesterday, he remained humble and appreciative of his teammates.

“I would not have had 128 yards without my offensive line blocking.

I have to give all of the credit to the other receivers and the line, they really made it happen,” Payne said.

While Riddle and Payne were tearing apart Chapman with their passing game the moment the dag- ger sank into Chapman, killing any hope for momentum or a comeback, came a minute and a half into the second quarter when Jason Farlow, 25, blocked Chapman’s punt return. The Catdome fell silent and awe- struck after the thud of the ball hit- ting Farlow’s hands rang through the stadium. Farlow quickly jumped on the ball for an uncontested run into the end zone.

Another display of Linfield’s dominance over Chapman came in

the fourth quarter when Kennedy Johnson returned a 77 yard punt for a touchdown. It was a sight to behold as Johnson ran down the left side of the field while his teammates blocked everything that came Johnson’s way.

Linfield was visibly more cohe- sive as a team than Chapman with Riddle and Payne’s chemistry, and the return team’s cooperation on Johnson’s returned punt being two palpable examples.

After his 100th game as head coach for the Wildcats, coach Joseph Smith is confident this will be another stellar season for Linfield football. The streak of consecutive winning seasons is set to reach 60 years this sea- son. Coach Smith had that in the back of his mind.