Sports Watch
Pretty it wasn't, but they got the job done - 20-14 over Boise State. The victory ended a seven-game losing streak dating back to last season.
So you couldn't blame them if they didn't know how to act.
It had been so long since quarterback Glenn Freitas took a knee to run out the clock that he and his teammates were penalized twice trying to do so.
It got so bad the referee was getting on him to get the game over with, Freitas recalled with a laugh.
At least there were laughs for the Rainbows, for a change.
"It was a zany episode at the end," added coach Fred vonAppen. "We do practice that, by the way."
He laughed, too. After all, it was his first victory as a head coach and it was a long time coming. "Even though it was labored as hell, it goes in the right column," vonAppen said.
Freitas gave vonAppen the game ball when the Rainbows finally ran out the clock.
No offense Glenn, but the game ball's not a keeper with Fred.
VonAppen was touched by the gesture. "But I'm too old for game balls," said the Rainbows' first-year coach, who got a few more gray hairs Saturday. "The players deserve the game balls. I wish we had enough, but our budget wouldn't allow it."
BUT if there were enough game balls to give away, the first would have to go to Freitas.
"Who would have thought Glenn Freitas was a passing quarterback?" said Guy Benjamin, the Rainbows' offense coordinator who finally got to see what the West Coast offense looks like when it works. The 'Bows gained 391 yards, including 227 on the ground.
"He was beautiful, the way he ran the offense," Benjamin said. Freitas completed 18 of 29 passes for a career-high 164 yards and two touchdowns. He had five passes dropped.
"You gotta like 12. I like 12 and our team likes 12. He makes plays. He finds a way to get it done," vonAppen said about Freitas, who wears jersey No. 12.
Another game ball would have to go to running back Carlos Shaw, who ran for 103 yards in making his long-awaited backfield debut. Not bad for a converted defensive back.
ALSO, give Eddie Klaneski a game ball - with instructions not to drop it. The junior defensive back, who was a slotback last year, gives the 'Bows a punt returner they have badly needed for a couple of years.
"Eddie was exciting. Too damned exciting on the last one," vonAppen said, referring to Klaneski's fumbled punt return that left the game in doubt until the end.
"It shouldn't have come down to that," vonAppen said. "We had ample scoring opportunities and didn't score. We kept permitting them to stay in the game."
The first half was an object lesson. The 'Bows had 14 first downs to only three for the Broncos and yet only led, 10-7. They squandered numerous scoring chances and those dropped passes, including two by Johnny Macon, didn't help.
That was another object lesson, vonAppen felt.
Macon came back to make two great catches, the first to set up a touchdown and the second for his first TD reception.
Heck, give Macon a game ball, too. "Johnny's our Kordell Stewart of sorts and really can make some things happen on the perimeter," vonAppen said.
Game balls should also go to linebackers Stephen Gonzales, who made nine tackles, including the hit of the night, and Chris Shinnick, who had seven tackles and blocked a punt.
"We're not going to stop with one," said Shaw, talking about victories, not game balls.
"Now we just gotta get a win in the WAC," Freitas added.