Eastern football travels to Moses Lake for practice
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Due to poor air quality in the Spokane area, Eastern Washington University football practiced at Lions Field on Wednesday.
MOSES LAKE — Charter buses filled with Eastern Washington football players, coaches and support staff rumbled through Moses Lake and came to rest near Lions Field.
An unfamiliar sight, one that had well-aware football fans in the bleachers watching the 2016 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) semifinalists get some work in.
It all came together in less than 24 hours.
Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best and director of football operations Marc Anderson reached out to Moses Lake head coach Todd Griffith and athletic director Loren Sandhop on Tuesday about the possibility of using the turf field.
With the cancellation of girls soccer due to the air quality around 11 a.m., the field had no occupants and the Eagles were good to go by 1 p.m.
“It was a better, more conditioned environment for the players,” Best said. “So that’s how it kind of unfolded.”
The Air Quality Index (AQI) in the Spokane area was 240, which is considered very unhealthy. Moses Lake’s AQI, although still considered unhealthy, was a workable 170. The air quality needs to be below 150 for high school activities to occur.
The improved conditions meant an outdoor practice for a team that had been shuttered earlier in the week.
“Anxious, they’re normally that way on Wednesday anyway,” Best said. “It’s always an outdoor practice and so at the end of the day it was work that was needed and we got the work done that we felt was needed not having to be indoors two days in a row.”
The Eagles lost their season opener at Texas Tech 56-10. Saturday, the Eagles host North Dakota State at 1:05 p.m.
The Bison reached the semifinals of the FCS playoffs last season.