The lights hummed to life on a Thursday night, not Friday, and it was a bit cold, but for at least one night Humboldt could have been mistaken for one of those football-crazed towns in Texas or Georgia or South Carolina, places where high school football is a second religion.
The HCI Mohawks played their first-ever night game on Oct. 3, a 28-9 loss to the visiting Melfort Comets, though the final score seemed to matter less than the reality of the event itself.
In the darkness of a cold October night, Glenn Hall Park was an oasis of light and sound. The buzz of the crowd of at least 400 spilled out into the streets and mingled with the chants of the teams and the piercing sound of the referee's whistle.
Fans wrapped themselves in blankets and cradled small cups of hot chocolate. Out on the field the players' breath hung in the air as the temperature dropped below freezing. It was a night for football, even if, outside of an early 9-0 lead, the home side gave its fans little to cheer about.
"The big thing about tonight's game is memories," Humboldt head coach Shaun Gardiner said after the game. In his arms was the game ball, signed by both coaches and the referees and destined to be a physical symbol of those memories. "As much as you'd like to win, this is a learning environment. This was a classroom tonight. The players are learning about adversity, teamwork, how to handle pressure. Playing in front of a big crowd like they did tonight, all of it will go a long way for them as young people."
Gardiner hopes the night game can become an annual ritual, though that depends on factors like scheduling and cost. This year's game was a perfect storm of sponsorship, timing and opponent.
"We knew the rivalry with Melfort is strong so we'd get a really good crowd," Gardiner said. "I think the fans got to see how competitive, hard-hitting and tough high school football can be."
There were a lot of good vibes after the game, but not a lot of good happened between the lines for the Mohawks. After taking that 9-0 lead, HCI gave up a touchdown at the end of the first half, a score that Gardiner thought was a killer.
"Maybe if we'd been able to keep them out of the end zone and gone into halftime with a 9-0 lead it might have turned out a little differently for us," he said.
If the Mohawks had any momentum coming out of halftime it was gone very, very quickly. The second half was an offensive disaster for HCI, defined by the struggle to convert a first down, let alone score. There were innumerable penalties ("We might have had 150 yards in penalties," Gardiner said), dropped passes, sacks, fumbles and everything in between.
Melfort, led by do-everything star Tyler Jones, took advantage of HCI's mistakes and held a slim 14-9 lead with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. After driving to the Mohawks' seven-yard line Melfort took consecutive penalties and looked as if they might have to settle for a tough field goal try. Instead, the quarterback found Jones for the touchdown, giving Melfort a 21-9 lead and all but putting the game away. In a sign of the times, Humboldt fumbled the ensuing kickoff, rubbing salt into what was already a festering wound.
Throughout the game HCI struggled with poor field position, often starting drives in the shadow of their own goalposts.
"We got the ball deep in our own end which really narrowed our play selection," Gardiner said. "You can't do the things you want to do when you're on your own 10-yard line."
Gardiner felt the team played well for most of the game, but brief lulls in focus and execution were devastating.
"We take penalties, we fumble, we miss tackles and just aren't able to finish and that's killing us. We're unable to keep momentum."
The result on the field wasn't what most people crammed into the stands were hoping for, but the fact that they were there at all, watching football under the lights, was probably more than enough to make it a memorable night.
