Luther Bowl

Check out this picture from Luther Bowl 2011! OK, not really, this is actually just a white square. But it does look a lot like Luther Bowl 2011. Because the theme for this weekend was snow. A LOT of it.

This weekend, twenty-five seminarians and one alumnus from Connecticut traveled to Gettysburg, PA to take part in the Luther Bowl. Formerly an annual football game between Gettysburg Seminary and LTSP, Luther Bowl has expanded to an eight-team ecumenical football tournament where teams from all over the eastern half of the country compete for football glory.

LSTC had an excellent team this year. We had been practicing for months together and we had a strong offense and an aggressive defense. We were ready for whatever the other teams might be ready to throw at us. Everything, that is, except snow. That’s right; Gettysburg was hit by a rare October snowstorm. The snow started falling around 7 am, and nearly four inches had fallen by the end of our second game. The tournament was canceled around 10:30 am and the refs went home. But being hearty Midwesterners, the mighty LSTC Orange Crush remained on the field to play whoever remained. Two dedicated referees, the Gettysburg New Testament professor and an alumnus from LTSP, remained to ref the game. Overall, LSTC went 1-1, defeating Union Presbyterian 12-0, and then losing a hard fought game to Trinity Episcopal 16-12.

Despite the snow, cold, and being in cars for longer than we were actually in Gettysburg, the true spirit of Luther Bowl shone through. Old friendships deepened, new ones developed, and spirit of camaraderie filled the field. Players helped one another up, as we fell again and again in the slippery snow. While no official Luther Bowl champion was crowned, because no one played enough games to clearly declare a winner, this was definitely a Luther Bowl for the record books. All who were hearty enough to remain and play are winners in my book.

For more on this historic battle, click here to download a full report from the LSTC Newspaper, The Door.