Playoff game required extra work to get Redhawks' equipment to Washington

CHENEY, Wash. -- The first playoff game in Southeast Missouri State University's 104-year football history presented a different set of circumstances for the program beyond what took place on Eastern Washington's Roos Field on Saturday.

Not only did Southeast players, coaches and support staff have to get to the contest nearly 2,000 miles from Cape Girardeau -- they flew on a charter airplane -- all the equipment had to make the long trip as well.

Those items accompanied Southeast's official travel party of about 120 on the charter flight.

"It's certainly quite a chore getting all that equipment out there and back," Southeast director of athletics John Shafer said.

Saturday's contest at Eastern Washington, which the Redhawks lost 37-17 to end one of the best seasons in program history, is different from other Southeast football games because for virtually all of those games the bus was the mode of travel.

Southeast Missouri State University football equipment manager Robbie Rasco addresses a chinstrap problem on Blake Peiffer's helmet Saturday during Southeast's game against Eastern Washington in Cheney, Wash. (KIT DOYLE)

Southeast equipment manager Robby Rasco is the person in charge of making sure all the necessary gear for road trips -- uniforms, team equipment and trainers' equipment -- gets to a game site.

Rasco, who has been on the job for more than a decade, rents a truck to haul all the equipment for road trips. Once a contest is over, everything is loaded back onto the truck for the return trek to Cape Girardeau.

Rasco did much the same thing for the latest journey. Rasco loaded all the necessary gear on a rented truck just like any other road game. But instead of driving all the way to the contest, he drove to Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, where everything was placed on the charter plane -- by airport personnel with Rasco's assistance -- for Thursday night's flight to Spokane, Wash.

"It was definitely a little different process this time," Rasco said.

Shafer said that once all the equipment got to the airport in St. Louis, it took awhile for everything to be loaded on the plane.

"The people in St. Louis had to make sure it was all balanced out underneath with the weight before the plane could take off," Shafer said. "There is a lot of equipment involved with a football trip."

Several hours after Saturday's contest here -- about a 20-minute drive from Spokane, where Southeast's travel party stayed -- the process had to be repeated for the return flight to St. Louis, where Rasco had a truck waiting to haul everything back to Cape Girardeau.

Rasco said that in some ways this was an easier trip for him than many of Southeast's regular-season games that require several hours of land travel.

"I usually have to drive the truck all the way to the game," Rasco said. "It definitely cut out some driving. After getting everything loaded on the plane, I got to relax for a change."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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