SOUTH OGDEN (RHINO) RAIDERS: 8 CHAMPIONSHIPS AND OUT?

A LEGACY TO BE REMEMBERED… AND LEARNED FROM

Feature Story by: Jared Neumeier

OGDEN – On Saturday, August 1^st, 1998, the newly crowned Utah Football League Champion, Ogden Eagles (plus a handful of league recruits) came up to Idaho Falls and blasted my Idaho Falls Mustangs 51-6 in what was the first exhibition game of the season for us (the RMFL played in the fall back then).

Now I suppose you might be asking, “Jared, what the he#@ does some exhibition game in 1998 have to do with the Rhino-Raiders!?!??!?” Isn’t this an article about them????

The answer: that game, in my best research was the birth of what became a team that won eight consecutive league championships… it all started there.

In that game was a linebacker by the name of Alofa Williams.

Ultimately, the “Ogden Eagles” folded that off-season and Williams (using many of the players from that exhibition game) founded what was to become in 1999 the South Ogden Raiders, a team that would enter the Utah Football League and don silver and black… like the Oakland Raiders. Williams would befriend a local realtor, Stew MacInnes, a former Weber State College star lineman. MacInnes would become the teams first head coach (and player) and thus a management structure was set.

Although, lately, the Rhino-Raiders have become known for a great defense under Everest Matagi, the team was originally built and known for a great offensive line. Pictured here stemming a great California Steelers rush in a post-season tournament game after the 2003 season.

With the dismantling of the Ogden Eagles, some of the Eagles joined the second best team of the previous season, the Wasatch Demons.

The Demons would dominate the league that year, running the table and going 11-0 on their way to a championship. Meanwhile, the Raiders struggled early, barely beating winless Elko 14-6 in the second week. About that time, MacInnes realized that help was needed and turned to former college buddies, quarterback, Dave Stireman and fellow lineman, Phil Sotomayor. Although the team improved considerably with Stireman taking over the offense, they still lacked the defense needed to match up with the Demons. Ultimately the Raiders had to win on the final regular season game of the season, a 37-20 payback game over the Riverton Wolfpack to launch the Raiders into the playoffs as the #4 seed over the Wolfpack.

For those who don’t know their Utah team history, the Wolfpack ultimately became the Salt Lake Nemesis…and now more recently, the Salt Lake Seminoles.

The Raiders played tough in the 1998 semi-final game with the Demons, losing 42-32 as Stireman and the offense gave the champion Demons all they could handle. That was the last playoff game the (Rhino) Raiders would ever lose. The Demons went on to beat the Utah Storm 26-11 for the championship.

MacInnes, Stireman and Sotomayer felt they had the basic ingredients to build a championship program and when the Demons ultimately folded in the off-season after 1999, picked up a lot of key players, especially on defense, including familiar names like Levine and Jay Tupe and Fine Unga.

MacInnes took over primary ownership as well as coaching, they added the mascot “Rhino” to their name, changed their colors to Red and white and a championship dynasty was officially built.

In 2001, MacInnes injured his neck and ultimately retired from playing and by 2002 has completely turned the management of the team over to Stireman.

In discussing the team with Stireman, he generally wants to downplay his recruitment efforts over the years, suggesting the much of the team was “already there” before he took over. Further, he is always quick to suggest that “success breeds success”. “Good players want to play on a good team,” he will always be quick to point out, “we had a great team with a great reputation and the better players would approach us.”

History does seem to support Stireman’s contention as the basic ingredients of the Rhino dynasty seems to be: take some of the better players of two folded champions (Eagles, Demons), add star quarterback and great offensive lineman (Sotomayer), shake well… and voila!!

Stireman attributes the success of the team also to a team philosophy, that surprisingly, is not adapted more widely around the RMFL.

“We keep it simple,” Stireman explains. “A lot of our guys don’t have the time to go to practices, so we keep our playbook simple and just stick with what works. We have like 4 or 5 run plays and a handful of passing plays.”

Stireman doesn’t even want to take credit for creating the offensive scheme, “its just the offense we were running at Weber State”, he says.

For those who have never seen the Rhino offense, they generally run every play, even goal line with only one running back, shifting another slot receiver out wide. According to Stireman, “having a fullback as a lead blocker usually just gets in your halfbacks way. Spread the field and let your running back find the holes and hit them fast and hard.”

Stireman, pictured here receiving the RMFL Championship Trophy in 2004 was the force behind the successful team. Stireman won the MVP award for this championship game.

With very few actual practices and an offense that is built around basic runs and read and audible pass routes, the Rhino-Raiders offensive success has been at its best when the offense had receivers that Stireman had confidence in and could depend upon. Even as the other league teams got better and better, Stireman’s best season was probably 2006 when he set the league record in touchdown passes (30) while Damon Greenberry set receiving records in touchdowns and yards. The other receiver, Trevor Bell, Stireman lauds as their “best pick up ever”.

Bell, a collegiate star for Idaho State, “just showed up at a Rhino-Raider tryout one day”. He apparently heard about the team from his wife… who heard about them from her dental receptionist.

So many stories in the naked city, eh?

I asked Stireman of the 8 championships, which one was the “toughest”. Refusing to name the Bears win in 2007 or the nail-biting Lionz victories in the two years previous, Stireman says that the game that had him the most nervous going down to the wire was a “playoff game against the Blitz”, although he couldn’t pin point what season that was.

In researching his reference, however, it turns out that the game he is talking about was the last game of the regular season in 2003. The Blitz held a 22-20 lead over the Rhinos up until the final play of the game, when Rodney Frokjer nailed a 40-yard field goal on the last play to keep the Rhino-Raiders regular season win streak alive.

A couple of more tidbits of historical oh-by-the-ways… Frokjer is the ONLY original Rhino player that has been with the team since day one. Frokjer is the teams original kicker from day one in 1999. The Blitz were the team who lost much of their defensive players after the 2003 season. The team they lost them to? The Utah Wolverines were founded in 2004 with much of that Blitz defensive team that gave the Rhino-Raiders what Stireman describes as their “biggest scare”.

Long time rival team (Lionz) and rival quarterback (Troy Dougherty #10) pictured here in the 2005 championship game. Dougherty sets to throw a screen pass to Nate Rydalch (#33) as Rhino defense converges. Although Stireman doesn't mention this game, it was the closest to losing championship game that I watched. Had it not been for a Nate Rydalch unforced fumble on his way into the end zone, the Lionz would have had the lead late in this game, ultimately won by the Rhinos 24-19.

I also asked Stireman what was the most “meaningful championship” in those 8. Once again eschewing the Bears rivalry game or any other that one might guess, Stireman had a very personal championship win in 2001.

On the morning of July 21, 2001, the morning of the big re-match championship game with the Snake River Rebels from Idaho, Stireman received word that his mother, Linda Stireman, who had been battling lung cancer for more than a year had passed away. He said he had even talked with her the night before and “everything seemed fine”. Although the prognosis was never good, and she had been struggling for some time, the news was a very unexpected and a big blow. Stireman, however, did not want to let his team down and played that evening, tossing touchdown pass after touchdown pass for more than 300 yards as the Rhinos beat the Rebels 51-20. Stireman says he will never forget that day.

I asked the venerable quarterback and the current RMFL’s reigning MVP (Stireman), what he will miss most this season about not having a team… not playing. He says he will not miss playing at all; he’s played plenty of football with nothing left to prove to anyone… not even himself. He will miss the times with the players. It hasn’t just been 9 seasons of winning football, but 9 seasons of developing some great friendships. It’s been more than a run of success, but a social outlet for all of the Rhino-Raider players as they have fought and fought to stay at a high level for a lot of years.

It will be an experience they will all never forget.

And what of the future? Will there be a re-birth of the big red machine in 2009.

According to Stireman, it’s a coin toss. “I’d say there’s a 50% chance of us putting something together for next season. You never know.”

I guess we don’t know. But it is fair to say that we shall never see a team win 8 straight championships ever again….

Of course, I’m sure I’m not the only one to think this, but I REALLY hope we never do. We can welcome the Rhino-Raiders back… if they come back, but going into any season, like this one, with absolutely no idea who will win the championship is… kind of fun!!

Good luck to you all!!!!