On Tuesday, October 4, the Crookston Pirate Boys Soccer team hosted the East Grand Forks Green Wave at the Crookston High School soccer field for the final game of their regular season that ended in a 1-0 victory for the Pirates. But if you can believe it, that game almost never happened on Tuesday.
East Grand Forks School District had an issue that many schools across the country have faced, finding transportation to the game. All of the buses EGF had were being used so the team didn’t have a ride. While Crookston easily could’ve accepted a forfeit win for the game, CHS Activities Director Nate Lubarski took some quick action to ensure the game was played. “They were struggling to find bussing, which certainly happens a lot this time of year, with driving beat trucks, and everybody’s short of busses as well,” Lubarski explained. “But it was the final game of our regular season, and we wanted to make sure we got the game in, so we talked to Scott Koberinski, the East Grand Forks Activities Director. He was struggling with bussing issues in being able to get them here. So, we talked to Crookston School District Transportation Manager Rick Niemela, which works magic for us on a daily basis, and we were able to send a bus over there to get them here and continue to play that varsity match.” While the schools were unable to fit the Junior Varsity game into the schedule, the varsity game was able to begin on time and ended with the Pirates getting a close victory.
Despite being rival schools, Crookston High School is more than willing to lend a helping hand to East Grand Forks. “It’s certainly a rivalry game, that’ll take care of itself, and we wanted to make sure we played it before playoffs were happening,” Lubarski explained. “So, no matter if it was East Grand Forks or another team, we’re going to do what we can to get that game in and offer whatever help we can.”
East Grand Forks was able to get another bus ride to take them home from the EGF School District transportation department, but they were thankful to the Crookston High School for their help in making the game happen, and Lubarski is confident that the actions would be recuperated from East Grand Forks if the situation was reversed or if they ever need some other form of help from them. “They were great to work with and certainly thankful that we were able to do that for them,” Lubarski said. “And if the time arises and we may need some help from them, we certainly know they would probably reciprocate that too.”
The Crookston Pirates Boys Soccer team will start their first match in the Section 8A playoffs on Tuesday, October 11.
Lack of busses or bus drivers has been a problem across the state. Earlier this week, the Moorhead High School said they might not be able to play games this week because of a lack of bus drivers.
