Noxon fans enjoy new scoreboard

 

October 10, 2019

Avista Photo

AVISTA helped Noxon Schools purchase and install a new scoreboard at the football field in time for the 2019 season.

For thousands of communities across the U.S., high school football is a big deal.

The whole town comes down to watch, to support their team, to cheer on the players they've watched grow up. Noxon is no exception.

However, things look slightly different in Noxon, because the town's 200 residents don't sit down to watch 11 of their players take their places on the field, or even the standard high school eight. As Noxon takes their seats, and the starters are announced, only six young men come onto the field.

Noxon has played six-man football for about four years now. They've learned to make it work, despite the limited competition and long bus rides to away games. The Noxon community is different than a lot of others, and is adept at adapting.

Of course, this year, Noxon learned that adapting isn't always the best option. When the football scoreboard, which had been at Noxon for 22 years, stopped reliably working last fall, officials were having to carry stopwatches, and Athletic Director Matt Havens was always on the verge of pulling his hair out.

"I would start at noon sometimes on a football night," Havens said, "just trying to see if I could get it to work. And once I got it to turn on, I just wouldn't turn it off, because I never knew if it was going to turn back on again."

Havens approached Alan Lackner, Noxon plant manager and Noxon school parent. Avista has helped Noxon with many projects, and, as Lackner is an Avista employee, he thought he could get their help again. He was right.

Lackner contacted Kristine Meyer, head of the Avista Foundation, about the project. "She and I were able to work together, and Avista was able to come up with $7,000 for the project to match dollars raised by the community," Lackner said.

According to Havens, this was about half of what was needed to complete the scoreboard, and Noxon School couldn't be more grateful for the donation. "We wouldn't have been able to get it [the scoreboard] without Avista," Havens said. "The scoreboard we'd have gotten would have been real plain, real generic. This one is nice, the white and red paint ... It's got LEDs and everything."

Several Noxon crew members eagerly volunteered to help install the board, Havens said, saving the school money and stress. He said the volunteers, Ben Couper, Larry Beeler, Karl Neuman, Doug Hutfles and Lyle Wiltse, did a great job removing the old board and installing the new one.

"They saved the school by installing the board," Havens said. Lackner confirmed that this is not the first time that Avista has worked with Noxon Public Schools to help provide funding for projects, and also said he was sure it wouldn't be the last. "[Avista likes] doing projects like this," Lackner said, "Especially in a small town like this, it makes a difference."

 

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