Former Chickasaws make a big impact at Wartburg

For Sawyer Anderson, the epiphany came when he stepped onto the field at the Walston-Hoover Stadium for pregame warmups.  “It really me hit me then,” the former New Hampton High School star said, “that this was it. This was the last time I was ever going to play football.”  For Nolan Boyd, it came a few hours later when he glanced up at the scoreboard during the Knights’ season-ending 42-14 victory over Buena Vista.  “I saw there was like two minutes left,” said Boyd, who like Anderson, graduated from New Hampton in 2013, “and I wanted it to last forever.”  It was that kind of day — one in which keeping emotions in check was just as tough as blocking and tackling — for the former Chickasaws and now former Knights.  For more than 10 years, they have been blessed to play tackle football, and just like that, the ride came to an end.  “You’re right, you don’t really get together with your buddies and play a tackle football game,” Anderson said, “and so this was it, and I’ll be honest, I had to fight the emotions. It’s just a game, but it’s a game I’ve loved for a long time so saying goodbye to it is tough, really tough.”  The rest of the story may be found in the Nov. 18 Tribune.