The crowd noise buzzed in my ears. The nervous feeling in my stomach was quickly replaced by adrenaline. The ball was snapped, and from my post on the goal line, I saw the ball handed off. I burst through the line, and before I could think, I saw the ball carrier barreling straight at me. I stood him up, and quickly my teammates were there gang-piling to make the tackle. The crowd cheered. Our players pumped their fists. Third-and-goal for the Hawkeyes was coming up.

Any Cyclone fan who made the trip to the game in Iowa City this weekend left disappointed from our loss to the Hawkeyes. But, for me and other members of the Iowa State University Cyclone Football “Varsity” Marching Band sousaphone section, disappointment was only half the story.

Friday night, a separate football game was played, and for the second year in a row, the Cyclones beat the Hawkeyes in the Sousa Bowl.

An emerging tradition is blooming between the ISU and U of I sousaphone players. On the Friday night before the ISU-U of I football game, sousaphone players for both schools defy the stereotype of being unathletic and out of shape and play a football game of epic proportions.

Several factors make this game bigger than a pick-up backyard football game. For one thing, it is full-contact tackle football. All rules of a regular college football game are followed, minus the pads and helmet. Practices are held to set up positions and learn plays.

Friday night marked the eleventh game in the series, by the unofficial records kept by the sousaphone sections of both schools. The first nine years, the series record was heavily in favor of Iowa to the tune of an 0-9 ISU record. Last year marked the first win for the Cyclones, with a 14-7 win, a big deal to everyone in our section, and we wanted to keep it going.

We arrived in Iowa City ready to go. The game started at the University of Iowa’s Finkbine Recreational Fields, with 100 or so fans from both bands on the sidelines cheering on their school. Both sections went out looking to lay members of the opposing team flat on their backs.

The scoring in the first half involved a broken play turned into a long touchdown pass for Iowa State, a long run play down the sideline for Iowa and a quarterback draw up the middle for an ISU touchdown. We went into halftime nursing a 14-7 lead.

The seven points we lost on a reviewed play before half looked crucial as Iowa drove down the field inside the 10-yard line. After holding them for four plays and a turnover on downs, we promptly fumbled the football and were forced to hold them again. Somehow, we held them four more times, and momentum swung back to our side. That is, until we fumbled the next play. The defense came back onto the field tired but determined, and promptly made four more stops from the 2-yard line, to complete an amazing series of goal-line heroics. Finally, we drove downfield and put the game away with another touchdown. Final score: Iowa State 21, Iowa, 7.

It’s amazing that during the game, we hated each other’s guts, but when all was said and done, it was just a game. But hey, at least the Cyclones won one football game this weekend.

Kyle Oppenhuizen is a sophomore in pre-journalism and mass communication from Pella.