There came the Silver Eagles as dusk was falling on a crisp autumn night, 27 players confidently marching single-file toward the field at Kickapoo High School, showing their spirit was still very much intact one week after their lives, as well as the lives of those in their communities, were shattered by a pair of tragedies.

"For me, it felt awesome (to play a football game)," senior running back-linebacker Jesse Zobal said after Weston's 34-0 victory over Kickapoo-La Farge in a Ridge & Valley Conference game. "I'd like to go out there and do it again."

Anything to put the morning of Sept. 29 out of his and his teammates' minds was welcome.

That was the day junior Erik Fichtel, an end on the football team, died in a car crash on his way to school in Cazenovia, just before 8 a.m.

About 15 minutes later, Weston Principal John Klang was shot inside the school, allegedly by a 15-year- old student. He died later in the day

The school was closed that day, and the team's homecoming football game against North Crawford was canceled.

Here, just a day after students resumed their regular class schedule, the Silver Eagles returned to the field for a game that served as both as a somewhat return to normalcy and a start on the road to recovery.

"We weren't going to miss it," Fichtel's father, Tim, said before the game. "This is therapy for us, somewhat, but the message we also want to send by being here is, 'Things are going to be all right. We're going to get through this and we're going to be better for it.' "

Though the WIAA would not allow the Silver Eagles to wear jersey patches to honor Fichtel and Klang, players wore decals on their helmets - a No. 80 for Fichtel and JAK for Klang - in remembrance.

Both likely would have taken great pride in Weston's play.

The Silver Eagles (4-2 overall, 4-0 Ridge & Valley) dominated in their fourth straight win, one that clinched the school's first WIAA playoff berth since 1998. It also kept Weston in position to compete for its first conference title since 1995.

"They got into what they were comfortable with and what they could control and away we go and they're having fun and they're running around," Weston coach Marty Richards said.

Richards, who told the team during the week that a victory would honor the memory of both Klang and Fichtel, said he was both happy and proud.

"These guys have been through stuff that nobody should have to deal with, especially at this age," Richards said. "When you step back and look at what they're doing, that's pretty amazing."