The coaching staff of the NIU football team will be faced with a once-a-year task after Saturday night’s game at Southwest Louisiana: Saying good-bye to the seniors who will no longer wear the Huskies cardinal and black.

“It will be a real mixture of emotions, reflecting back at when these seniors were recruited, how they developed and the sacrifices and the contributions they’ve all made,” head coach Jerry Pettibone said. “I sincerely believe that this senior class has been the foundation of the winning tradition that we’ve established here. In the last three years, they’re 22-10 overall and 16-1 at home.”

The most well known of the departing seniors is quarterback Stacey Robinson.

“I think of it in terms of it being the end of a terrific career for Stacey,” quarterback coach Jay Schaake said. “I think back of all the things he’s done here for the program. It’s going to be hard to go out there and know that it’s going to be Stacey’s last game ever.”

Four of the five members of the offensive line, Eric Fiene, Scott Elliot, Eric Wenckowski and Chad Bullock, have played together for the last three years. First-year offensive line coach Todd Spencer saw that right away.

“They had that look in their eyes,” he said. “They were doing a great job on offense long before I showed up. They’ve got a lot of chemistry between them and that’s always hard to replace. They’re the best group I’ve ever been around as a coach.”

Also on the offensive side of the ball, receivers Mark Clancy and Kurt Cassidy have been four-year players.

“It’s going to be very special to me because I recruited both of them,” receivers coach Bob Jackson said. “They’ve been playing since they’ve been here and have meant a lot to this program. It’s going to be sad to see them play their last game.”

Offensive coordinator Mike Summers knows that the team must put the emotions aside until after the game is over.

“When they run out there on Saturday for the last time, it’s going to be hard,” he said. “There’s a lot of emotion flowing in this last game. We want to be 7-4, we want to lead the nation in rushing and at the same time we have to say good-bye to these guys.”

The secondary, who lost Brett Tucker to the Houston Oilers after last season, will lose two more this season in free safety Kevin Cassidy and cornerback Earl Upton.

“We’ve gone through a lot with this group and won a lot of ballgames,” secondary coach Gary Evans said. “Earl and Kevin both have been in a lot of tough games and made a lot of big plays and contributions. They’ve both been good leaders and helped develop the younger players. They were the ones who set the tone on how to practice and how to handle themselves.”

Summers’ offensive squad has been one of the most successful in NIU history.

“These guys have done and accomplished so much since they’ve been here, it’s scary to think about them not being here,” he said. “This group is special to me because they never questioned what we told them to do. They scrimmaged and practiced full-speed and they’ve gone out and played that way.”

It is the last game of the season, but Schaake and the rest of the squad understands that there still is one more opponent to face.

“I’m looking forward to a great team effort and a hell of a ballgame on Saturday,” he said. “It’s important, not just for Stacey, but for all the seniors to go out with a win.”