You could almost hear the sigh of relief rise up across campus when the score of the Eastern football team’s game against Tennessee State was finalized on Nov. 9.

The Panthers had finally got their first win of the season, 49-38 over the Tigers to move to 1-9 on the season. And we all needed it.

As an independent newspaper, we are typically not supposed to cheer for the success of athletic teams for better or for worse, but we at The Daily Eastern News are happy to see the football team get its first win of the season and applaud it for finally doing it.

Everyone needed this win. The fans, the students, the coaches and especially the players.

Losing is never easy. It takes a toll on the fans and the coaches but especially on the players. The Panthers have played games in 90-degree heat, gusting wind and pouring rain.

We have observed this toll being taken throughout the season.

You could see the frustration building among the players who so badly wanted to win a game, and we are happy for them that they finally got the win they have been working for all season. 

We are happy that the seniors on Eastern’s football team will get to have at least one win in their final season and happy that at least for one week, the stresses that come with losing were removed from their shoulders.

Losing is not easy for anyone involved, so our happiness in the win extends to the entire Eastern community who now have a win to celebrate on a Monday rather than a loss.

The Panthers will now also avoid their first winless season in decades, keeping this team out of Eastern’s record books for all the wrong reasons.

We at The Daily Eastern News have also covered this team every step of the way this season and have seen what the losing has done to everyone in the community and have seen the effort the players had been putting forth to end the losing streak and now that it is all finally over, we want to extend our joy for everyone that a win finally happened.

There are two games left in the season, and even if the Panthers do not pick up another win, at least they got the first one out of the way.