ThunderWolves superfan heads to championship game

Andrea Aragon’s love for football began with the CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves.

“It’s opened up this whole new world for me. I’m actually a football-lovin’ woman now,” Aragon said with a laugh. Before she watched the Thunderwolves play, she had a hard time getting excited about football. But now, she said, she doesn’t miss a game.

The season-ticket holder jokes with her husband over who is the bigger football fan. They’re traveling with their two sons to Kansas City, Kansas on Friday to watch the ThunderWolves take on Minnesota State-Mankato for Saturday’s NCAA Division II national championship game.

“All year long we’ve been saying if they win, we’re gonna go. If they win, we’re gonna go. And we kept winning and winning, we thought — we’re going. We’re going,” she said. “We’re there to see the Pack take the championship.”

When Aragon graduated from CSU-Pueblo in 1993, the university didn’t have a football team because of budget cuts. But, in 2008, the university reinstated its team. Fans are impressed that it took the team only seven seasons to reach the national spotlight.

“I don’t think the community realizes how big this is. I mean this just comes along once in a while, even for the best of teams. And so to have this happen seven years, seven short years after we brought [back] football is pretty special,” she said.

KRDO NewsChannel 13’s sports team is in Kansas City for the game and will have highlights on Saturday night’s 10 p.m. newscast.