Saturday, August 18, 2018
Finally, it was . . .
GAME DAY!
But first a few more photos of our week of preparation thanks to Sue Valdivia.
Toby
Tattoos are big on this club
Random warm up
Artsy
Some good looking tats!
For lack of a C
Brotherhood
To the Victors go the spoils!
American football can be a religion
Nicolas Principi's arm
DL stance
This guy has a lot of decals!
I'm spinning
I'm planning
I'm consoling
Waiting for the Player's
Bus to the stadium
The Coach's Bus was packed
With our excellent Defensive Staff
Mike Wood, Dale Widolff and Mike Contreras
With OC Dan Levy
Madonna
All-Star game helmet decal trading
It's an art form
Darnell may be hurt but he
still draws a crowd
Finally, it was time to take the field for our Intercontinental Bowl game against the University Autonoma of Chihuahua (UACH) Águilas.
We had a great week working to quickly mold 43 players from 13 different countries into a team.
Our roster had players from the Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the USA. Thus, besides the usual problems encountered putting together an all-star team, we also had to deal with multi-cultural and multi-language issues in our preparation.
As for the following game day pictures, GRACIAS to the many photographers for sharing the fruits of their labors so freely with all of us!
Warming up our PAT/FG specialists
Dynamic Warm Up
The locker room before taking the field
Each Warrior had a little buddy
to walk him out to the
pre-game ceremonies
Home Country Pride
I got two buddies
California was represented
Did I mention that it was a BEAUTIFUL day for American football?
Well, it was!
Mike and his buddy
With one of my two,
a WR for his team
Sporting a small NPHS Panther decal
Mike had a few decals on his clipboard that he gave away to players and little buddies before the game.
Spanish WR Mario Flores and a
cute little American football playing girl
The Águilas, sporting new uniforms,
made a grand entrance through the
home stands
UACH getting fired up
Here come the Águilas!
Amor por la Patria
The only hitch in the evening was a big one. Both teams were asked to be on the field for the pre-game ceremonies at 5:45 p.m., 15 minutes before the kickoff.
The Águilas were a few minutes late due to their old Notre Dame style stunt of warming up in one uniform before going back into their locker room to find these bright new uniforms waiting for them to don and fire them up before coming back out.
That time delay was minor compared to UACH having only one gate open for the reported 10,000+ fans wanting to get into the stadium.
The powers that be decided to hold up the kickoff until most of the paying customers had entered the stands.
Thus the kickoff was about 45 minutes late!
The Mexican National Anthem
was a good one
To my knowledge, nobody protested.
Former UACH American football players
like the ones seen here were honored
before the game
Team Captains
For the Warriors, we had #16 QB Doug Webster, #70 C Jack Pedersen, #4 Alex Posito and #5 Mike Garza.
Stefano Di Tunisi starts the game
The Pit
The Pride of Simi Valley,
California's Royal H.S.
DB Justin Broome
RB Ja Vonte Hence had a
SPECTACULAR night
The stands were packed
In the First Quarter, the Warriors took the early 7-0 lead on a three yard TD slant pass from Doug Webster to Mario Flores. Stefano Di Tunisi's PAT attempt was good.
Running to the ball
In the First Half we had trouble with the UACH QB keeping the ball and gaining big chunks of real estate.
DC Mike Wood and his staff made some solid half time adjustments to end this problem.
HOT PURSUIT!
Still 7-0 Warriors early in the game
The Águilas missed an early scoring
opportunity when their FG attempt
from 31 yards sailed wide left
The First Quarter ended with the Warriors ahead 7-0.
A good, old fashioned straight arm
by Stefano Di Tunisi
Nice block by Alfonso Ruitiña to
spring Ja Vonte Hence
Hence trucks an Águila
There goes the UACH QB again
We got good pressure and our share of
QB sacks in the game, DE Duarte Faria
applying the hit on this play
COMPETE!
DB Cody Smith on the coverage
DL BEAST mode
Playing with PASSION!
Is there any other way?
GREAT catch by Stefano Di Tunisi
Loving Spanish DL Brandon Avila's
helmet battle scars
Next to us is French DL Julien Dumont who had an excellent game.
WR Mario Flores battling
The Águilas would kick a Second Quarter FG to cut our lead down to 7-3.
Later in the same stanza, they would add a TD to their tally on a 15 yard Post route scoring pass. The PAT was good and the locals now led 10-7.
The Warriors responded quickly
to the pressure of trailing
Ja Vonte Hence, being hoisted in the photo, caught a 10 yard Swing route from Doug Webster to put the Warriors back on top as the First Half came to a close. The PAT was blocked but the Warriors led 13-10.
Bombs Away!
Hence was a Whirling Dervish
all night long!
Nicolas Principi about to make
a fine open field tackle
OC Dan Levy enjoyed the First Half
At the intermission, it was still Warriors 13 - Águilas 10.
HALFTIME ACTIVITIES
A little Pop Warner action is
always a crowd pleaser
So is a good Dance Team
And a band, you MUST have
a band at halftime!
But of course the Adelitas cheerleaders
had to be a part of the action as well
Fly Adelita FLY!
Let's play another 30 minutes
of American football!
OG #67 Jan Raus sizing up the defense
DB Cody Smith at it
again in the secondary
QB Erik Perez eye balling his read key
Goo pass blocking all night long
Daniel Castañon and Dan Levy
signaling in the offense
What, Me Worry?
Alfonso Ruitiña about to block
a quick edge rusher
Keep your feet alive OL!
QB Doug Webster had a good night
leading our attack
POR FAVOR,
stop calling us for so many penalties,
GRACIAS!
I sense a lot of hostility here
QB Doug Webster in the open field
The start of another play
On the opening drive of the Third Quarter, the Europeans marched down the field and then hit a big play when RB Ja Vonte Hence cut and slashed 45 yards for his second TD of the night. The PAT was no good but the Warriors now led 19-10.
All of Ja Vonte's explosive plays would rightfully earn him the contest's MVP award.
The ball draws a crowd
Gang Tackle
Kicking Game Action
Get Off!
Ja Vonte is loose again!
QB Doug Webster closing the deal
Now, I wonder where did Czech LB
Jan Kabát got that Newbury Park HS
Panther decal on his back plate?
IT'S OVER!
Warriors 19 - Águilas 10
Our Defense in the Second Half was magnificent!
We were able to shut down the UACH running game and harass their QB relentlessly in the final 30 minutes.
It was a good, satisfying win for our organization to be sure.
The 2018 Intercontinental Bowl
Championship Trophy Presentation
Our GM Bart Iaccarino joined me in accepting the handsome trophy.
Victory . . .
. . . is . . .
. . . OURS!
Mike traded hats with this
helpful UACH trainer
Winning is fun . . .
. . . Winning with Mike on board
is even more fun!
Mike's Heisman Pose
The victorious Europe Warriors
coaching staff
What a great group of men to work with on an adventure such as this one.
Let the mugging with the trophy begin!
Nicolas Principi, Cody Smith
and Dan Levy
Andrea Arcioni and Nicolas Principi
The Italian Mob
With QB Erik Perez
The Varese Skorpions were in the house!
With QB Doug Webster
Daniel Docal making a child's
night even more special
Our Captain Alex Posito with a
LARGE Águila!
DB Justin Broome's Oklahoma
Drill vs. our little fans
Media post-game interview
VIVA MEXICO!
QB Doug Webster enjoying
a moment with some fans
HOGS PRIDE!
"START THE GAME!"
Polish DL Szymon Adamczyk
The Big E being the Big E
More autographs for the kids
Jan Raus reaching out to make it
an even better memory
for this young player
Adios locker room . . .
. . . Adios young Águilas fans
says Justin Broome
HOLA to our late night dinner
back at the hotel!
A good, rich Mexican beer
just seemed right!
And it was.
Yes, THANK YOU to everyone that
helped organize this incredible experience
both here in Chihuahua and back in Europe
It was such a great week for all of us coming together in such a short time.
I can not say enough positive things about our players, our coaches, the UACH support staff, the Águilas players and coaches and the 10,000+ people of Chihuahua that came to support both teams on game night.
So at the end of it all, how did I feel about my week as the Warriors' Head Coach?
Pretty darn happy as it turns out!
Thank you again to Jesús Sanchez and Bart Iaccarino for all that you did yet again to make the Europe Warriors such a fine experience in our third incarnation.
Hope to see you all back next August at a Europe Warriors IV Adventure somewhere in Mexico again.
VIVA CHIHUAHUA!
VIVA MEXICO!
VIVA WARRIORS!
2 comments:
How many highlighter pens died to make those Aguila uniforms?
About a gross I would suspect.
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