GAME DAY: Notre Dame at Washington

We woke up to another perfect Fall day and prepared ourselves for the game. Our first stop would be University Avenue to have some breakfast, buy souvenirs and tour the University of Washington campus. 

Hmmm...

After a good night's sleep and finally calming down about the Rio Mesa freshman football team, I saw this sign on a church near the UW Bookstore's parking lot. I took it as an omen for our staff's approach to this week's football practices.

A little tea, a little latte and life becomes good again at a small, independent, off campus coffee bar!

Entering the UW campus

The campus is just so wonderful a place to go for a walk on another crisp October day.

I stayed up in Seattle for Summer Session in 1968 and took a Speech class in this building.

The Henry Suzzalo Library

Easily the most beautiful building at the UW.

The Study Room

This was my favorite place inside Suzzalo to study when I went to school here...

O.K., I didn't study all that often but when I did, this was THE place!

Ornate Woodwork in the Study Room

EVERY bookshelf along the walls of the Study Room has AWESOME woodwork like this.

"LUX SIT"

That's Latin for "Let There Be Light" and it is the motto of the UW. This lamp is just outside the library with the old Administration Building in the background. 

The Quad

The center of the original campus, the Miller Building, that houses the Education Department, is on the right. Laurie worked as a secretary in this building and I took several classes in it.

"Educational Foundations, how may I help you?"

More of the Quad's Fall Colors

I wonder how old all those walkway bricks on the Quad are?

Denny Hall

The oldest building on campus, I took a psychology class here as a Sophomore.

My Road-mates pause to reflect by Denny Hall 

WOW!

Mallory Johnson in her "Witches of Eastwick" hat

Sophie Johnson

Tour Guide and Halloween Decorator Par Excellence!

Susie Johnson in front of Villa Johnson

The Johnsons live about a 5 minute stroll from Husky Stadium, so we tailgated at their home before walking to see all the pre-game activities surrounding the game.

Tailgate Husky Style

Husky Vespa

As the new Head Coach of the Catania Elephants, should I be demanding something like this in Catania colors in my contract?

Tailgating ALWAYS equals great food.

The Murphy's meet an ally in Cathy

Cathy lives in South Bend, Indiana, the home of the Fighting Irish.

Besides the usual tailgating, the Huskies also do sailgating as dozens of very large boats tie up to the docks on the Lake Washington side of Husky Stadium. We met Cathy as we walked on the docks to take a close up look at this unique UW tradition. She was very funny and outgoing so naturally we took an instant liking to her. Because of his bonding, I decided not to torpedo her boat as I originally planned.

Another ND fan but this time on a UW fan's boat

Unlike European soccer (calcio in Italy), one of the best things about college football is mixing with the fans of your opponent's team before, during and after the game in friendly, non-violent, non-life threatening banter. 

Commodore Tim Murphy and Debi next to a very cool boat

flying both ND and UW colors.

For some, "Leatherheads", was not just a movie

A die-hard, literally, Irish fan being wheeled into the stadium.

Approaching Husky Stadium from the north side through the Irish crowd

The Husky IS a noble dog INDEED!!!

The view from our seats

Note that the game is still tied granted the game has not started yet but we still had hope!

Our son, Andy, and his fiancee, Jenn

They flew up from Las Vegas this morning and we had a GREAT time with them!

A patriotic moment before the opening kickoff

We are still tied 0-0 at this point!

One of the Huskies NINE punts on the day

The Irish did not punt even once in the game.

Dueling Ear Rings

Laurie's "UW DAWG PAW" ear ring on the left, countered by Debi's traditional interlocking ND on the right. I called this contest a draw.

The Start of the Fourth Quarter???

In former days of glory, nobody left Husky Stadium until the final gun sounded. Now as we entered the game's final stanza down 27-0, the stands were empty. The impending loss was too much to bear for many UW fans as it would drop us to 0-7 on the season and meant that for the fourth straight season the Huskies would have a losing season. The final outcome was a 33-7 Notre Dame victory.

How bad was it? The UW had a grand total of 55 yards in offense in the first 54 minutes of the game before we were able to move the ball against DEEP ND back-up players (I think Rudy actually got a few snaps at the end). A dismal first half saw the Huskies gain a grand total of 38 yards, three first downs and go 1 for 9 passing for five yards.

In a nutshell, we just aren't very good this decade.

"Hail to the Victors..."?

Tim and Debi were gracious winners thank goodness!

Post Game Irish Bonding with a nattily dressed, complete stranger

With Mark Johnson back at his home to dissect the Huskies' problems and how we would fix them magically

As usual, the kids mistook me for Santa Claus and thought it would be a GREAT time to give me their Christmas Wish List!

The current and future Contreras Clan looking good in purple!

11:00 p.m., Post Game, Hungry...

Beth's Cafe is just the answer you're looking for!

The World Famous Beth's Cafe 12 Egg, Cheese, Ham and Mushroom Omelet served on a mountain of Hash Brown Potatoes

Would this be enough for the four of us?

Beth Cafe's walls are covered with customer's artwork

The also have some great "Thought of the Day" material on display.

WE TRIED!

We came close but we just couldn't finish this really delicious "snack".

All in all, we had a fantastic Saturday seeing the beauty of college football up close, being with friends and eating lots of great food. If the game had just been a little more competitive it would have been perfect.

We are already working on the four of us flying to Notre Dame for the October 3rd rematch in 2009... it should be another great weekend!!!

Seattle Weekend

Last summer, in anticipation of a great Husky football season, Laurie and I invited our good friend Debi Murphy and her son Tim to join us in a trip to Seattle to see our Huskies dismantle their beloved Notre Dame Fighting Irish... GO FIGURE!

As it turned out, the Irish entered the game with a respectable 4-2 record while the Huskies were 0 for 2008 after 6 games.

We left Camarillo bright and early on Friday morning at 5:00 a.m. to get on an Alaska Airlines 7:30 a.m. flight that was made more attractive when our future daughter-in-law, Jenn, who works for Alaska got the four of us upgraded to FIRST CLASS! For those of us with, shall we say wide hips, this was a God send. I also needed the extra comfort since I got exactly ZERO sleep Thursday night due to still being upset at the conduct of our Freshman football team at the Pacifica game. I've got to learn to relax... someday.

Tim, Laurie and Debi at LAX

Debi complained loud and often the last few weeks about the early start to the adventure but everyone looks fresh and ready for action to me.

First stop in Seattle, The Pike Street Market

This is a MUST stop when you visit the Queen City of Seattle. There are lots of great craft, food, fish and curio items for sale. We attacked it as soon as we arrived in town because we believed that going there on Saturday or Sunday would be much more difficult as the crowds swelled.

The first thing I noticed was how many people wearing Notre Dame gear were walking around the market... BAD OMEN.

The Market sells flowers...

... and chili decorations...

... and fruit...

...and, of course, fish. 

This is the famous Pike Place Fish Market that has made a huge impact in the world of positive business thinking with their books about how they built up their business through 5 simple techniques. Buy their book, "Fish", it is a quick read and makes a lot of sense to me. 

Holy Guacamole!

Have Catania's "Pink Elephants" started a business venture in the Pacific Northwest?

The University of Washington does have a rich football tradition.

Exhibit "A", the 1992 National Championship Trophy. We also won another National Championship in 1960.

Exhibit "B", the Huskies Rose Bowl history

My Husky Rose Bowl attendance streak is at seven, starting with he 1978 game. I also watched the 1960, 1961 and 1964 games on TV as an ardent fan.

 

Luke Lovell

Our good friend and host, Mark Johnson arranged for Luke, who works in the Husky Athletic Department, to give Tim and I a personal tour of the UW's athletic facilities. He did a great job and the progress the UDUB has made in this area since I graduated are phenomenal to say the least.

 

Husky Stadium, a GREAT place to see a football game

The Athletic Weight Room

Spacious and state-of-the-art, it is a far cry from the basement of the Tubby Graves Building that housed our miniature weight room back in the late 1960's.

Offensive Strength Chart

They also have one for the defense, if you can blow up this chart, check out some of the scores that are broken down by position.

The Seasons

As we walked around Seattle you just could not stop being awed by the beauty of the Fall season and all the foliage changing colors. These awesome red leaves are located outside the Weight Room.

The Seattle Yacht Club

Our friends, Mark and Susie Johnson live next to the Seattle Yacht Club with their two daughters, Sophie and Mallory. Sophie took us on a tour of their beautiful, picturesque neighborhood as the Sun set on a gorgeous Fall day that was clear, crisp, cloudless and, most importantly, rainless.

The Montlake Cut

This waterway connects Portage Bay, behind us, with Lake Washington. If you ever feel like just sitting and watching boats go by, this is the place!

After visiting with the Johnsons and noshing, we drove across a floating bridge than spans Lake Washington to the Red Lion Inn in Bellevue. After checking in, we decided to have a nightcap in the Inn's lounge. Lo and behold, the bartender worked for 10+ years in Ventura County and lived in Camarillo! Small world...

Spartans Travel to Pacifica H.S.

Rio Mesa (5-1, 1-0 PVL)

at Pacifica (1-5, 1-0 PVL)

Our second Pacific View League game shaped up to be a strange one and it did not disappoint. Our opponents, the Pacifica H.S. Tritons, had lost all five of their non-league games before beating the Hueneme Vikings 34-12 in their first PVL game last week. They also had a running back rush for 4 TDs in their league opener.

Our week of practice was mainly unfocused and our entire pre-game routine was too. If you want examples, here goes.

In the locker room as they got dressed they were noisy and horsing around. Now at a higher level of high school football this would really worry me but I've come to PARTIALLY accept that this is a case of Freshmen being Freshmen.

I did get worried about our mindset as two diminutive starters informed me that they left their black game pants at home, could they get another pair? All we have left are size XL, XXL and XXXL game pants...

Then a starting guard wanted me to know that he had left his cleats at home.  I, of course, was so very understanding...

Next up, a third string player who suddenly, after ten weeks of practice, wanted to trade in his helmet for a new one that fit better.  Patience...

Final locker room request, another athlete down deep on the depth chart, wanted to exchange his game jersey number. Currently his is an offensive lineman with a 70's numbered jersey but believes he would look niftier in wide receiver's number instead.  Request, respectfully, declined.

The four mile bus trip to Pacifica's beautiful, state of the art, eight year old campus begged me to move to the back of the bus in an attempt to calm the children down.

When we got to Pacifica two hours before kickoff, the only thing more immature that their newly planted trees was our 67 athletes. It was unseasonably hot with temperatures in the low 90's. Since shade was at a premium, we had the team go under the visiting stands to get out of the sun and get off their feet. I dare anyone to keep 67 fourteen year olds calm and quiet for one hour, CAN'T BE DONE.

When Pacifica's sixth period girls soccer (calcio) team came out to run laps around the track, it was the last straw! Anytime that hormones are introduced into the equation you've got additional issues as world famous lion tamer Clyde Beatty once said. Let us just say that some of our lads acted, shall we say, immaturely and will probably not be dating a Pacifica girl any time in the near future.

As a staff we decided that it was time to re-focus on the task at hand, so after our usual warm-up routine on a side field we decided to run the team for crimes against humanity. We decided to run them on our normal Monday conditioning routine of four GOOD wave 100 yards dashes. It only took them five attempts to get the four needed. Suddenly they were not so frisky anymore.

Let's "PLAY BALL!" 

OLB Sam Zielsdorf dragging down a Triton ball carrier from behind with CB Payton Palmer-Newton arriving on the scene.

This was a tackle behind the line of scrimmage that resulted in a loss of 4 yards. On the day we recorded 11 tackles for losses that totaled minus 36 yards. We obviously did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage!

TE Ben Quantock gathering in a 27 yards TD pass from QB Trenton Thornton.

Trenton was his usual efficient self completing 3 of his 4 passes for 56 yards and this TD.

#45 Zach Saldana on one of his 3 tackles for losses that totaled minus 10 yards.

Zach also blocked a Triton Field Goal attempt.

America gets introduced at half-time to the "Foca" defense.

In Italian "Foca" means a seal. One of our Falcons, a strong safety position, for the Catania Elephants had "Foca" as a nickname and we invented this strange look to take advantage of his skills. We tweaked our defense at half-time to introduce this novel look and it worked.

#26 Free Safety Darren Gales on one of his 3 pass break-ups during the game with #24 CB Isaac Castro in support.

Isaac would later intercept a pass and return it 15 yards.

TE Mitch Haerterich making a nice 18 yards grab.

Jason Ah Sue...

"Head down,  follow through !"

Player-of-the-Game, #15 Roderick White

What a GREAT story, a Tailback buried on the depth chart, he exploded on the scene in a Fifth Quarter at the start of the season. Our top two tailbacks went down with injuries and Roderick leapt at his opportunity!

Against the Tritons, he ran for 157 yards on only 10 carries and scored 3 TDs. He also starts at CB.

Who was Wally Pipp again?

#48 Ryan Paragas pursuing the ball to make a sideline tackle.

Ryan got a chance to play a lot of football against Pacifica at Falcon and led the team with 7 tackles.

#12 QB "Slick" Vasquez

One for one passing for 3 yards and a two point PAT, he also rushed for 7 yards on 3 carries.

#25 Juan Parra

Juan jumped in at running back and contributed 47 yards on 7 carries.

Mitch Haerterich throwing down the Triton QB in a flashy manner.

#29 Adrian Simental returning a short kickoff.

Adrian is coming on strong after being slowed down by nagging injuries. He is now a big part of our offensive and defensive lines.

GAME SUMMARY

Final Score: Rio Mesa 34 - Pacifica 0

We are now 6-1, 2-0 in PVL play. Pacifica drops to 1-6 and 1-1 in the PVL.

In the Kicking Game, we blocked two Pacifica Field Goal Attempts (Saldana and Haerterich) and Darren Gales returned 3 punts for 35 yards. James Turner had a bone-crunching block to spring Darren free on one of his returns. 

Offensively, we had only 35 plays but totaled 356 yards in Total Offense. Eight different ball carriers accounted for 300 rushing yards. We also did not turn the ball over.

Defensively, we held the Tritons to 127 yards on 40 plays. In large part this was due to the 11 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

After two weeks of PVL play, we are in a two way tie for first place with crosstown rival Camarillo at 2-0. Next up for us is another road trip to play a very good Oxnard team that is 4-3, 1-1 in the PVL. They led Camarillo 9-0 before losing to the Scorpions 24-16 a week ago.

WE MUST LEARN TO FOCUS!

Pacific View League Opener

Channel Islands (2-1, 0-0 PVL)

at Rio Mesa (4-1, 0-0 PVL)

We opened the Pacific View League season with a home game against what would turn out to be a very good defensive Channel Islands team.  Their only loss on the season was in their first game vs. Santa Clara by a score of 24-8. In their last two games, both wins, they had scored 44 and 45 points. Add to this the fact that they did not want to trade DVDs of their games and we entered the game with a world of concern. 

#42 Alexander Torres is about to hit the game's opening kickoff with #40 Mitch Haerterich in hot pursuit.

#15 Roderick White

Roderick has done a GREAT job filling in at tailback after our top two players at that position went down with injuries.  He contributed a team high 70 yards rushing on 15 carries vs. the Raiders. 

Darren Gales hits the hole

Even though he is seen here on offense, Darren is primarily used as our starting Free Safety. He had a spectacular, diving interception and broke up a Channel Island's pass.

Our Defensive Leaders

From left to right: #45, Zach Saldana is our Nose Guard.  He was named our Player of the Game for his 7 tackles that included 3 tackles for losses totaling -10 yards and a QB sack for -14 yards.

#52, Nick Gutierrez is our starting Middle Linebacker.  He contributed 5 tackles, 2 for losses totaling -4 yards.

#91, Ben Dixon starts at Defensive End and has been a big play maker all season long. Against Channel Islands he recorded 6 tackles including 2 for losses totaling -3 yards and he had a QB sack for -8 yards.

#3 James Turner, Defensive End

James is about two steps away from delivering a bone crunching shot to C.I.'s quarterback. This jarring QB sack for -7 yards signaled the beginning of the end for the Raider's offense.

#2 Payton Palmer-Newton performing a perfect Form Tackle on a Screen Pass

#11 Tanner Wrout scores the game's first TD on a 27 yards run.

Tanner played hard as usual. He gained 67 tough yards on 12 carries and caught 2 passes for another 14 yards. On defense he had a team high 8 tackles including a tackle for a loss of -13 yards.

#7 QB Trenton Thornton trying to organize the offensive huddle.

#32 Ben Quantock making a tackle for a -13 yards loss.

This was Ben's best defensive game of the season with a total of 5 tackles. He also had an 18 yards reception from his Tight End spot.

#2 Payton Palmer-Newton catching a 31 yards TD pass from Trenton Thornton.

Overall, Channel Islands did a great job shutting down our passing game as we only completed 4 of our 10 passes for 63 yards and this lone TD. The Raiders also recorded the first and only pass interception we have thrown through six games this year.

#14 Jujuan Beard picks off a C.I. pass late in the game to seal our fifth win of the season by a score of 14-0.

Fifth Quarter Antics

Due to the pounding that our defense meted out, by virtue of our fierce pass rush, the Raiders did not want to play offense in the Fifth Quarter due to a lack of quarterbacks. We agreed to still play one 10 play series with Rio Mesa playing offense only. In the picture above, Richard "Slick" Vasquez tosses a pass to...

... #42 Tight End Alex Torres.

Alex caught 2 passes from "Slick" in the Fifth Quarter.

"Slick" for SIX!

QB Richard Vasquez ran this Bootleg in for the Fifth Quarter's only score.

GAME SUMMARY

Rio Mesa 14 - Channel Islands 0

As stated at the start of this post, Channel Islands is a very good defensive team and held us to only 209 yards of Total Offense on 41 plays. The 14 points we scored was way below our season average of 29 points per game scored coming into the game.

Fortunately, we played very good defense ourselves! The Spartans intercepted 3 C.I. passes, had 3 QB sacks for -29 yards and notched a remarkable 11 tackles for losses totaling -49 yards!

Overall the Spartan defense dominated the Raiders allowing only 37 plays, good for a Total Offense figure of -6 Channel Islands yards and a only 4 first downs!!!

Next up for the Spartans (now 5-1 overall and 1-0 in PVL games) is a road trip to Pacifica High School this coming Thursday at 4:00 p.m. The Tritons are only 1-5 on the season but they did defeat Hueneme H.S. this week in their Pacific View League opener. This just turned our match-up into a game between two of the three teams that are 1-0 in PVL play, Camarillo H.S. is the third team tied atop the PVL's standings.

Joe Mollica Turns 40

Our good buddy, Joe Mollica, turned 40 last Friday. He teaches at Rio Mesa H.S. but because of school and our Varsity home football game that day, we took him out to lunch on Saturday.

If you recall from some of the June postings, Joe visited us in Catania as we toured Florence, Bolzano, Madrid, Pamplona and Barcelona. He is just a fun loving and lovable guy to have with you.

Ozeki's Sushi Bar in  Ventura

Joe Mollica, on the left, with Brian FitzGerald

To say Joe is a regular here is an understatement. They keep a box with his name on it with his own personal high tech lacquered chopsticks for Pete's sake!

I am not a big fan of sushi as I still believe that man's discovery of fire is not to be underestimated. I ordered a salmon and Philadelphia cream cheese roll that was served tempura style... tasty and warm! 

Mike and the lovely Vanessa

Our son and his fiancee were in attendance along with Ben "The Organizer" Todd, Annie Chase, Brian and Koreen FitzGerald and my better 4/5's Laurie. We had a good time indeed!

Let Him Eat Cake

Neoskin is right next door to Ozeki's

I thought about going in for a quick maintenance but time was of the essence.