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.

Getting Back on Track vs. Dos Pueblos

Dos Pueblos (2-2)

at Rio Mesa (3-1)

It was bounce back week at Rio Mesa for America's favorite freshman football team. For the first time last week, the Spartans tasted defeat and, as it turned out, didn't like it! Our players responded with a solid week of practice and a great effort in this week's game.

That is not to say that there were not the usual freshman oddities in the pre-game locker room. After seven weeks of practice, a scrimmage and four games one of our defensive starters was observed asking our starting nose guard, Zach Saldana, how the football belt worked. Of course, Zach was more than happy to show him the intricacies of the double D-ring belt. It was wonderful to see teaching and learning taking place plus the sense of awe in the eye of the player Zach was teaching brought a tear to my eye!

Then I observed one of our back-up players putting on his white practice pants with all his knee, thigh, hip and tail pads in place. We wear black pants on game days. Since I was busy preparing equipment for the game, I asked Blake Selig, our fine wide receiver/defensive back who was not suiting up for the game, to tell the player to get the right pants on. Blake then informed me that this was not a mistake, the player in question likes to wear his game pants over his fully loaded practice pants on game days... JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU'D SEEN IT ALL!

#3 DE James "Batman" Turner

James and #11 Tanner Wrout tracking down Dos Pueblos' excellent running back #23 Joshua Bartley. He was hard to handle all game long.

#32 Falcon/Tight End Ben Quantock

Ben picked off this pass on the opening series of the game and returned it 41 yards for the games first touchdown! He would also catch 5 passes for 89 yards and a two point PAT.

#26 Tailback/Free Safety Darren Gales

Darren had a very solid day with 7 carries for 41 yards and a TD. He was also in on 7 tackles and broke up a pass.

#15 Tailback/Cornerback Roderick White

In our Tailback by committee scheme, Roderick had 5 carries for 58 yards and 2 TD's. He also made 8 tackles.

#11 Tailback/Fullback/Falcon Tanner Wrout

Although he occasionally looked like a pregnant longhorn on ice during the first two weeks of practice, Tanner has, BY FAR, been our best, most consistent player in the first half of the season.

His work load against the Chargers was no exception as he had 10 carries for 94 yards and a TD and 4 pass receptions for 52 yards and another TD. On defense, Tanner had 8 tackles, intercepted 2 passes that he returned 10 yards, 1 tackle for a loss of 2 yards and a QB sack that resulted in a 10 yard loss.

His best play of the day in my opinion was on a sweep away from his side by Dos Pueblos' good tailback. It looked like he was gone for a long touchdown but Tanner did not give up on the play and chased him down after a 58 yard run to make a touchdown saving tackle at the 9 yard line. GREAT EFFORT!!!

#40 Tight End Mitch Haerterich

Mitch had a good day catching two passes for 16 yards including this two point PAT grab.

"Me and My Shadow", a great song from days gone by

#67 Caleb Litten and I enjoying a chat at halftime about the current political scene in Guatemala.

#7 Quarterback Trenton Thornton

Another EXCELLENT game by Trenton as he completed 10 of 11 passes for 154 yards, a TD and a two point PAT.

#10 Kicker Jason Ah Sue

Jason has a great work ethic and made 3 of his 4 PAT attempts against the Chargers.

 

#55 Outside Linbacker Sam Zielsdorf

Good pressure on the Dos Pueblos QB here, Sam was in on 3 tackles including a tackle for a loss of 3 yards.

One of Tanner Wrout's 2 interceptions on the day

The 5th Quarter

Here our Offensive Coordinator, Brian FitzGerald, instructs QB Richard 'Slick" Vasquez during the start of the "5th Quarter".

One of the great things about this season to date is that we have had 3 games with 5th Quarters to insure that all of our players who dress out get a chance to compete during 10 offensive and 10 defensive plays after the regular game is over if they didn't get many reps in regulation.

Fortunately, the two games without 5th quarters were games in which we were able to get big leads early and played everyone who dressed out during the regular course of the game.

It has been great to know that for five straight weeks, the only kids who did not get a chance to compete were the ones who were unable to dress due to injury or missed practice time.

#34 Tailback Josh Quolas..."BUST A MOVE!"

#23 Tailback Devin Hinds with his version of the Heisman Trophy pose

To sum up our game, it was a great team win with several players contributing mightily.

The final score was Rio Mesa 43 - DosPueblos 28

Our running game saw seven different backs account for 212 yards on 29 carries, a 7.3 yards/carry average, and 4 TD's.

Our vaunted passing attack completed 11 of 12 passes for 157 yards, 1 TD and two 2 point PAT's.

That adds up to Total Offense figures of 41 plays for 369 yards, 5 TD's, two 2 point PAT's and a very neat 9.0 yards per snap average!

Defensively, 20 different players made at least one tackle. We returned 3 interceptions for a total of 51 yards and a TD. We also had 3 QB sacks for -23 yards and 5 tackles for losses totaling another -15 yards.

It was a great way to finish our non-league schedule at 4 wins and 1 loss. Next week we open the Pacific View League season at home Thursday at 4:00 p.m. against a Channel Islands team that is reportedly 5-0 on the season.