Wildcat frosh beat Red Wolves
Published 10:04 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
It wasn’t exactly the classic “dark and stormy night” on
Wednesday, Nov. 3, when the Mount Si and Cedarcrest C-level football
teams squared off at Snoqualmie Middle School’s field of honor, but it was
wet and rainy. Both freshmen teams came ready to play the annual
season-ender; there was not the usual giddiness
that accompanied warm-ups, and everything seemed set for a great game.
According to the Mount Si head football coach, the eight
sophomores playing on their C squad could not chew gum and walk at the same
time. He also said that they were not the ones who started the game or
played very much.
Well, those sophomores must have really improved over the past
week, because they started the game and played every down. Come to think
of it, Mount Si must have made most of its improvements the day before,
because the coaches put together new kickoff, kickoff return, and
offensive teams for the contest. It must have been a banner week, because
eight sophomores apparently learned to chew gum while walking.
Even given the miraculous advancement of Mount Si’s eight
sophomores, the Cedarcrest freshmen played well. They took everything
that Mount Si and the refs had to give and still came out smelling like mud-caked
roses. In the end, however, the lion-hearted Red Wolves could not
overcome the odds, and the final score was Mount Si 20, Cedarcrest 6.
Mount Si started the game with the ball on their 20-yard line. They
moved it to the Cedarcrest 40 before fumbling; the Wolves’ Darren DeBoer
recovered, but on the next play his team fumbled it back to Mount Si.
The next Wildcat drive began at their 38-yard line and ended with
a touchdown and extra point, giving Mount Si the early 7-0 lead.
Cedarcrest mounted a scoring drive after exchanging punts with
the opposition, running the ball inside and outside. Dan Merrick gained 50
yards and almost scored on a reverse. Josh Testerman succeeded in taking it
into the end zone two plays later on a quarterback sneak, but the point
after failed.
The `Cats then took the ball and ran it all the way to the Cedarcrest
21- yard line, with Cody Pettersen making the saving tackle. However,
Mount Si managed to put it in anyway, scoring on an 8-yard off-tackle run.
A subsequent Cedarcrest 60-yard touchdown run by Tom Harding
was called back by a clipping call, which brought a roar of outrage from the
Red Wolf coach, who _ in five years of coaching _ had never had a
penalty called on him. He got it this time, when the refs assessed an additional
15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. With fourth down and light years
to go, Cedarcrest gave up the ball. Mount Si took advantage of the excellent
field position and scored on a pitch pass in blown coverage, running the tally
to 20-6 at halftime.
The second half degenerated into a defensive battle in the mud.
Pettersen recorded a sack on the Cedarcrest 35- yard line, blunting a Mount Si
drive; but the Wolves’ offense couldn’t pull down any yardage.
The last drive of the game started with Cedarcrest on their own
40-yard line and 3:30 left in the game. Testerman and Harding sustained
the drive, overcoming a personal foul to put the pigskin at the Mount Si
2-yard line. But, with 30 seconds left to go in the game, the ref held up the ball
and the contest ended.
The Red Wolves went home with a bitter taste of defeat but also with
a hunger for games to come. Win, lose or draw, the coaches were proud
of their team and what they had accomplished that day. They had
already proven themselves as winners, recording a 5-2-1 season.
They ended the season scoring 220 points against their opponents’
102. The second-half defense was far stingier than the first. The
second-half offense was more prolific at scoring than the first. But far more
impressive than any of the statistics was the way the individuals played for each
other and for the team. No one had seen a team so dedicated to one another
and who worked so well together. They all believed that together they could
accomplish anything. And they were right.
Personal note: As I say goodbye, or at least so long, to coaching, I
wish the freshmen the chance to stay together and accomplish great things
on and off the football field. I wish them all the success for which they are
willing to work.
It was a great season for the freshmen, but it could not have
happened without the outstanding coaching from Steve Farnworth, Kory Loresch
and Doug Jackson. Together, I believe that we have accomplished our goals
of teaching the freshmen football players the fundamentals of football,
helping them have fun, and helping them on their journeys to becoming
men. They had already learned the goal of working together as a team.
Hopefully, we just added to their already deep commitment to one another.
Thank you to all who have read this far. I hope you had as much
fun reading about the 1999 freshman football season as I had living and
reporting it.
