PHHS 16 Pt. Loma 7

What an outstanding job turned in by the team as we overcame a 7-0 deficit and come from behind to beat Pt. Loma 16 - 7. That was a hard fought game and the players stepped up and played to the top of their potential earning a hard fought victory over a very good Pt. Loma. Credit goes to the assistant coaches and players for all the preparation and adjustments made at halftime.

Defense was outstanding. Two turnovers with a fumble recovery and an interception (1 short of game goals), a shutout (game goal met) and six 3 & outs (game goal surpassed by 3). Pt. Loma was held to negative yards in the second half with no first downs. Pt. Loma went for it on 4th down 3 times and came away with nothing. One of those stops was made at the goal line. Defense carried us and kept us in the game. Our goal line formation was tough and we dominated the LOS.

Offense had a slow start to the game. During the first half, I lost my composure and threw my hat...(it's my fishing hat, so I need to take care of it!) That is completely unacceptable and I apologize to you all and I apologized to the team. I have to remember, these players are 14/15 years old and most of them never competed in this type of sport before.

I apologized to the team to let them know I am human and I make mistakes too. Now let's not dwell on it. Let's fix it and move forward. When I did that, I could see it in their eyes they were willing to follow us through a wall. It built our credibility as a coaching staff and they bought in to everything we were saying. Good coaching staffs make adjustments at the half. Good coaching staffs pass those changes onto the players and good teams carry out those adjustments.

Well, needless to say, we came out like gangbusters in the second half. We dominated every aspect of the game and it is a tribute the the spirit of the players and their will to compete.

Offensive Line adjustments were right on the money and we dominated the LOS (Line of Scrimmage). Coach Bushardt and Coach Gallion did great job of getting our O-line ready for the second half. When it was crunch time, we ran the ball over our big guys and they got the job done.

Special teams did a good job. We had a couple of guys miss being called out to the game for their assignment, but overall, it was a good day on special teams. We recovered an onside kick and it was a good heads up play and we converted a 27 yard field goal.

The crowd was big and loud. I know it meant alot to the players and the coaching staff to see friends and family at the game. It was sweet to do our 'Victory' jumping jacks in front of our fans and everybody had fun with that.

Nick Lococo has already posted photos from the game on his web site. (His site was posted on an earlier Blog) Please take the time to take a look at it.

Next week is a bye week. Practice next week will be Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday is picture day. Thursday we will have study hall only because the coaching staff will be all over the County scouting our upcoming opponents. Friday is weight training and no practice.

On a final note... I saw some of you parents wearing Hawaiian shirts for the game! As we would say back home in Hawaii, "Mahalo for da aloha!" (Thanks for the love)