PHHS 6 Saints 16

We were scheduled to play the Saints Purple Team on Thursday. Instead, Saints suited both their Purple and Gold teams to play against the mighty Patriots. Dispite the overwhelming number of fresh players at the disposal of the Saints, they only managed to score two TD's and only one of those TD's on offense.

The Patriots played hard and never quit, but came up short against the Saints losing 16-6. But the scoreboard does not reflect the way I feel about our players. They were tough, scrappy and determined throughout the game. They never quit and they lived up to the creed we instilled to all the players from day one: Life is competition! And yesterday they competed to the very end.

Defense was outstanding! Sacks,interceptions, fumble recoveries kept us in the game. Saints did not have an answer to our different fronts, stunts and blitzes. The credit goes to Coach Valaile and Coach Armenta for making our defense a tough and solid unit. Their leadership is invaluable and it spreads out to the defensive players such as Kerry Grigsby, Austin Weaver, Tysheen Webster, Nick Pankow, Travonne Pollard, Justin Baird, Bobby Hammond, Arturo Najera, Arron Rocha, Loro Tombe, Tommy Tyler and Charles Lee.

On offense, we were inconsistent to say the least. Mental errors have killed our momentum all year and making mistakes against the Saints were costly. However, there were some highlights. Charles Lee caught a Nick Kelly pass and took 80 yards for a touchdown. Khalid Niles-Rodney ran tough up the middle and converted a 4th down play on a middle screen. And Nestor Gonzalez, behind the blocking of the "B" Offensive line ran for 30 yards to end the game.

The season end with a 5-5 record. Our players and coaches know we are better than the record indicates.

We are done now... I have done my job as a Freshman Head Coach. I have prepared our players not only to be JV Football players, but to compete for the Varsity next year. Though I will not be coaching them next year, I will remain close to them as always. I love my players and I wish them and all the parents and fans of our team the best of luck!