Early woes wont stop V. football (9/03)

By Administrator

Oct. 9, 2003

The Bruce Usher Memorial Field, home of the Carlmont Scots, bubbles with malice. The ticket-taker pounds ink into foreigners' palms. Large, black, capital letters, hard to wash off, SCOTS territory. Like a wolf's urine stain on a tree it warns outsiders, they now tread on Carlmont territory.

The fear tactics do not end there. Once inside visitors must endure the squawks and squeals of the Carlmont fans: cheerleaders, announcers, students and parents of students. Spending an afternoon there is a rite of passage. To emerge carrying a piece of your enemy's heart in hand is an achievement. At the end of a grueling day, the Carlmont public adress system blared: Scots 34, Cardinals 28. Team members hung their heads and chewed their Power Bars they had fought hard and came heart-breakingly close to great glory. But as their Laidlaw bus began to grind back home, they were disappointed, wounded and undeniably wiser.

It was a close game. In the final quarter, with the score tilting towards Carlmont, 28-20, and team deep in Lowell territory, the Scots had made a crucial mistake. On the Lowell 20-yard line, the Scots quarterback threw a sluggish pass to an equally sluggish receiver. The Cardinals capitalized on Carlmont's folly: junior fullback Derrick Lomax read the flight path of the ball and grabbed an interception. In frustration the Scots stomped, reddened, threw helmets and sent some untoward syllables at Lowell. The referees did not take this rash display lightly, giving the Scots with an unsportsman-like conduct penalty placing the Cardinals from their own 21 yard-line on the 49. The Cardinals' position set up the tying touchdown.

ELI KORAL

Junior Eric Bucholzshakes and bakes a Half Moon Bay defender. Unfortunately, the Cardinals lost the game 31-21.

With the game clock ticking down to a single minute, senior quarterback Ricky Amini-Alas, under fierce pressure, made his first and only completion of the day to senior receiver Tamayo Wendel, who took the ball 28 yards to the goal line. From there, Sheih scored easily from the one-yard line, plunging into the endzone. A two-point conversion tied the game at 28-28. These were heroic efforts, but in the end they would go unrewarded; on their next possession, Carlmont took the game.

"We played hard for four quarters," said senior running back Alvin Shieh, who led the Cardinals with 87 yards rushing and three touchdown runs. "But we're a young team and we made some mistakes."

The tragic hero can only become wiser through his downfall. That came suddenly, as the Scots, in prime position after an offside kick, burst through the Cardinal defense, and planted the game-winning touchdown in the endzone with just 15 seconds remaining.

The loss at Carlmont marked the third in a series of pre-season defeats to both Sacred Heart Cathedral and Half Moon Bay. The loss to the Fighting Irish was tough as well another fourth quarter seven-point loss, 34-28. And the team suffered a 31-21 loss to the Cougars, but the players and coaches believe that the team is young and will improve.

HENRY CHAN

Senior quarterback Ricky Amini-Alaslooks pensively out onto the gridiron during his Cardinals' 34-28 loss to Carlmont.

"I'm never happy with a loss," head coach Jason Krowlikowski said. "We're getting better, but not to the level of my expectations."

This year's Cardinals stand against the 2003 players as a radically different team. Several crucial members from last season have not returned, according to Krolikowski. Therefore, five sophomores moving up from junior-varsity have taken starting positions and numerous returning starters have moved into new positions.

"I believe that there is a tremendous amount of pressure on us (the sophomores), not only from the team, but from ourselves, because you are always thinking that the coaches have put an extrewant to let them down," said sopn varsity, and you don't really want to let them down," said sophomore defensive end Cole Mitguard, one of the players making the transition to varsity.

Ultimately the team's season will grow as it tries to adjust to change and refine itself.

"We have a lot of people starting on new positions so with experience we'll be a better team," Shieh commented. "We just need to get our assignments on defense and tackle. We need to execute our game plan."

The team's younger players understand the challenge ahead of them.

"We have the speed, the skill and the size that we need, but we younger players need to step it up," Mitguard said.

"I never believe my team is not going to win a championship," Krowlikowski said.