3 Legged Failure

I’m still not sure how this happened but Linfield offensive tackle, Ian Ballantyne and 2008 NWC 400 meter champion Mat Strum got absolutely destroyed in a 3 legged race by three teams of ladies that were pulled out of the stands during halftime of a Linfield women’s hoops game earlier this season. Ian was obviously upset by the domination so don’t be surprised if you see him during spring ball tethered to a wide receiver practice the “3 legged cone turn” in hopes of redeeming himself next hoops season.

Player Blog: Cole Franklin "Looking back on 2008"

Ask Linfield fans about soph. Quarterback Cole Franklin and the response back are ‘Cat fans raving about his ability to make plays with his both his arm and his legs. Cole was injected as the starting quarterback for the ‘Cats after junior starter Aaron Boehme went down in the first game of the year vs Hardin Simmons with a broken collar bone. Even if Boehme was to stay healthy, Franklin was still going to play a big role in the Wildcat offense this past season due to his game breaking ability.

What most Linfield fans didn’t know is that they were watching a quarterback, in Franklin, that was severely hampered most of 2009 with a bad ankle injury that limited Cole’s legs and ability to scramble. You may not believe that after watching him pick up huge chunks of yards and scrambling for TDs this season but yes…he wasn’t nearly 100% in 2008.
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Looking back on this years season, yes the end result was not what we all hoped for but, from my point of view we gained experience, and because of this as a team we developed tremendous depth. This quality will help us in the upcoming 2009 season. I too have saw consistant game time as a sophmore, and in turn I believe I have matured as a person and a player. Taking over the starting job as Quaterback for the Linfield Wilcats after Aaron Bohme's shoulder injury against Hardin Simmons was an eye opener for sure. However, at the same time I was excited to take up this new challenge and opportunity. My teammates, offense and defense were more than encouraging in making sure I knew they believed in my abilities to lead the team and I love them for that. In my first collegiate start against Southern Oregon University, my left ankle was crushed resulting in a third degree high ankle sprain. Even though I was able to endure through the rest of the game, It would cause serious upheavel in my performance to come. It was only until our last game against PLU was my ankle coming around. This was and still is very difficult for me to deal with mentally.

Making weekly trips to Vancouver for electrical treatment, I was able to limp through the rest of the season only starting in six games. Following my ankle injury I incured a contusion on my right forearm against Willamete. This would haunt me the rest of the season inhibiting my throwing motion. Overall my injury record was unfortunate, preventing me from going 100 percent. However, I was not the only one who was prone to injuries throughout the season. An accumulation of injuries on both sides of the ball denied us the opportunity to play at our fullest potential. The only benefit one can garner from this is we were given the opportunity to develope depth within the team which may not have been possible had our season been injury free myself included. I matured alot this year and by the end of the season I was making much better on the field decisions. I will come into the 09 season smarter, faster and stronger, ready to lead the Wildcats to a National Title.

-Cole Franklin

Class of 2011

*Photos are courtsey of Linfield S.I.D. Kelly Bird

Worst. Break. Ever.

Believe it or not leading the break can sometimes lead to an uncomfortable moment. The player that "breaks us down" sometimes just has a brain-fart and picks some odd ball slogan or screws up the cadence of the break. Something that seems so simple can sometimes be so hard.

Linfield Senior Dean Kongslie had an epic flub breaking down the defensive group right before the last game of the year vs PLU. Dean's was a three-part’er with the "play" gaff and then changes the slogan mid-sentence and then hits the group with a surprise cadence. Dean recovered quickly but too bad for him the camera was rolling and captured this fantastically bad break.

Player Blog: Drew Fisher "From a recruit to a Wildcat"

Freshman Safety Drew Fisher is our latest player blogger for Catdomealumni.com. Just one year ago Drew was a Senior at Gresham's Centennial High School and trying to figure out where he wanted to go and continue to play football. Drew's decision has turned out to be great for himself and for Linfield. This past season Drew was name Linfield's Rookie of the year. Drew was nice enough to share his experience of being a high school senior and trying to decide just where he wanted to make his mark.
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Choosing where to go to school isn’t the easiest thing to do. There were a lot of different voices all hitting me at one time it seemed and it really made things confusing. I didn’t stress it too much though because I knew it would all fall in place sooner or later.

Deciding on a college fell down the list on my priorities because of my senior year of school, sports, and of course good old video games. However recruiters from schools from all around continued to drop in every week which was a constant wake up call to me to start narrowing down my college choices. Schools like Southern Cal and the Florida Gators were pretty impressed I must say, but they had nothing on what is now 53 consecutive winning seasons here at Linfield so it was an easy decision. But really, schools such as Willamette, Whitworth, Puget Sound, and Western Oregon were the schools that had been talking to me the most to come play some ball for them.

Leading up to my decision on choosing Linfield some key connections played an important influence. First and foremost there are three coaches back home in Gresham at Centennial high that are some of the greatest people I have ever known that went to none other than Linfield. Of course, I always had to listen to all of their stories about the glory days at the Catdome but it always made for a good laugh so it wasn’t that bad.

I had the great opportunity to spend the first week of my summer vacation every year at Linfield for the Wildcat team football camp where I not only received an early taste of hitting some opposing players, but it was nice to get a good look at a college campus and talk to some coaches about playing football. I talked to former players, Coach Smith, and this guy who thinks he’s pretty big time that goes by Coach Fendall. I talked to Coach Fendall in person at camp a few times about coming here to play for the ‘Cats, but Coach’s real game is his cell phone. Once you’re a recruit here they really know how to reel you in. I remember Coach calling me many times and listening to lots of voice mails basically telling me good night and sweet dreams. I got calls at lunch, during practice, heck I even talked to Coach Smith while he was skiing down the mountain with his kids. It just goes to show you how dedicated and determined these guys are out here to get what they want in order to bring the ‘Cats back to Salem Virginia and reclaim that title.

After all the recruiting and a lot of thought I came to the conclusion to give Linfield a go and experience what exactly it feels like to be a Wildcat.

This first year being a part of the Catdome has been a time to remember for sure. From the grinding practices and daily doubles to finding out I’m going to Texas an hour before the bus left for PDX, there has been quite the number of memories already. Making friends with the flying Hawaiians and playing next to some future Catdome greats has been a sweet deal. It’s been a wild trip getting to play on Saturdays with guys that love to play the game and have fun as much as I do and it’s only going to get better as the years go on. The ’09 season is more than promising for the ‘Cats and it can’t come soon enough.

-Drew Fisher
Class of 2012

(photo courtsey of Linfield SID Kelly Bird)

Player Blog: Bryce Comfort "Jan-Term Happenings"

Greetings to the ‘Catdome family. We’re going to be kicking off the player blog series again now that 2008 has been put the rest. I asked sophomore defensive back, Bryce Comfort, to kick off 2009 with a blog entry about what he’s been up to during January Term. For those of you that don’t know Linfield operates on a 4-1-4 schedule. That means the fall semester is four months long and the spring semester is four months long and sandwich in-between is January term. This is a one-month long optional term where students may go abroad to study or stay on campus to take a couple of intensive classes during the month. I loved Jan term when I was a student and it sounds like Bryce is having a good time too.
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What’s up Catdomealumni.com! I hope you all had a great New Years and have started ’09 out with a bang like the ‘Cats have! I’m currently sitting in my room on a lovely Sunday afternoon, writing out a little blog for you guys to see what’s going on in the life and times of a Wildcat during Jan-Term.

Right now I’m trying to juggle the heavy load of my one class that meets three days a week, training for next season, and spending some quality time with my friends. I must say it’s a rough life, but someone’s gotta do it. In all seriousness this blog is probably the most writing I have had to do since we started school back up (sorry pops if you’re reading this). But even when there is not a lot going on, hanging out at the Catdome with all the guys who are around is a great time to start to mesh together as a team. This weekend we had another one of our top recruit visits, and there were a lot of quality guys who came to see what we were all about. I got to host a kid who I went to high school with during my glory days in the beautiful Tacoma, WA. Hopefully we can continue to get more western Washington guys, seeing as that’s where the best athletes tend to come from. Just kidding all you Oregon boys I love you too! We’ve only been back for a week now but I’m having a blast with all the guys on the team. The other night I taught Jaymin Jackson (Jr. Linebacker) how to play the drums on rock band like a champ, but my performance was overshadowed by the dazzling vocals of Gunnar Cederberg (Jr. WR). He can really hit those high notes!

Winter workouts are going well and it has been great to see a lot of the guys get going on training for next fall. I can attest to the fact that the report date in August creeps up on you much faster than you think, and it is vital as an athlete to begin preparing now. Last spring we really got after it and the senior class did a great job of setting the bar for future teams. I expect even more improvement from last year as we all know what we are capable of and that we can push it much further. We are actually a step ahead this winter and all the credit goes to the amazing Coach Neil Fendall aka “the Weight Room Warrior” aka “the Prince of Plyometrics.” But seriously, Coach Fendall has helped to reshape our training philosophy and has instilled an attitude within the players that has already translated to our performance on Saturdays. This spring will be another chance to put some work in and see where it takes us in the fall!

Like I said before, I hope you all have had a wonderful start to 2009, and I can’t wait to see everyone at the Catdome next fall! We all have extremely high expectations for 2009 and it will be exciting to see them begin to unfold as the year goes on. Take care and God bless.

-Bryce Comfort
Class of 2011

(Photo courtesy of Kelly Bird, Linfield SID)

SOU Football is on FIRE (well at least their bus is)

Just came across this gem on YouTube. Now I'm not sure when this happened during this season but the Southern Oregon Raiders where on the road to play somebody and one of their charter buses caught fire. Now this is a dangerous situation and I don't want to rip on any institution of higher learning but why would YOU RUN TOWARDS A BURNING VEHICLE LET ALONE A BUS!? I understand they were trying to get their equipment out of harm’s way but forget that. I’m ok with my shoulder pads going up in flames rather than having a bus blow up in my face. Call me crazy.

(Warning: A few curse words are uttered in this clip so skip this one if you're easily offended by a few “S” words)

***edit note: This actually happened in 2007 when SOU was headed up to play Willamette (thanks LoonyLarry from the O-live board)

Linfield Football Holiday Family Adoption program was a great success!

I wanted to make sure I let the Linfield family know about how their Catdomealumni.com T-Shirt money was put to work this holiday season and Senior Defensive Lineman Joe Seifert, took the time to provide a great account of how the money was put together and just how big of an impact this program had on local McMinnville Families.

This is really a tremendous deal that is put on by the football program and I'm so very proud of this senior group and their efforts on and off the field! Go 'Cats!
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From Linfield Senior Defensive Lineman Joe Seifert

This year Linfield Football’s holiday family adoption program expanded from our normal Thanksgiving Feed to this year’s special Christmas edition. We decided not to do our traditional Thanksgiving feed because of the way the academic schedule worked out this fall. Students were not on campus or around town during Thanksgiving because we had the entire week off this year instead of just a few days. We also decided we needed to do a Christmas program that could involve not only large amounts of food but Christmas gifts as well.

This year we were fortunate enough to come up with a few thousand dollars to spend instead of our traditional few hundred. I will explain how that worked out… Last summer I was an intern at Delap LLP (an accounting firm) in Lake Oswego, Oregon. 2008 happened to be the firm’s 75th anniversary and it was decided that it would be more beneficial to donate time and treasure to local communities instead of holding one big event for firm staff and clients to celebrate. Beginning in July of 2008, Delap had a monthly community service event scheduled to donate their time and treasure to in the Portland Metro area. Back in June I saw a list of the events and I noticed that December was designated as “the people’s choice event.” Immediately I thought of what the CATS had done for families at Thanksgiving in years past and knew that we could expand to a much larger Christmas event if given the opportunity. I did some calling around during the summer and knew finding families would not be a problem come the holidays, so I put a plan together and submitted it for review by the partners. I thought my suggestion had a good chance of being selected because Dave DeLap, the firms managing partner, is a 1980 graduate of Linfield College, and two more of Delap’s partners had grown up in McMinnville. I knew that they all could connect with the idea and then it would just be up to them to decide if it was something they wanted to do. In September, I received a phone call saying that funding had been approved for Linfield’s Holiday family adoption program.

Thanks to Delap LLP for that sponsorship as it got the ball rolling and somewhat determined how many families we would be able to sponsor and if we were in fact going to be able to do gifts. With a sizeable donation already in place, we took what we had across the street to Roth’s and asked their manager to stretch our funds. The manager remembered our program from years past and without much discussion threw in an additional few hundred dollars in groceries. Additional finding came from the Linfield Football players themselves. Every year we ask team members to throw in a dollar or two if they can. Traditionally this is our primary source of funding and with such a large team, it makes raising a few hundred dollars very easy. To top it off and add to our abnormally large total this year, THANKS TO ALL OF YOU who purchased catdomealumni shirts, an additional $1,000 was raised for this cause as well! We appreciate your support and also want to say thanks to Wildcat11 for his time creating and selling those shirts.

Having well over $4,000 to work with, we were able to adopt 9 families that range in size from two to eight people in the McMinnville area. For each of these families, we wanted to provide them with a turkey and plenty of food for a holiday meal as well as additional groceries to get them through the holidays. In addition to groceries we felt it would be nice to give each family member 2 gifts. With so much support all around us, this was actually made very easy.

The shopping started on Sunday, December 7th. A group of us seniors, and Coach Kemper, went to Target in Sherwood to shop for all of the gifts we wanted to purchase for the families. In about 2 hours we piled 5 shopping carts full of gifts and spent nearly $1,500!

On Wednesday, December 10th, Linfield players teamed up with Delap employees (including former wildcat Ryan Boatsman) to shop for food and wrap all of the gifts that had been purchased. Half of the group went food shopping while the other half remained on campus and wrapped all of the gifts. Food shopping took place across the street at Roth’s. Each shopping team was given a budget for food of a few hundred dollars. Surprisingly at the register, teams were within just a few dollars of where they were supposed to be! Even more impressive, the entire food bill rang up within $1.52 of our budgeted amount of over $2,000!!! Thanks again to Roth’s for helping stretch our money and really stock these families up. Along with the food we purchased, Roth’s also had gift cards made for each family so that perishable foods could be purchased on a return trip to the store.

Once the food was purchased it was taken back to campus for sorting by family. Upon arrival to campus, players found that 10 pizzas had been delivered for lunch courtesy of Delap, again! After lunch, the food sorting and boxing had been completed as well as all of the wrapping. Then all of the goods were loaded up and ready for delivery. In all, there were over 75 man hours used to complete the wrapping as well as food shopping and sorting that morning. Around 1:00 PM the Delap team headed back to the office.

Wednesday evening, 10 of us went to deliver food and gifts to the families around town. We were able to meet the families 1 by 1, explain our project, and then tell them that we had something for them. We then stepped aside and showed them the 4-5 large boxes of food and the huge box of gifts that would be given to them. By their reactions, most of these families were not expecting anything at all. If they were expecting something, I think they expected just 1 box of food. It was easy to tell that the mothers of the families were the most touched and the words “thank you” were a struggle for most to say. The kids had huge similes on their faces and began to dig through the boxes. The Although none of the presents were opened while we were there, we all know the kids just could not wait to tear them open. For some, we were certain those gifts may very well be all they receive over the holidays. We couldn’t have done this without all of our supporters! Thanks to everyone both on and off the field!

-Your 2008 Senior Class.

Wildcat11 Recommended Movie: "King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters"

With the Northern Willamette Valley and the Portland Metro area being covered in a brutal snow storm the past few weeks it has kept most residents of the area indoors and that means A LOT of movie watching the past few weeks. We've watched some solid mainstream hits like Iron Man, to some bland comedies like Get Smart. However, Mrs. 11 and I found a real gem this past week that is a MUST watch for any movie buff.

"King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" is a documentary that was released by Picturehouse in early 2007. The story is centered around the classic arcade gaming world and the most difficult classic game, Donkey Kong. Back in the early 1980's a teenager named Billy Mitchell shattered the previous Donkey Kong high score on record and nobody has come close since. Mitchell is a character that even Hollywood could not have conceived. 20 years since his Donkey Kong record performance and he's still the top dog of this geek filled community and by the level of Mitchell's cockiness you would think he is on the level of a movie star.

But Mitchell's record and status gets threatened when a laid-off Boeing worker named Steve Wiebe starts making Kong sized waves in the gaming community. Steve Wiebe is about as likable of a guy you could ever meet. He's a father of two and trying to transition into a science teaching career. He's a talented guy but has never really carved an identity for himself or really been someone who's "made it". Steve's life has been filled with 2nd place finishes and has seemingly has never been able to measure up.

At first I thought there was no way I would be into this film but within the first 5 minutes I was sucked into the trials and tribulations of Steve's journey to respectability and overcoming Billy's constant roadblocks and passive aggressive moves to sidetrack Steve's advances on an "unbreakable" record. Besides Steve and Billy, the film is chalk full of almost unreal charters that worship Billy and support Steve.

Do yourself a favor and swing by your local video store and pick up a copy of King Of Kong. It's a underdog story in a weird and sort of pathetic world of classic arcade gaming.

Also, if you're looking for another off the beaten path flick check out Rocket Science. Nothing like a kid with a stuttering problem trying to make his high school debate team.

‘Cats and Oxy will throw down in 2009

Huge news came out of the Linfield camp yesterday as the ‘Cats and defending SCIAC champion, Occidental, have agreed to a 1-year deal for the 2009 season. The game will be played at Oxy on September 19th. As a result, Linfield and Western Oregon have parted ways and will not be playing next season or anytime in the foreseeable future. That means that Linfield will have 8 Division III games in 2009 (Southern Oregon will remain the only non-DIII game for a total of 9 regular season games).

While this is great news for Linfield and its fan base, it also means a brutal travel schedule for the ‘Cats next season. The ‘Cats will open the year at home on September 12th vs Hardin-Simmons, and then have a brutal one-month stretch were the ‘Cats will be at Occidental, at Southern Oregon, at Menlo, and then wrap the extended roadie at Whitworth.

So the ‘Cats open up with two teams coming off playoff qualifying seasons (where they both dropped close games), an NAIA team that have battled the ‘Cats tooth and nail the past three years, visit an improving Menlo program, and then at Whitworth. That’s a hell of a way to start the season and if the ‘Cats want to get back to the playoffs, then Linfield is going to earn it.

Overall, I love this move and I’m excited we are moving closer to a pure DIII schedule. If the ‘Cats can start the season by overcoming two talented teams in HSU and Oxy then that will be a great boost in building a case for a post season bid. Of course, the ‘Cats will want to leave no doubt and capture the NWC crown but these non-conference games will be marquee match-ups in the Division III landscape.

I have to applaud the great work that AD Carnahan and Coach Joe Smith have put in with regards to getting this done and for the changes coming in 2010-2011.
2009 is shaping up to be another challenging but exciting season.

-Wildcat11

Scott Birkhofer named to AFCA All-American Team!

Linfield Sports is reporting that Linfield Senior Scott Birkhofer was named to the AFCA All-American team as a place kicker. What an incredible honor for Birkhofer and it is well deserved. Scott is the only NWC player on the team and the kicker is Linfield's 40th overall 1st team All-American football player (115th overall All-American honor (1st, 2nd, 3rd team, and Honorable Mention)).

As reported by Linfield Sports, Scott had the longest two kicks in Divison III this season (56 and 54 yards) and holds the longest 5 kicks in Linfield history. Congratulations to Scott and we will miss you next season!

-11

2008 Highlight DVD is officially in the books!

The main cog of Catdomealumni.com is the game highlight videos and I’m thankful to say the complete 2008 Highlight DVD is officially finished! I tell Mrs. 11 whenever a new highlight DVD is finished that “I think this might be my best yet” but really….I think the 2008 Highlight DVD might be my best work yet.

The team banquet was a few weeks ago and I pushed in wrapping up the main highlight reel (all the game clips and senior salute) but there was still work to do after the fact. There were some minor tweaks I made to the highlight DVD that 99% of folks wouldn’t notice but I wouldn’t feel right without fixing them.

***Video Nerd Alert*** I kept the format pretty much the same of past years (because it works) but instead of using Adobe Premiere Pro to capture, compose, and edit the highlight clips I moved the whole process to Adobe After Effects and that created a whole list of different issues. However, I made the move because of the power and flexibility of After Effects. It did take much longer to render the finish product and to cut each game but I think it gave the clips a higher quality finish. ***End of Video Nerd Alert***

I really don’t want to bore you with all the painful details of putting a football highlight DVD together but here is a little dirt; I work on each game after it’s played and try to have it close to finished before the following week. It’s a tedious and long process and it can’t be done with out someone like Mrs. 11 having my back and giving me great feedback on music, edits, clips, etc. She would be my executive producer and has always been supportive of these projects. The football part is pretty easy but the hardest part is the music. I’m 32 going on 33 and my first instinct is to reach for the AC/DC and Guns N Roses but I want the DVD to reflect 2008 and so I spend drives to work with my Sirius Radio tuned to channel 28 “Faction” and 20 “Octane” in hopes that my ear will pick out music that works and I’ll ask for input from some of the players. The end result is a good mix of hard rock, hip hop, top 40, and movie scores.

For the players, they’re getting close to 1 ½ hours of original clips that go beyond just the season highlights. Here is what will make up the 2008 Highlight DVD:

-2008 Season Highlights

-2008 Senior Salute

-Coaches Salute

-2008 Scoreboard Team Intro Video

-2008 Gameday

-2008 Bloopers

-Linfield Trivia (as shown during season on video board)

-Senior Moments (as shown during season on video board)

For the rest of you, I’m sorry but you’re going to have to wait till March before I start rolling out the clips on Catdomealumni.com but it will be worth the wait to have entertainment during the dreaded off season.

I’d also like to thank Brad Hazenberg who shot the opposite sideline during every home game, Kelly Bird for providing great still photos, David Cunningham and his student workers for all their great work in shooting the home games, Linfield Linebacker Calvin Park who was injured during the UPS game and stepped up and shot that game for an absent WC11 (great work!), Coach Hire for all the help with tapes and equipment, and of course Mrs. 11 for being the brains of the operation.

Ray Lions wants you in some active-wear!!!!

Former Wildcat 1st Team All-American Safety (2000-2003) and Linfield Legend Ray Lions is a man of many talents. In college, not only could Ray light up a hapless Rat wide receiver that dared come across the middle of the field but Ray was also a standout in the spring as a decathlete for the Track & Field team. And from accounts from his former teammates, Ray was a constant source of entertainment even if Coach Locey might have objected to Ray’s locker room dance moves.

Life after college hasn’t slowed down Ray’s ability to tackle new challenges and when you examine #23’s life you find out that Ray is a Swiss army knife of life or a modern day Renaissance Man, if you will. Since leaving Linfield, Ray has been excelling as a personal trainer in the Vancouver area but he’s such a good looking guy that he felt obligated to dabble in the world of modeling. Who is Ray to deny the local Portland Metro area of those pearly whites?

So, Wildcat11 received a call from a fellow ‘Cat asking me to pick up this past Sunday’s Oregonian and check out the Fred Meyer Ad flier. Sure enough there is #23 shilling some Freddies active-wear. At first I said to myself “Wow, it really is Ray!” and then I said “WOW, Men’s Microfleece Jackets and Pants for only $19.99!!!!” If you’re going to be in the Newberg area this weekend, you might just bump into Wildcat11 at Fred Meyers looking for some new threads to blog in. No knock on Ray but that gear sells itself!

***btw, Ray is a great sport and when I contacted him about posting this blog entry he told me to go for it. Not too many would be open to ribbing like this. Ray Lions...a legend!

3 'Cats land on D3.com All-Region Team but was Taylor Summers robbed?

The Division III football bible, D3football.com, posted up their annual all-region teams yesterday and three Wildcats were honored in being named to the West Region team. It’s a great honor and something the players should be very proud of and the fans should recognize as well.

Senior Scott Birkhofer was named to the 1st team West Region as a place kicker. This is huge considering the kicker he beat out (Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Jeff Schebler) was the returning 1st team All-American and holds the division’s career record for most field goals converted. In the end, Scott’s tremendous distance in his kicks of 52, 54, and 56 yards on the year put him over the top. Scott also avg 63.6 yards in kickoffs with 9 touchbacks. No doubt the ‘Cats are going to miss Scott next season and is the best kicker in school history.

Senior Offensive Tackle, Jared Hinkle, was named to the regions 3rd team. Hinkle was a dominate force in the NWC for the past few seasons. I have to figure identifying offensive linemen is tough because there is no direct published stats attached to offensive linemen but coaches in the conference, coaches in the Wildcat program, and his fellow players all knew that #55 wasn’t giving up sacks and was constantly moving bodies off the line. Just a great talent that is as respected of a player that you will find.

Now here is where I had an initial gripe with the all-region teams. Taylor Summers being named to the 3rd team as a defensive end. At first I couldn’t believe my eyes. Summers had just as dominate of a season of Wildcat greats of recent memory (Lions, Rix, Ort, Olsen, etc). Teams feared him, sent extra bodies at him, and at times it seemed that #92 couldn’t be blocked on passing downs. Taylor was a force and I have to say that my initial reaction was that I was ticked.

However, instead of just bitching on d3boards.com, like so many posters who feel their player/coach, were robbed of an honor, I sat down and tried to look at this as objective as possible. In the west region alone there are seven conferences and 59 teams in the entire west region so it’s pretty much impossible for the D3.com people to see all of these teams play and really see just how a defensive end could impact the game plan of another team.

This is a very tough duty and I know the reputation of the conference and teams do carry weight, as well as the overall record of the teams in question. So when all things are equal I believe it gets down to the stat sheet and where you measure up. So, I took a look at the stats for the 4 defensive ends in front of Taylor and my initial anger was settled down….for the most part.

Taylor had a great stat line in 2008. In 9 games Summers had 36 tackles (20 solo), 16.5 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 8 quarterback hurries.

1st team Marcus Ball from UW-Stout had 68 total tackles (43 solo), 24.5 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, quarterback hurries were not listed. Ball did this in ten games. That’s a hell of a stat line and Ball did do this in the WIAC so I sure that carries some extra weight.

The other 1st teamer was Brock Arndt from Redlands and in 9 games put up 57 tackles (27 solo), 22.5 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 15 quarter back hurries. Again, that’s a really impressive stat line.

When you compare Taylor’s line with Ball and Arndt you can see why they were pick in front of Taylor. Even though Ball played in one more game the area that I think probably landed them their 1st team spots were solo and total tackles. I really don’t have room to argue this point and will concede that those two are very deserving of the 1st team honor.

However, I think where I might have more footing in my argument is the 2nd team selection of Aaron Mills from Bethel (MIAC). Mills had a great season but I don’t think his stat line is more impressive that Taylor’s. In 10 games Mills had 48 tackles (35 solo), 15 tackles for loss, 10.5 sacks, 0 forced fumbles, and 0 quarterback hurries.

The other 2nd team pick was Jacob Calderon from Cal Lutheran. Calderon’s line in 9 games is 67 tackles (39 solo), 19.0 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 2 quarterback hurries.

Calderon did have a significant number of solo tackles but Summers did have 6 more hurries that Calderon. On the surface, it appears that both Summers and Calderon had really similar season but both look like they had better lines that Aaron Mills, in my opinion. Yes, Mills did have more tackles that Summers but Summers played in one less game had had more TFL’s, sacks, forced fumbles, and crushes Mills in the hurry category. Shouldn’t sacks, TFL’s, hurries carry more weight that just tackles? Um…yes.

Ultimately, what I think held back Summers a bit beside the total tackles numbers is the fact the NWC coaches put the dreaded “CO-“ defensive player of the year tag on Taylor. I’ve stated this before but Summers was hands down the best defensive player in the conference and it wasn’t even close. However, the coaches traditionally like to give the conference winner the spoils and they split the award to Willamette linebacker Tommy Grove.

Well, D3football.com was live and in-person at the UWW/Willamette game and needless to say the NWC Co-Defensive player of the year got ran on for 254 yards by the Hawks 2nd string RB who was starting his 1st game of his career. I can see how D3.com might have thought, “if this is the co-best defensive player of the year then I’m not sure if the other guys the coaches picked is on that 1st team level?” You think that line of thinking is crazy? Well, where is Tommy Grove on the all-region defense team? He’s not, but his teammate and the other linebacker "non co-defensive player of the year" Jack Bevins is. I rest my case on that line of thinking.

Regardless, I have great respect for D3football.com and the way they pick their teams. They don’t put 15 running backs on the 1st team, no, they make the hard choice and say “here are the players who we deem the best” and go with it. Congratulations to all the players who made all-region. It’s a great honor and you all should be very proud of it.

Linfield's Brett Elliott Feature on Fox News

Linfield’s Brett Elliott was featured on Portland’s Fox 12 last night (Thanks for the head’s up Kelly Bird). The story catches up with the former all everything Quarterback as Brett spent this past season on the Linfield sideline as the ‘Cats quarterback coach. It’s a nice 3 minute feature and you can view it here on the Fox Video page.

2008 Team Banquet and Awards Recap

Wildcat11 was in attendance at the Linfield Football annual team awards banquet. Traditionally, the team plays the highlight DVD during dinner so I was there to deliver the goods (highlight DVD) to Coach Smith and get to check out the DVD in it’s entirety. I think it turned out pretty darn good and will be entertaining you all during next spring.

The banquet was held at Michelbook Country Club in McMinnville and was a nice way for the ‘Cats to cap off the 2008 season. Granted, the players and coaches would rather have still been practicing and getting ready for the 1^st round of the NCAA’s but it wasn’t in the cards this season.

The staff handed out letters earned, the team awards (which are listed below) and then each senior gets the proper sendoff by their position coach and take home their well worn helmet. It’s always an emotional night for the seniors as the banquet is the final official act as a Linfield football player but the 2008 seniors should be proud of the template they left behind. This group of seniors was outstanding leaders off and on the field and showed their true character after a bitter loss during conference play. I’ve mentioned it before but the seniors rallied the team and finished their season strong and on a total upswing. People of lesser character wouldn’t have responded like that and it speaks to the success that this group of players will have once they leave Linfield and start their post-college lives.

Congratulations ‘Cats and I was very honored to have been a small part of this group. Outstanding players and people and they saw this whole thing through from start to finish.

2008 Team Awards (All awards are voted on by the players on the team (except for the "John LaRosa Dedicated To Excellence award which is selected by the coaching staff):

Best Defensive Scout Player- Brett McKechnie (Soph, DB)

Best Offensive Scout Player- Jon Montalvo (Sr, RB)

Most Improved- Ryan Henderson (So, WR)

Rookie of the Year- Drew Fisher (Fr, Safety)

Best Defensive Lineman- Taylor Summers (Sr, DE)

Best Offensive Lineman- Jared Hinkle (Sr, OT)

Best Defensive Back- Tyler McCann (Sr, Safety)

Co-Best Pass Receiver- John Torsey (Sr) & Travis Masters (Sr)

Best Special Teams Player- Scott Birkhofer (Sr, Place Kicker)

Best Defensive Player- Taylor Summers (Sr, DE)

Co-Best Offensive Player- Travis Masters (Sr, WR) & Reggie Ford (Sr, RB)

Defensive Captain- Alex Tkachuk (Jr, LB)

Offensive Captain- Jared Hinkle (Sr, OT)

John LaRosa- Dedication to Excellence Award- Brent Desmond (Sr, OT)

Most Inspirational- Reggie Ford (Sr, RB)

Linfield "L" Award - Morgan Kocher (Sr, OL)

"Willis Baker" Team Most Valuable Player - Taylor Summers (Sr, DE)

NWC hands out honors and almost get it totaly right!

My biggest beef with the NWC all-conference team over the past years is that waaaaay too many guys get selected on the 1^st teams and it’s really diluted the honor to many over the years and personally I think it has hurt the conference in terms of using this NWC team as guide for outside SIDs/Media in selecting All-Americans in the world of Division III. However, it seems that the coaches made an effort to not open the flood gates and did a much more respectful job in handing out the honors.

Linfield landed 15 members to the NWC team with 7 ‘Cats being honored as 1^st team selections. Leading the pack was Linfield senior Defensive End Taylor Summers as Taylor was named Co-Defensive player of the year with Willamette linebacker Tommy Grove (Sr.). Now I do have a slight bone to pick with the ‘Co-“ honors the coaches handed out.

First, Summers was hands down the best defensive player in the conference and it wasn’t even close. Sorry but it’s the truth. Also, Whitworth’s Adam Anderson blew EVERYONE away in the conference with his total year stats at running back but he also shared the conference’s offensive player of the year honor with Willamette flanker Merben Woo.

Now, I get what the coaches are saying. Anderson and Summers were the biggest standouts on each side of the ball but Willamette was the conference champion and should get the spoils of title. You can make and argument for the approach the coaches took but if we’re going to truly determine who’s the single best player on each side of the ball, I don’t think you can say Woo and Grove were better and Whitworth’s Anderson and our Taylor Summers body of work. I know what you're thinking, "Wildcat11 you're a Linfield mark so of course you're going to take this stance". I can see why you might think that but that's really not how I feel. If the 'Cats won the conference title I would still want to coaches to give the award to the single player that deserves it. Bottom line. Anyways, congratulations to all four of those players on their great year and honor.

Other ‘Cats who made repeat visits as 1^st teammers are Travis Masters (Sr, WR), Jared Hinkle (Sr, OT), and Scott Birkhofer (Sr, Kicker). Making their first appearances as 1^st team performers were Aaron Heston (Jr, OL), and linebacker Alex Tkachuk (Jr, LB).

Four ‘Cats landed on the conference 2^nd team and they were Reggie Ford (Sr, RB), John Torsey (Sr, WR), Paul Nishizaki (Soph, DT), and Jaymin Jackson (Jr, LB). Receiving Honorable Mentions were Brent Desmond (Sr, OT), Jason Bolin (Sr. OG), Dean Kongsile (Sr, Rover), Tyler McCann (Sr, Safety), and Scott Olsen (Sr, DT).

Besides the “Co” POY argument I really think the coaches did a fine job in bring back the prestige in the Conference award and should be commended for making hard decisions in distinguishing the best of the conference’s best.

2008 NWC ALL-Conference awards

Cats Win! Linfield doughnut the Lutes Again.

Sorry that this is about a full week late but Wildcat11 has been hit by the cold bug that’s been wildfiring around the Pacific Northwest and I’ve been on a mad dash to wrap up the 2008 Linfield Highlight DVD for the team banquet that was held this past Thursday night. However a shut out over the Wildcat’s long time rival deserves a recap.

The Good

-Finishing Strong. All phases of the game were clicking last Saturday and that is a direct result of the Senior leadership on this year’s team. After the ‘Cats playoff hopes were dashed it would have been very easy for any team to lay down for the rest of the season and after a hang over game up at UPS the ‘Cats snapped out of their funk and put out two fine efforts to finish out the year.

-Travis Masters. If you are a senior that is the way that you want to go out. The 1^st team all-NWC receiver was masterful (excuse the pun) on the day in rushing for 135 yards, receiving for 79 yards, and racking up another 59 yards on one kick off return and scoring two touchdowns (one rushing, one receiving). Doing the quick math that is a total day of 273 yards of offensive output. Very nice.

-Offensive Line. The big boys once again set the tempo for the ‘Cats offense and helped pile up 494 yards of total offense. The ‘Cats rushed for an avg 7.4 yards, 3 for 3 in red zone chances, and only had to punt 3 times on the day.

-Cole Franklin. Usually when we talk about Cole it’s about his ability to create with his feet but it was Cole’s arm that was the weapon for Linfield. The quarterback was 15-26 for 194 yards and laid out two super impressive touchdown passes. As he matures as a passer it will make his scramble ability that much more of a weapon.

-Total Defense. Just awesome on the day. Linfield shut out PLU for the 2^nd consecutive year and just dominated PLU in every single aspect. The ‘Lutes only had 2 net rushing yards on the day and would have been in the negative is not for a scramble on the last PLU possession of the day. Linfield’s young defensive backfield had another impressive performance in corralling a solid PLU receiving corp.

-Defensive Line. 9 Sacks. A major strength of Linfield all season long was the play of the defensive line and on the last game of the season they showcased their talent in just making PLU’s passing game miserable. The 9 sacks were spread out over 6 different defenders and being former Linfield defensive lineman I couldn’t have been happier.

The Bad.

None. 45-0 over the ‘Lutes and there is nothing I can pick on in terms of poor performance.

The Ugly.

I would talk about the old carpet at Sparks Stadium but that was a replaced with a new field turf rug and a new scoreboard. The upgrade was needed and it really gave Sparks a fresh feeling to it. PLU is at a disadvantage in not having a true home stadium and I think PLU knows it and I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next few years they will be breaking ground on their campus in Parkland.

Great job 'Cats!

Around the CatdomeO'sphere

Time for your weekly lump of news links from around the NWC.

Linfield Linebackers are good people (News-Register)

Bearcats lock up a piece of NWC crown and playoff invitation (Statesman Journal)

Logger fake punt even fakes out their own punter (the News Tribune)

Menlo Twin Tight Ends come to the end of the road (Mercurynews.com)

‘Lutes punter getting his kicks (Tacoma News Tribune)

Rats swamp the Pios (Spokesmanreviews.com)

Bonus Article:
Darwin’s Natural Section at work in LSU/Alabama fan dispute (Alabama.com)

Week 10: NWC Pick ‘Em

Last chance in the old NWC Pick ‘Em contest and WC11 still has a chance to move up to the 3rd spot. It’s been a boat race this year as it feels like I’ve been standing still in 4th place. I did type too soon as my boy Bluenote fell from grace as Monrovia Cat who has been on the cusp was finally able to overtake the Blue one. (You’re still my boy, Blue!)

If you want to check out the NWC pick ‘em thread on D3boards.com you must be a registered member and it only takes a minute to get a profile set up…just ask the Willamette bandwaggon fans. :)

So here’s my last picks of the year.

Kavin Williams featuring the backup group known as the Puget Sound Loggers over Lewis & Clark. The good news for L&C is that they have made some improvement on the field this year and look to get more recruits in. The bad news is that they’re still Lewis and Clark and the NWC is returning a glut of talent next year. Oh, about this weekend’s game…..the Loggers handle the Pios.

Willamette over Menlo. If we kept track of moral victories then the Oaks would have won the conference title this season as they’ve been so close all year long of breaking through. I expect the Oaks to be respectable here but Willamette is playing for being alone on top of the NWC and for playoff home games. Way too much on the line for Speckman’s team to fall down on their face now.

Bonus Game: Saint John’s @ Carleton. This is for all the MIAC and playoff marbles out in the Minnesota conference. Both teams stand 5-2 in conference and 7-2 overall. The winner goes home and drinks PBR all winter long while the other punches their ticket to the dance. While Carleton might be the better team I do think the old man (SJU Coach Gags) will have some adjustments in his back pocket that will see the Johnnies through. SJU escapes with the MIAC title.

Game 9 Preview: Linfield @ Pacific Lutheran

Sparks Stadium up in Puyallup, Washington is Linfield’s final destination this season and it could be a real treat of a game. PLU’s youth is starting to produce while the ‘Cats are looking to cap their season on the right foot after a fine effort last week versus Western Oregon. Look, there is a huge difference between 5-4 and 6-3 for Linfield, the players, and its fans. This is a huge game, in fact, I’m saying this is a must-win for Linfield to close out the season and set the stage for 2009. This is no time for the “what if’s” of 2008 as the ‘Cats just need to work on playing a great Linfield style game.

Know Your Foe

-Lutes. Pretty self explanatory as “Lutes” is short for “Lutherans”. However for those of you that are new to Linfield and NWC football, PLU had a different mascot all the way up to 1970’s. Before the name change, PLU was known as the “Knights”. Crazy huh? Knights just don’t fit at all with the jolly feel good PLU football team. Sort of like before Linfield officially adopted “Wildcats” our athletic teams used “Baptists” as the teams’ nickname.

While the football game is played up at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup, Washington don’t go looking for the PLU campus near the stadium. The university is actually located 15 minutes West of Sparks in Parkland, Washington. While PLU has a nice little campus, Parkland is a good place to go if you want to get mugged.

Per Wikipedia: As of February 2008, PLU had a student population of 3,443 and approximately 280 full-time faculty. It currently consists of the College of Arts and Sciences (consisting of the Division of Humanities, the Division of Natural Sciences, and the Division of Social Sciences), the School of Arts and Communication, the School of Business, the School of Education and Movement Studies, and the School of Nursing.

Founded in 1890 by Scandinavian immigrants to further Lutheran higher education in the Pacific Northwest, PLU is an institution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The school merged with Everett's Columbia College in 1920, became a two-year school, and resumed operations as Pacific Lutheran College. Spokane College merged with Pacific Lutheran College nine years later. PLC resumed awarding four-year degrees in 1939. Pacific Lutheran gained university status in 1960. PLU retains strong ties with its Scandinavian heritage, having been visited multiple times by Norwegian and Swedish monarchs and the Norwegian Parliament.

Wildcat11’s Keys To Victory

-Contain PLU’s Greg Ford. The sophomore has been the NWC’s biggest playmaking and home run threat this season. PLU is going to do their best to try to get Ford the ball in open space so it’s imperative for the ‘Cats to pay special attention to him. If Ford is able to get off then it’s going to be a fight to the end for Linfield.

-Pressure on Michael Bryne. PLU is dead last in the conference with only 43 total rushing yards a game. That’s a crazy stat and should tell you everything you need to know about the ‘Lutes game plan; throw, throw, and throw some more. Linfield has to put a premium on its pressure again this week, but at the same time you have to honor all of the slip/under screens that I’m sure PLU is going to use to try to keep Linfield’s front defenders honest.

-Protect our Quarterbacks. PLU is second in the conference in total sacks with 21 and I’m sure the ‘Lutes are going to be throwing the Kitchen sink at us in passing situations. While the Lutes may not be huge they should be plenty fast and will try to create havoc upfront with their pressure scheme.

-Punish PLU on the Ground. If Linfield is going to control this game then we have to be able to consistently run the ball between the tackles and on the edges. The offense needs to come to play this Saturday because PLU does have a few home run threats.

-A Commitment to Finish Strong. The Linfield Seniors need to take responsibility here and make sure the team’s mind is right and the sole focus on Saturday is going up to Sparks Stadium and playing the ‘Cats best game of the year. It would be easy to slip and phone it in and if Linfield has that approach on Saturday it could wind up being a fatal error. Remember: Start To Finish.

Prediction

-‘Cats by 10. PLU’s offense that hurt them so bad at the beginning of the year has started to come into shape with the development of the PLU wide receiver crop. PLU has nothing to lose and everything to gain this weekend and that makes for a dangerous opponent. However, I believe Linfield will be focused on the task at hand and will be too physical up front defensively to every allow PLU QB Michael Bryne to ever get in a rhythm. I look for Linfield to bang out some long drive and salt this game away in the 2nd half. Let’s finish strong ‘Cats!