Tuesday, November 30, 2010

2010 Football Season

The 2010 football season for the Tillamook Cheesemakers was one of a great start and then injuries happened and took its toll on the team. Although the team finished 4-6 and lost a play in game to eventual semi-finalist Gladstone, we will never know for sure what may have been if the players would have remained health. A total of 11 starters missed at least one game with nine starters out of the play in game. What was impressive about this group of young men is how the younger players stepped up and filled in for the players that were hurt and did an incredible job.

One of the best examples of this was the game against Yamhill-Carlton. Our starting quarterback and running back had been hurt in the game the previous week. We were already down seven starters from previous injuries. We put Timber Klahn at QB and Chaz Kulua at the tailback position and, with the rest of the team, rallied around as a group of young men and defeated YC 40-22. It allowed us to go onto the next week with a play-in game against Gladstone.

Although, the season did not turn out like we wanted, there is something to be said about a group of young men staying together and giving all they had for each other, the school and their community. Needless to say, these points may be the best things these young men will take away from their football season.

Monday, December 29, 2008

2008 Football Season

This past football season was a great one for the Cheesemakers.  The team started the year playing MacHi of Milton-Freewater on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Doc Adams field.  When the game was over and the team left the field victorious, they knew it could be a special year and that it was.

The Cheesemakers finished 7 - 3 overall before dropping the opening round game in the state playoffs. There were several high lights in the season but three that stand out are the following.  First, the defeating of the 6th ranked Philomath Warriors at their Philomath.  It was a great high school game and a game that saw Tillamook come back from being behind at half time 7 - 0 and earned a hard fought 19-15 win.  As George Werner stated after the game, "Man, that was intense."  

The second one was defeating Yamhill-Carlton in the first league game. This was an important start as Tillamook had come off a 4 - 1 preseason record but now the games counted for post season play.  After a close first half in which Tillamook lead 19-12, the Cheesemakers took the second half kickoff and scored after controlling the ball for over 9 minutes.  The Cheesemakers then went for the onside kick and recovered the ball.  After the recovery, the team ran off another 5 minutes before YC ever got a snap in the half.  The final score was a 34 -12 win for Tillamook and a great way to start league.

The last high light was the last game of the season at Scappoose.  It was critical for Tillamook as they needed a win to secure a state playoff spot and it would keep Scappoose out of the playoffs for the first time in 12 years.  After trailing at halftime 20 - 14, the Cheesemakers came out with renewed determination and defeated the Indians 29 - 27.