I like to think that when the founders of Pomona and Whittier Colleges decided on their respective mascots they had in mind a gentlemanly crossword puzzle league because they really are not appropriate names for football teams. Chicago Bears vs. New York Giants- Yes! Houston Texans vs. Tenessee Titans- hmmm, not quite... Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens vs. Whittier Poets- really? That said this past saturday's competition was a real barn burner, jam-packed with excitement and surprise.
From the opening drive the Sagehens absolutely dominated, with Jake "the Snake" Caron connecting on a 44-yard TD pass to his high school teammate R.J. Maki. Dirty Dan followed this up with a flawless extra point, and a 54 yard boot down to the Whittier 11. These two kicks looked extremely routine and I think at this point in the year Dan has alot of confidence in kickoffs and extra points.
Next drive same result. Touchdown R.J. Extra point up and good. 56 yard kickoff to the 9. No problem for the blonde bomber.
Two plays later, Senior Cornerback Tyler Barbour gets a great read on a short slant route, cuts in front of the receiver, intercepts it and weaves through a sea of Poets for the Sagehens third touchdown. Another easy extra point for Dan, a 52 yard kickoff, and the Hens are up 21-0.
On the next Sagehens drive Dirty Dan lined up for a 35-yard field goal attempt which was blocked easily by an untouched poet cruising through the middle of the line. After turning the tape of the kick over to the LAPD Advanced Forensics Laboratory, I learned that Dan's claim, "it felt good" was in fact justified. Alas, we can only hope that next time the glorious life of the ball as it soars off of Dan's foot will not be snuffed out with such barbaric haste.
After a Whittier touchdown and a missed Poets extra point attempt, the Sagehens scored on what was easily the sloppiest succesful trick play I've ever seen. Caron throws a lateral over R.J's head. R.J. one hands it, whirls around and throws it back to Jake. Jake drops this pass, chases after the live ball, picks it up and whips a 50 yard bomb into triple coverage. After a bunch of poorly executed trickery the entire Poets secondary is draped all over WR Kevin Kelley who skies over the lot of them for a heroic TD. Did we have to throw 2 sloppy laterals before we threw a bomb to Kelley? No, but it sure made it cooler.
Second Half Highlights:
Dan sort of makes a special teams tackle when the Whittier return man gets tripped up near midfield and falls forward into the punishing, vice-like grip of Dangerous Dan Drehmel.
Whittier scores three times in final 5:45 bringing them to within seven, and leaving them with the painful knowledge that if they had been able to defend our poorly executed, and breathtakingly comedic trick play at the end of the first half this one would have gone to overtime. Sagehens 42 Poets 35.
So far this year Dan is 18/22 on extra points and 2/3 on field goals. Excluding the two kicks that were blocked easily, Dan is 19/22 and 2/2. These numbers put him 4th in the league in scoring among kickers. Mason Crosby-esque? No, not really. But at this point Dan is kicking as well as he has all season and may well be in the upper-tier of SCIAC kickers.
Next week the Hens take on the Redland Bulldogs, the undisputed kings of sideline spirit, pregame antics, and general "rah rah" attitude. By my official count Redlands has 95 players on the roster. So if you happen to like seeing a hundred or so guys scream a lot, curse, slap each other on the butts and bump their heads together, than Redlands, my friend, is the team for you! On a sidenote, Redlands CUT more players than we have on our team so it's not hard to imagine how a Sagehen upset might result in some kind of testosterone-induced postgame meltdown on the Bulldogs sideline.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Nightmare On 6th Street
The good news: new photos are up, accessible here: http://www.physical-education.pomona.edu/mens/football/roster.shtml. Highlights include, Robert McNitt (dashing), Andy Russell (flirtatious), Brian Opritza (playful), Kareem Smedley (ready to throw down) and Joseph Chiusano (too cool for facial expressions). Last but not least, Dirty Dan himself.
The bad news: the Hens got pummelled on the road at Cal Lutheran and then lost a strange one at Laverne. Adding insult to injury (actually, the other way around...) starting middle linebacker and punter Max Reed, starting tight end Bobby McNitt and starting safety Sam Littleton all got hurt. Even Dan was not left wholly unscathed as he is nor sporting a small bruise on the inside of his arm (more on this later).
First the game at Cal Lu. I was filming this one from the "coaches box" which at Cal Lu is a terrifying hydraulic-powered lift that sways in the wind. I may have heard a few lonely exclamations come from the coaches which are printable here, but If so I don't remember them. That should give you some idea of how well the game went. After a dismal 24-0 start, the Sagehens finally hit paydirt as Jake "the Snake" Caron wriggled into the endzone for a 1 yard touchdown. Our hero promptly jogged off the bench and hammered the point after attempt into the left upright, leaving it shaking even as he returned for the kickoff. Very similar to his failed Lewis & Clark effort, except that was a playful jab at the upright thrown by a featherweight, and this one was a titanic left to the chin that left the post convulsing like a chihuahua in a meat locker. Not pretty. With only 14 seconds left, Dan crushed a low line drive that nailed a hapless Cal Lu special teamer in the leg. Unfortunately the Hens could not recover and it will be forever remembered in the record books as "Dan Drehmel kickoff 15 yards to the P-P45, downed."
The second half was a bit more promising for Dirty Dan, but the Sagehens never got back into the game. Dan's two kickoffs were two of his best, sent to the 8 and 5 yard lines respectively, one of which was extremely well placed toward the corner of the endzone and resulted in a touchback. He also converted his only extra point attempt, which he credited to being "warmer" than his first try.
Despite a ridiculous 16 catch, 227 yard day for sophomore receiver R.J. Maki (who also holds for Dirty Dan), the Hens fell to Laverne in a shootout 45-37. This one was a real barnburner including Dan's second field goal, his 3rd and 4th missed extra points, his first tackle, his first real penalty an onside kick and a fake onside kick.
Afer nailing a 21-yarder and an extra point with ease, things started getting weird for Dan when Fullback Andy Russell scored to put the Hens on top 16-10. Earlier in the game TE Bobby McNitt went down with an ankle injury, and Bobby also happens to be one of the guards on the extra point unit. Nobody told Bobby's replacement, promising freshman defensive end Joe Chiusano which way to block, so the hulking mass that is "Jarrod Davis" burst through the Sagehen line completely untouched and to his surprise, blocked Dan's kick with ease.
The weirdness continued in the 4th quarter after WR Kevin Kelley caught a touchdown pass to bring Pomona Pitzer within 9. Dirty Dan pushed the extra point wide right, something that in the hundreds of kicks I've seen him take he rarely ever does. This mistake was followed by a booming 60 yard kickoff. Somehow the coverage team lost contain on the outside, and the Laverne return man burst to the outside only to be met face to face with Dirty Dan. Dan later described R. Keawekane as "really fast." However that didn't stop our hero from seeling off the angle, grabbing the Laverne speedster by the back of the jersey and wrestling him to the grass at the Sagehen 33. Having never seen such an act of extreme physical violence perpetrated by a kicker, one referee decided to flag Dan for a 15-yard personal foul, claiming it was a horse-collar tackle. Finally, with 11 seconds left Dan took a crack at an onside kick which though a decent effort, was easily recovered by Laverne. Final score: 45-37, one small bruise for Dan, one bruised ego for R. Keawekane.
This week the Sagehens look to get back on track as they return home (finally) to face the Whittier Poets. Richard Nixon went to Whittier so that about says it for them. Be there at 1:00 PM Pacific time on Saturday as Dirty Dan lays the hurt on kick returners everywhere, and hopefully stops missing extra points!
The bad news: the Hens got pummelled on the road at Cal Lutheran and then lost a strange one at Laverne. Adding insult to injury (actually, the other way around...) starting middle linebacker and punter Max Reed, starting tight end Bobby McNitt and starting safety Sam Littleton all got hurt. Even Dan was not left wholly unscathed as he is nor sporting a small bruise on the inside of his arm (more on this later).
First the game at Cal Lu. I was filming this one from the "coaches box" which at Cal Lu is a terrifying hydraulic-powered lift that sways in the wind. I may have heard a few lonely exclamations come from the coaches which are printable here, but If so I don't remember them. That should give you some idea of how well the game went. After a dismal 24-0 start, the Sagehens finally hit paydirt as Jake "the Snake" Caron wriggled into the endzone for a 1 yard touchdown. Our hero promptly jogged off the bench and hammered the point after attempt into the left upright, leaving it shaking even as he returned for the kickoff. Very similar to his failed Lewis & Clark effort, except that was a playful jab at the upright thrown by a featherweight, and this one was a titanic left to the chin that left the post convulsing like a chihuahua in a meat locker. Not pretty. With only 14 seconds left, Dan crushed a low line drive that nailed a hapless Cal Lu special teamer in the leg. Unfortunately the Hens could not recover and it will be forever remembered in the record books as "Dan Drehmel kickoff 15 yards to the P-P45, downed."
The second half was a bit more promising for Dirty Dan, but the Sagehens never got back into the game. Dan's two kickoffs were two of his best, sent to the 8 and 5 yard lines respectively, one of which was extremely well placed toward the corner of the endzone and resulted in a touchback. He also converted his only extra point attempt, which he credited to being "warmer" than his first try.
Despite a ridiculous 16 catch, 227 yard day for sophomore receiver R.J. Maki (who also holds for Dirty Dan), the Hens fell to Laverne in a shootout 45-37. This one was a real barnburner including Dan's second field goal, his 3rd and 4th missed extra points, his first tackle, his first real penalty an onside kick and a fake onside kick.
Afer nailing a 21-yarder and an extra point with ease, things started getting weird for Dan when Fullback Andy Russell scored to put the Hens on top 16-10. Earlier in the game TE Bobby McNitt went down with an ankle injury, and Bobby also happens to be one of the guards on the extra point unit. Nobody told Bobby's replacement, promising freshman defensive end Joe Chiusano which way to block, so the hulking mass that is "Jarrod Davis" burst through the Sagehen line completely untouched and to his surprise, blocked Dan's kick with ease.
The weirdness continued in the 4th quarter after WR Kevin Kelley caught a touchdown pass to bring Pomona Pitzer within 9. Dirty Dan pushed the extra point wide right, something that in the hundreds of kicks I've seen him take he rarely ever does. This mistake was followed by a booming 60 yard kickoff. Somehow the coverage team lost contain on the outside, and the Laverne return man burst to the outside only to be met face to face with Dirty Dan. Dan later described R. Keawekane as "really fast." However that didn't stop our hero from seeling off the angle, grabbing the Laverne speedster by the back of the jersey and wrestling him to the grass at the Sagehen 33. Having never seen such an act of extreme physical violence perpetrated by a kicker, one referee decided to flag Dan for a 15-yard personal foul, claiming it was a horse-collar tackle. Finally, with 11 seconds left Dan took a crack at an onside kick which though a decent effort, was easily recovered by Laverne. Final score: 45-37, one small bruise for Dan, one bruised ego for R. Keawekane.
This week the Sagehens look to get back on track as they return home (finally) to face the Whittier Poets. Richard Nixon went to Whittier so that about says it for them. Be there at 1:00 PM Pacific time on Saturday as Dirty Dan lays the hurt on kick returners everywhere, and hopefully stops missing extra points!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Adventures In D3 Football Heaven
Before I try and wax poetic about the modern marvel that is the Erin J. Lastinger Athletics Complex, allow me to provide you with some raw numbers:
2007 Chapman University endowment: $175 Million
Cost of Erin J. Lastinger Athletics Complex: $37 Million (21% of endowment!!!!!!!!!!)
2007 Pomona College endowment: $1.762 Billion
Cost of Merritt Field & Raines Center (estimated): $2,250 (depression era dollars) & 160 acres of "good orange growing land"
21% of Pomona's endowment = $370 Million; to put this in perspective Dirty Dan's own University of Minnesota recently spent a mere $248.7 Million on it's new state-of -the-art facility.
As fate had it October 4, 2008 was opening night at Ernie Chapman Stadium, and Chapman brought all of it's recruits and alumni out for the show. Halftime included cheerleaders, a band, fireworks, and Pete The Panther, Chapman's funky disco-dancing mascot. Sagehen fans are generally treated to Cecil Sagehen jogging around haplessly, 2 -3 varsity basketball players playing catch, and if they are incredibly lucky, a drunken streaker.
More importantly, the atmosphere at the game was absolutely electric. More than 2,000 fans showed up for the game and they would not shut up. Some genius played the same Akon song 3 times over the course of the game and the crowd broke out in spontaneous dance all three times! This should never happen, let alone at a d3 football game. Fireworks, liquored up alumni, pumped-up crowd, constant dancing... sounds more like a party than a sporting event...you probably had to be there.
As for our beloved hero, Saturday's game once again illustrated the paradox of the kicker. As in the Puget Sound game, Dan had very little action. As in the Puget Sound game, Dan was pretty much flawless. As in the Puget Sound game, the Sagehens lost. 88 of Jake "the Snake" Caron's 240 passing yards came on completed hail mary's that ended both halfs. Those completions resulted in 0 points as brave Sagehen receivers were wrestled down at the 10 and 1 yard lines respectively. Apart from it's laughable attempts at playing prevent, Chapman's defense dominated.
The Sagehens mustered only 3 points on Dan's first field goal of the year, a 26 yard kick of glorious height and frightening speed. Even the most hardened Chapman fan couldn't help but wonder at how Dirty Dan achieved such scientific precision as the ball glided through the center of the uprights. Dan again was asked to kickoff high and short, which he did. The contradictions involved in this strategy are positively maddening: kick it short! (so the other teams designated returners can't catch it) kick it high! (so the other teams designated returners have time to run under it!) net effect: let their best athletes start running at the 20 instead of the 10. Needless to say Dan's kickoff average did not improve.
Special Ultra Platinum Edition Code Red Exclusive Update: Your prayers have been answered! At 1 PM Pacific, on October 11th, Pomona-Pitzer vs. Cal Lutheran will be broadcast live!!!!!!!! http://www.kadytv.com/ first link at the top (date is mislabeled) Be sure to tune in!
2007 Chapman University endowment: $175 Million
Cost of Erin J. Lastinger Athletics Complex: $37 Million (21% of endowment!!!!!!!!!!)
2007 Pomona College endowment: $1.762 Billion
Cost of Merritt Field & Raines Center (estimated): $2,250 (depression era dollars) & 160 acres of "good orange growing land"
21% of Pomona's endowment = $370 Million; to put this in perspective Dirty Dan's own University of Minnesota recently spent a mere $248.7 Million on it's new state-of -the-art facility.
As fate had it October 4, 2008 was opening night at Ernie Chapman Stadium, and Chapman brought all of it's recruits and alumni out for the show. Halftime included cheerleaders, a band, fireworks, and Pete The Panther, Chapman's funky disco-dancing mascot. Sagehen fans are generally treated to Cecil Sagehen jogging around haplessly, 2 -3 varsity basketball players playing catch, and if they are incredibly lucky, a drunken streaker.
More importantly, the atmosphere at the game was absolutely electric. More than 2,000 fans showed up for the game and they would not shut up. Some genius played the same Akon song 3 times over the course of the game and the crowd broke out in spontaneous dance all three times! This should never happen, let alone at a d3 football game. Fireworks, liquored up alumni, pumped-up crowd, constant dancing... sounds more like a party than a sporting event...you probably had to be there.
As for our beloved hero, Saturday's game once again illustrated the paradox of the kicker. As in the Puget Sound game, Dan had very little action. As in the Puget Sound game, Dan was pretty much flawless. As in the Puget Sound game, the Sagehens lost. 88 of Jake "the Snake" Caron's 240 passing yards came on completed hail mary's that ended both halfs. Those completions resulted in 0 points as brave Sagehen receivers were wrestled down at the 10 and 1 yard lines respectively. Apart from it's laughable attempts at playing prevent, Chapman's defense dominated.
The Sagehens mustered only 3 points on Dan's first field goal of the year, a 26 yard kick of glorious height and frightening speed. Even the most hardened Chapman fan couldn't help but wonder at how Dirty Dan achieved such scientific precision as the ball glided through the center of the uprights. Dan again was asked to kickoff high and short, which he did. The contradictions involved in this strategy are positively maddening: kick it short! (so the other teams designated returners can't catch it) kick it high! (so the other teams designated returners have time to run under it!) net effect: let their best athletes start running at the 20 instead of the 10. Needless to say Dan's kickoff average did not improve.
Special Ultra Platinum Edition Code Red Exclusive Update: Your prayers have been answered! At 1 PM Pacific, on October 11th, Pomona-Pitzer vs. Cal Lutheran will be broadcast live!!!!!!!! http://www.kadytv.com/ first link at the top (date is mislabeled) Be sure to tune in!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
*Bye Week Bonanza*
First off a little news from the practice field... Today dan had an extra point blocked in practice and Coach Caron's head almost exploded. In Dan's defense, Sagehen safety Sam Littleton is really, really good at blocking kicks and Sam did spare Dan the ignoble fate of getting steamrolled and having his entire lower body do a 360! (check it out in the #2 highlight of 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOmXUhI2EfQ).
On the other hand, Dan seems to have finally regained his leg strength and is routinely nailing 45 yarders in practice. There is a lesson here for all the young kickers who Dan has inspired, and sunscribe loyally to this fine blog. Do not go to Guatemala, contract a bizarre poisonous skin disease and lose 30 pounds in the offseason as part of a globetrotting, vagabond lifestyle. Not saying Dan did this, just saying you should check out his profile picture on facebook before you go to Guatamala.
Now that he is back in tip-top shape I am more excited than ever to be Dirty Dan's blogger/filmer/coach/agent/manservant. Word is definetly starting to spread about the plucky kid out in Claremont California and I'm expecting that scouts from global football powerhouses such as the New York Dragons and the Montreal Alouettes will probably have some interest in this Saturdays matchup against Chapman University.
More now on Chapman as they are a strange story. Have you ever wondered why the Southern California Athletic Conference (SCIAC) has only 7 football teams while nearby Chapman University is excluded and left like a poor unloved orphan to fend for itself? Lord knows I have! As much fun as this bye week has been it sure seems like 8 teams would make more sense. ..
Turns out Chapman was once a part of SCIAC:
1950 Chapman College begins competition as an associate in baseball, basketball and tennis
1952 Chapman's association ends
That's from the SCIAC website. In all likelihood there was an ugly tennis brawl like you always here about, but your guess is as good as mine. Word on the street is that Chapman football has in the past signed up USC dropouts turned prison inmates, 30 year old men, and Bill Romanowski.
In light of all that lets just hope our hero doesn't have to get too physical with chapman this week.
On the other hand, Dan seems to have finally regained his leg strength and is routinely nailing 45 yarders in practice. There is a lesson here for all the young kickers who Dan has inspired, and sunscribe loyally to this fine blog. Do not go to Guatemala, contract a bizarre poisonous skin disease and lose 30 pounds in the offseason as part of a globetrotting, vagabond lifestyle. Not saying Dan did this, just saying you should check out his profile picture on facebook before you go to Guatamala.
Now that he is back in tip-top shape I am more excited than ever to be Dirty Dan's blogger/filmer/coach/agent/manservant. Word is definetly starting to spread about the plucky kid out in Claremont California and I'm expecting that scouts from global football powerhouses such as the New York Dragons and the Montreal Alouettes will probably have some interest in this Saturdays matchup against Chapman University.
More now on Chapman as they are a strange story. Have you ever wondered why the Southern California Athletic Conference (SCIAC) has only 7 football teams while nearby Chapman University is excluded and left like a poor unloved orphan to fend for itself? Lord knows I have! As much fun as this bye week has been it sure seems like 8 teams would make more sense. ..
Turns out Chapman was once a part of SCIAC:
1950 Chapman College begins competition as an associate in baseball, basketball and tennis
1952 Chapman's association ends
That's from the SCIAC website. In all likelihood there was an ugly tennis brawl like you always here about, but your guess is as good as mine. Word on the street is that Chapman football has in the past signed up USC dropouts turned prison inmates, 30 year old men, and Bill Romanowski.
In light of all that lets just hope our hero doesn't have to get too physical with chapman this week.
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