Oregon State Beavers 2010

Oregon State Beavers
are #1!
Jonah Ripoll is the MVP!

Dear OSU Beavers:

What a great regular season for the Oregon state Beaver football team! At the start of the season we set out a number of goals. Some of them we made, others we just barely missed. The #1 Goal was to win the regular season Championship. We can cross that one off our list…WE DID IT! The second goal was to go undefeated. We missed that goal when the referee in the USC game told the other team they could have one more play no matter how much time was left on the clock (I just found that out this week from their coach). Time had expired by 16 secondswhen they ran the play . Goal #3 was to allow no more than 30 points on defense during the regular season. Two of our last three games scuttled that effort but we still did okay and only allowed 49 points the whole season which is just over 5 points per game. I am proud of the whole effort.

With one first place trophy now in hand we will focus on winning the playoffs. We will practice on Wednesday, Nov 17th, 2010 at Oak at 4:00PM. This will be our last official practice in November. We will take off November 24th and reconvene on Wednesday, December 1 at 4:00PM on the field at Oak once again.

Beavers 44 – Ducks 6 Jonah Ripoll is the M.V.P.

With Troy Michaelsen out with the flu it was up to first grader Jonah Ripoll to step in and run the #1 ranked OSU Beavers offense as they played the Oregon Ducks for the Pac 10 regular season championship. At the beginning of the game we dedicated the effort to Troy and Parker Michaelsen put on the best game face I have ever seen from him. The game plan called for the Beavers to get a couple of scores up on the board and hold the Ducks to zero points. The first part went pretty well with Jonah rotating well out from center and handing the ball to Parker. Parker took the ball 45 yards on the first play from scrimmage and scored but the Ducks answered right back putting a score up on the board. Not to be out done Parker scored again on the second play from scrimmage in our second series on offense. Once we reached 20-6, the plan was to have Parker get us some breathing room away from our own 5 yard line and then spread the ball around to the first year players. I had not anticipated that Parker would score every single time he touched the ball in the game. He racked up an impressive 257 yards rushing but I really wanted to get the ball into the hands of the players who have not yet scored this season. While I was happy Parker put in such a fantastic effort it was not my intent to have him rack up the score the way he did.

The real story though was the interaction between Jonah and all of the other players. He and Jesse worked on snaps during the week and it really showed. Jesse snapped the ball extremely well all game. Jonah did not drop a single snap. Jonah rotated the proper direction on each play and continued the motion out to the three hole for a perfect fake. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but it is a big reason why play #1 worked so well. The Duck’s best player (#36) consistently chased Jonah and Jake out to the left from his rushing position and this allowed the one hole player a lot of room to run in a now spread defense. All of the players ran their patterns the whole game and it made a big difference in the success of each play.

Jesse McClintock also had a great game. He pulled two flags and had two good runs with the ball. JT Howard rushed on defense and also got a flag! On offense JT ran the ball very well too. Musashi got moved on defense up to the line of scrimmage and was able to pull flags at critical moments during the game. Musashi only got the ball one time on offense but made the most of it with a seven yard scamper.

Gavin and Jake both had stand out games defensively. Jake pulled seven flags and saved at least two touchdowns by the Ducks. If the Ducks were not frustrated enough by our rush then Jake’s interception on the Duck’s second passing attempt really got their coaching staff torqued. Jake retuned that interception for a touchdown! Gavin also put points on the board with a sweet run on play #4 from the 12 yard line that found him covering about 25 yards to get into the end zone. (Great run Gavin)

While just about everything went our way during the game there were some unfortunate ugly moments. With the Duck’s coaching staff getting increasingly frustrated with their inability to stop Parker on offense the words started to fly from the sideline in our direction. This only served to rededicate my focus to putting as much pressure on them on defense as possible. At the beginning of the second half their coach asked me if I was going to bring the pressure again and before I could answer he said “Let’s see how that works out for you…” little did I know that he had made some adjustments at halftime. I too had to make an adjustment and take Parker off the rush and move him to right cornerback. Jonah Ripoll took over at the rushing position. Their fastest and biggest player (#36) lines up at right tailback on offense to start off their first possession of the second half. He charges right at Jonah Ripoll who is approximately ½ his size and takes a huge swing at Jonah’s head clearly trying to take him out with a cheap shot. Fortunately, he barely missed. My complaints to the referee (Who did a very good job keeping a lid on things when they got heated) fell upon deaf ears. It was hard to see what happened until you watched the replay on video. In my experience, players don’t make decisions to do anything like that unless told to do so by the coach. If there are any doubts in your mind about what the player’s intent was, just watch this short 27 second video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXGA35D9_Ew You can reach the league at chrismsr@earthlink.net if you would care to comment on this play.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the second coach from the Ducks runs out onto the field to stop a play and right at Parker Michaelsen running the ball. Seconds later he is in my face dropping the “F” bomb in front of the kids. Naturally bad tempered or not, that sort of behavior must not be tolerated by the league. The FNL has been sent the video and I have asked them to take whatever action they feel appropriate to curtail future behavior of this sort. I apologize to all of the parents and players for having to witness this sort of reprehensible coaching.

Back to the team and our bright future! Congratulations to everyone (Especially our game MVP Jonah) on an amazing season. Please practice passing and catching as well as snapping if you are a center. I went back to the drawing board for a few plays for the playoffs and will send those to you before the next practice. Drop me a note if you have any questions!

See you all next Wednesday on the field!

Musashi Yamkaka is the MVP!

Oregon State Beavers are #1!

Oregon State Beavers 8 - Stanford Cardinal 0
Musashi Yamanaka is the MVP!

Dear OSU Parents and Players:

I have had a crazy busy weekend and the week does not look much better for me. I will try to get out a complete game recap out but in the meantime here are my notes/observations from our hard fought win with Stanford…

Musashi Yamanaka played an awesome game and was robbed of a touchdown by the referee who accidently blew his whistle even though Musashi had both flags still on and was gone to the end zone if not for the “peep” from the official. Musashi also had some incredible flag grabs! He was our MVP this week!

Parker Michaelsen was, well, Parker Michaelsen. Proud of ya son. Touchdown and extra points both ended up in his hands.

Jake Hardesty: Great runs, great flag pulls and really on target passes. Well done Jake. You listened and followed instructions very well.

Gavin Dykema also had a game saving flag pull as he ran down Spencer Talin from behind. Gavin ran for a critical 1^st down late in the 4^th quarter. Good pass coverage as well.

Troy Michaelsen: He has had better games on offense. A lot of dropped snaps and hand offs. Confusion in the backfield as well when he forgot what play it was. He was over tired and is only in Kindergarten. I’ll cut him slack for the offense since he was the one that put awesome pressure on the Cardinal and forced them to make bad passes.

Jonah Ripoll: Very good containment most of the time and he did really well at quarterback.

Jesse McClintock: Played his heart out this week. The 2^nd graders that are on the Stanford Cardinal and go to Jonah and Jesse’s school had been talking smack all week according to them. I bet they were less vocal today J. Jesse and Jonah! Wear your OSU Beaver Jerseys tomorrow to school if that is allowed…Be proud, you earned the #1 position your team currently occupies on the standings board in the Pac 10.

JT Howard: Tried his heart out as well this week. He always makes me smile.

HUGE CREDIT FOR THIS WEEK’S WIN goes to the coaching staff. Bill Hardesty reminded me to take the play clock down to “1” and then get a time out. Great advice. That was the difference between allowing Stanford one more shot on offense and the clock expiring. THANK YOU BILL! Brian and Ichiro kept the athletes focused and aligned properly on offense and defense and implored Troy to step up his rush (Which he did).

Mr Hardesty Senior ran the video camera and captured critical game film for me to study in advance of our game against the Washington Cougars this week. (Thank you!)

Excellent snack and another “W” made this week’s win especially sweet. Thanks to all of you for your efforts to get the players to practice on time and work with them on our days off passing and catching.; The improvement for many has been remarkable.

You should be very proud of yourselves gentlemen. You shut down a team that was averaging 20.8 points per game and scored more points on them than any other team this year. You deserve to be ranked #1!

Let’s have a great practice this Wednesday and strive to fix the problems we had this week in the game.

You are only #1 as long as you can continue to win.

If anyone has time, there is a very important game going on this week right before our game. The #1 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders take on the thus unscored on Nebraska Cornhuskers at 4:00PM on I think field #11. We are very likely to meet one of these two teams in the season championships if we are good/lucky enough to make it that far. It will be worth getting to the fields at 3:25PM if you want parking J.

Have a great Monday everyone and please take a moment to enjoy your moment I the sun this week!

Game MVP Parker Michaelsen taking it to the HOUSE
Photo Jennifer Dykema

Oregon State Beavers 18- Washington Huskies 6
Parker Michaelsen is the MVP!

Dear OSU Players and Parents:

While we did give up the first points of the season last night on the first play from scrimmage we did do a very good job in general on both sides of the ball the rest of the game. JT Howard improved his containment and Jonah and Troy both pulled some critical flags. The Washington Huskies did a nice job of sealing up the right side of the field most of the night. We made some adjustments and solved the coverage problem. On offense we also made adjustments and everything seemed to work out after the first play. Congrats to everyone for keeping their cool and playing through all four quarters.

Musashi Yamanaka only carried the ball twice but racked up 17 critical yards including a very important first down. Jake got squeezed hard on the sideline but managed 67 yards on six carries. Gavin also played well and pulled key flags and got 28 yards on seven carries from the four hole.

Troy had a mad scramble for 18 yards on one carry and pulled several flag in the backfield and put time pressure on the quarterback repeatedly. This pressure contributed to his older brother Parker's interception that went 47 yards the others way! Jesse snapped the ball extremely well and this was critical in getting each play started quickly.

Jonah Ripoll did a very good job at quarterback in the third quarter and also did a nice job on containment on defense.

Parker Michaelsen only carried the ball five times but racked up our first 100+ yard game by a single athlete. (120 yards on 5 carries) Parker also intercepted a pass at the 1 yard line and went 43 yards the other direction and almost scored his third touchdown of the game. Parker's efforts earned him the MVP award for this week's game.

Next week it will be a battle of the unbeatens when the powerful Stanford Cardinal face the undefeated OSU Beavers in a classic showdown that will likely settle the Pac 10 regular season championship.

Thank you for all of your support and have a great week!

Head Coach Mark Michaelsen

TEAM SPONSOR- THANK YOU EASY MED ONLINE!
Defensive Coordinator	Bill Hardesty
Receiver Coach	Brian Dykema
Quarterback Coach	Mark Michaelsen
Playbook Coach	Ichiro Yamanaka
Uniform Parent	Lisa Hardesty
Team Parent(s)	Jennifer Dykema - Julie Michaelsen
Videographer	Mr Hardesty
Photographer	Jennifer Dykema

Oregon State Beavers 24- Arizona Wildcats 0
Jake Hardesty is the MVP!

Jake Hardesty is the MVP
Photo- Billy Howard

We started out much better on Friday afternoon against the Arizona Wildcats.

On our opening drive we added in the new 130 and fake 130 and as we had hoped resulted in a touchdown almost immediately. Gavin and Jake followed up Parker's Fake 130 touchdown with one each on play #3 and play #4. Parker then added two more (one was called back because the referee thought Parker's flag had been pulled but in fact it had not). On defense Jake Hardesty pulled down an interception and lots of key flags. JT Howard also pulled flags this week as did Musashi Yamanaka. Jonah Ripoll stepped in at quarterback in the third period and did a fantastic job in that position.

Jonah did not commit a single error and had great footwork! Jonah had a good run as well for six yards. Jesse McClintock also played well and snapped the ball well most of the game. Troy had a good 5 yard run and rushed well at times.

We are now at the midpoint in the season and half way to achieving our goal of 9 wins and zero losses. So far this season only five first downs have been allowed and zero points which meets our goals set out on day one. Well done everyone!

The second half of the season will be more difficult as we play three very tough teams in a row. This week we face a very tough Washington team. Their

1-3 record does not reflect how good they are. We need to prepare for them this week and we will work hard on defense to sharpen our pass defense skills. We then face the currently undefeated Stanford Cardinal followed by the currently undefeated Washington State Cougars. Both of these teams have put up some pretty big points against solid opponents. We should be able to defeat both teams if we all play our very best.

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Oregon State Beavers 20- Cal 0
JT HOWARD IS THE MVP!

JT HOWARD IS THE MVP!

Dear OSU Beavers parents and players:

My apologies for the late game summary this week. It has been kinda crazy at the Michaelsen house this week!

Our game this past Friday with the Cal Bears started on a positive note as we won the coin toss and elected to defer possession of the ball until the second half. We had a flat practice this week and the results of that practice reared its ugly head on the first three plays of the game when our ability to pull a flag was severely challenged. Very few teams have gotten many yards on us this year but here we were three plays later and the Cal Bears were knocking on the end zone door. Not good. We took a quick time out to reset the team and change the coverage. That choice seemed to make all of the difference as the Cal Bears went two and out following the time out.

On offense, our pentameter was way off as well. We just couldn’t put it together and were unable to complete a single pass so we went three and out. Something was definitely wrong with our usually dependable offense. Back to defense.

We lined up in a standard set defense and for the first time in the game, shut things down quickly. JT Howard stepped it up big time and got not one but two flags! Stopping the play on or behind the line of scrimmage is critical to controlling the game and JT did a great job at right outside linebacker managing containment.

With the ball back in the OSU Beavers hands Parker started us off with a good ten yard run. The Jake Hardesty lit it up in true “HADESTYM” fashion and went 34 yards down to the 6 yard line. From there, Parker was able to get the ball across the line for our first score. Musashi Yamanaka converted the 2 point conversion on play #4 with an awesome 12 yard run.

Another defensive series and it was halftime

We came out smoking hot at the start of the second half. We changed things up and went with Gavin in the four hole and Jonah Ripoll stepped in at quarterback. Jesse did a great job with a quick snap, Jonah rolled out with a pivot left and Gavin turned on the speed and went to the house on the first play from scrimmage. On the point after touchdown (PAT) we lined Parker up at the 3 hole and he threw to an open Gavin Dykema but the throw was off the mark and out of bounds. We will work on that today at practice.

We continued to shut down Cal on defense and did not allow another first down in the game.

Musashi Yamanaka stepped in at hole #3 for what may have been his first time in the position and promptly took the ball 45 yards for a touchdown. With time winding down on the clock the Beavers would indeed achieve their goal of ZERO points on defense. Our execution on offense and area coverage definitely needs work and again that is something we will work on today on the field.

To wrap up the game against Cal- I was proud of our team as we did achieve the goals we set out for ourselves. Nothing could have happened though on offense without much better snaps by Jesse, JT and Jonah. Some of the positions on offense go unnoticed until there is a mistake and what you will notice about last week’s game is that there were no mistakes on the center-quarterback exchange. Well done guys!

See you today on the field!

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Dear OSU Beavers parents and players:

My apologies for the late game summary this week. It has been kinda crazy at the Michaelsen house this week!

Another defensive series and it was halftime.

We continued to shut down Cal on defense and did not allow another first down in the game.

See you today on the field!

Parents:

Tomorrow is picture day. If there was ever a day to get their uniforms right, tomorrow is it! Please review the following and make sure they have everything:

Oregon State Jersey With Number
Friday Night Lights Black shorts with logo
Black long sleeve undershirt or compression shirt long sleeves
Black socks
Cleats
Mouthpiece (They make orange ones now!)
FIND ALL OF THIS TONIGHT AND PUT IT IN A BAG!

The players need to be on the Southeast end of the Oak field complex no later than 3:45PM. In my experience if you get there after 3:30, parking can be near impossible. There no “Do-overs” for football pictures so if you want them in the team image, please be on time and ready to go at 3:45PM. Coaches: Please wear your shirts and black shorts if you have them. Jennifer- Please bring the team flag, not sure if we can use it or not but if we have it then maybe we can.

Jennifer, Julie and Lisa- You are as much a part of the volunteer effort (Team Moms and Uniform Parent) for this team as the rest of the coaching staff is. Please come and be in the picture provided they will let us (and I believe they will). As a reminder, everything we do, we do “TOGETHER”.

Mr Hardesty Senior- I would love to have you in the picture as well as you have stepped up and done a great job filming the games. Wear something Orange. I have a spare coach’s shirt if you need one for the picture (Kinda big, but orange and black!)

The game starts at 4:55PM. We need to go immediately from the pictures, get flagged up and ready to go.

Give me a call with any questions- 562 301 8334.

Jesse McClintock is the MVP
Practice Makes Perfect. OSU 26 - UCLA 0
Monday, September 27, 2010
Good Monday morning OSU players and parents!

The team played very well on Friday night against the UCLA Bruins. The most noticeable improvement was the lack of mistakes. No dropped snaps. Only one fumble on a handoff. Very few missed flag pulls. A couple of players really stepped up their game and one of them (Jesse McClintock) received the coveted MVP medal for his exemplary effort and performance. Jesse is a first year player and came up just two yards short of his first touchdown of the season! As you can see from the Play Analysis Matrix System (PAMS) report below, everyone carried the ball on Friday night.

Our junior players carried the ball more times than the senior players and everyone got positive yardage when they carried the ball.Exactly half of our players scored this week and that is indeed unusual in FNL. Most of the teams have one or two players that will get 90% of a team’s points. The OSU Beavers can score with all eight players. That gives us a huge advantage and I look forward to taking advantage of that as the season goes on.

Player Stats	Carries	Yards	AVG	Points
Gavin	2	48	24	6
Jake	3	32	10.6667	0
Parker	2	50	25	12
Musashi	1	45	45	6
Troy	2	29	14.5	2
Jesse	4	41	10.25	0
Jonah	3	30	10	0
JT	2	6	3	0
			Total	26

Game recap:

We started off with Troy carrying the ball and he rambled for 24 yards up the left side. Jake then got the call and had a great run for a first down. From there, Gavin had a nice run and got us down to the five yard line. Parker took it across for our first score of the game.

On defense we did not allow a single first down by UCLA. The goal was ZERO points but ZERO first downs is even better!

On our second possession Parker took it 45 yards to score on the first play of the drive. His little brother Troy then converted the two point PAT.

On our second series Jesse and Jake both had good carries. Musashi was the one that was able to close the deal when he went for a touchdown on a great run!

Jonah and JT also had a couple of good carries.

Gavin showed why he is a threat every time he touches the ball. He got the handoff from Troy in the second half, hit the hole and left carnage in his wake. 35 yards later he was in the end zone and there wasn’t a blue jersey within 20 yards of him. SPEED, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE.

It was Jesse McClintock that I think really surprised all of the coaches. Better speed, way more focus and a true breakout performance for him! Great runs with the ball made him our #1 ranked Junior player this week with a 10.25 yard run average. He pulled flags and did a great job on the corner containing the Bruins. Our improvement as a team from last week to this week was tremendous. We did not run the 130, 430 or 634 this week but we will add them into the mix again at practice and if we need them we will utilize them against Cal in our 4:55PM game on Field 10 this Friday.

Thanks for all of your hard work players! See you at practice!

Coach Michaelsen

Wicked Practice for the OSU Beavers
Thursday, September 23, 2010

OSU Players and parents:

It is amazing how far we have come. Seven weeks ago we were struggling to get everyone to practice. Last night we had seven of our eight players present and only JT was missing (He banged his head on Tuesday). We added six new plays, refined our defensive set (Cover 0) and ran through our offensive series. The cone of death found Jesse doing a FANTASTIC job of tracking the runners and he will get flags in the coming games thanks to his hard work in practice. Jonah also stepped up big time at quarterback last night. Proper rotation, good footwork, good ball protection and clean handoffs. This is a huge improvement!

Jake, Parker, Troy, Gavin and Musashi- Please think about your play action motion and your fakes. Jake and Gavin and Parker, remember which plays are run/pass options and think about your reads. What we are running is very complicated and you are all doing a great job of mastering it!

All Players- Please start thinking about our new plays 130, 430 and 634 before you come to the field. We are going to run those a lot tomorrow night, especially with Jesse, Jonah and JT if he is able to play.

Game time is 6:45PM. Please be at the field no later than 6:00PM in the same spot as last week. Please be sure to wear your COMPLETE UNIFORM: (Game is on field 10)

Oregon State Jersey With Number
Friday Night Lights Black shorts with logo
Black long sleeve undershirt or compression shirt long sleeves
Black socks
Cleats
Mouthpiece (They make orange ones now!)
FIND ALL OF THIS TONIGHT AND PUT IT IN A BAG!

If you are running late please be sure to call me: 562 301 8334.

Have a great Friday!

Mark Michaelsen

J.T. Howard also had a pretty good evening on the field. JT only got a chance or two to run but made the most of them. At one point we did get a tad nervous as he turned and ran the other way on play #1 but turned it around for positive yards! JT was also very close to getting several flags in the backfield. That will be another focus point in practice this week. Jonah Ripoll and Jesse were placed in fairly new positions this week on defense and this did cause some confusion. My apologies to the players and the families on this. It wasn't fair to them and it will be a focal point at practice this week as we have made some adjustments to our line up recently. Jesse did get a very good run from the one hole. My apologies again to the Ripoll family. Johan has got huge potential and I failed to tap any of it in our opening game. That will change next week as we challenge the UCLA Bruins at 6:45PM. Please arrive by 6:00PM in the same warm up location as we used this week in advance of our game.

For all of the players: Thank you for working hard and achieving our defensive goal of zero points. I really want to make certain that we get EVERYONE a TOUCHDOWN or Point After Touchdown in next week's game. Once we get just a little bit of breathing room away from our own end zone, everyone who did not score this week is going to get the chance to score against UCLA.

The Oregon State uniforms consist of the following: (Please make sure you athlete wears this gear to each game):

After six weeks of practicing, scrimmaging, reading your playbooks, studying game film and getting our defensive sets squared away the time has come to actually put on our jerseys and get down to business. Tomorrow night's season opener against Arizona State should tell us whether or not we have put in the commensurate amount of effort and time in practice on offense and defense and whether or not we are prepared to achieve our goals on both sides of the ball.

On offense I would like to get every single player a touchdown and on defense the goal is to allow ZERO POINTS.

The game begins at 6:45PM and I would like everyone there around 6:00PM with an absolute cut off of 6:30PM. IF you can't find the team, call me at 562 301 8334. We will be between the fence to Coyote Creek and the fields 9-10-11-12 in the open green area.

The game and snack schedule and practice updates will be listed on this web site. Please be sure to bookmark it.

Tomorrow is opening day and a number of OSU players are going over to Oak to watch games and visit the various food court vehicles. You are welcome to call me at 562 301 8334 if you are trying to find us. I will be on field 11 at 4PM. I will stay at field 11 for the Wolverine game at 4:55PM. Then will move to field 10 at 5:50PM. At 6:45PM I will be on field 12.

Thank you again for all of your support in the pre-season. We should absolutely be competitive this Fall.

There is a 20% chance of rain this afternoon. Just as the FNL games take place rain or shine, so do our practices. In fact it is invaluable to have practiced in the rain before you have to play in the rain as this dramatically changes the game. Unless there is lightning in the area, we play and practice regardless of the weather conditions. Please dress accordingly.

Today’s practice is dedicated to fine tuning the plays we already have in our playbook. There will be a lot of attention to detail and that will require higher than normal focus from the players. Please remember to bring their mouth guard, cleats, and wear black athletic shorts and black shirts along with water or Gatorade/similar.

We may have a scrimmage for the second half of practice today. If your player will not be able to attend today’s practice or you are running late, please call me at 562 301 8334.

For those of you who just can’t get enough football or want to see what Friday Night Lights is all about, this Friday is the opening night and it is an absolutely huge party. Parker and Troy generally come with me and spend the evening running around with their friends and teammates.

GREAT scrimmage tonight everyone. We had contributions from every player on both sides of the ball. Our defense sputtered a bit when the scrimmage first started but we found our footing once the other team got down on the 5 yard line and Parker picked off a pass and went 45 yards for a touchdown.

Musashi had a couple of touchdowns and almost an interception that would have gone for a touchdown!

Jake threw the ball better than he has ever thrown before and that scored points!

Thursday, Sept 2, 2010- Game schedules are now posted and we have a by the first week!

Dear OSU Players and Parents:

Week #4 of the pre-season FNL season brought some very special surprises. With only six players available tonight the pressure was on. Jonah, Jesse, Troy and JT are our three junior players. Each and every one of them ran the ball tonight for positive yards! That IS HUGE***! Congratulations to the parents and the players for a lot of success on both sides of the ball. Jonah and Troy both earned touchdowns on offense and Troy and Parker both had defensive touchdowns thanks to great interceptions.

Our senior players stepped up as well. Musashi ran for not one, but two touchdowns and Parker ran for more than I could count. We also had the first and second junior player touchdown of the season tonight when Johan Ripoll scampered for a thirty five yard touchdown run out of the one hole! Woohooo Jonah! That is absolutely HUGE! Troy Michaelsen broke it big around the left side and scored from hole #1. So proud of you son!

Jonah Ripoll was asked to step up and take control of the offense at quarterback for the first time ever in a game situation. I know his parents had to be tremendously proud of him as he rotated out from under center to hand off numerous touchdowns in very good form. Jesse McClintock made great strides as well and no one made any progress at all over the left side where Jesse and Musashi played a very clean zone defense.

JT also carried the ball for positive yards and not one pass play on his side of the field by the Texas Long horns was successful!

While we still have some work to do, I am confident that we can be competitive in the fall 2010 FNL football league.

Thank you again for supporting the OSU Beavers and I look forward to seeing you all at 3:55PM on the field at Oak Middle School next week. It is a bit of a walk from the parking lot so please be in the Super Direct parking area by 3:45PM. I will send out a map this week to make things easier for those of you who have never been there before!

Have a great weekend folks!

It's a hot day. Drink lots of water.

Dear OSU Beavers:

What a fantastic effort by the entire team! We had six players show up tonight and the OSU Beavers absolutely ROCKED THE HOUSE*!

Here is a quick recap:

The 3rd and 4th grade Washington Huskies started with the ball. After seven consecutive plays and very little ball movement by the Huskies after the 1st and 2nd Grade OSU Beavers SHUT THEM DOWN, the Beavers stepped up and took over on offense.

Play #1 was “Play 1” to Parker. Parker took the ball to the house as an absolutely astonished Washington Huskies team looked on. Parker played IN THE ZONE all night on both sides of the ball. I cannot remember being more proud of him. (Great Job son!) To his credit, Troy took the ball from a clean snap from Jonah and rotated perfectly into a smooth transition with perfect ball placement in Parker’s stomach and Parker was off to the races. On the third play from scrimmage Jake made a really nice pass to Gavin. Unfortunately Gavin lost focus for a moment (THAT* is what Practice is all about) and missed catching the ball. HEY GAVIN! It is a PRACTICE and you did a GREAT JOB!!!! Even Brad OCHO CINCO misses a reception from time to time. You made for it later in the game!!!!!

Gavin later in the game had a fantastic catch when despite an initial bobble focused and hung to the ball. Our passing game is really coming along and as the season progresses I have a feeling that Jake’s range will increase.

My video camera crashed after 10 minutes but we are fortunate to have a back up!

After a brief review of coach Yamanaka’s playbook notes I find the following:

• Successful play. Gain 15 yards
• Successful play. Gain 20 yards
• Successful play. TD
• Successful play. 20 yards and on and on…

The effort the team as a whole has shown so far is the best I have ever seen by a grade 1-2 team.

Musashi had a Touchdown (almost 2 actually!)

Jake had a touchdown, great passes and excellent fakes. Huge gains running the ball as well.

Jonah ran as well as anyone on the team and almost scored a touchdown after what was one of the best runs of the season!

On defense we did an absolutely great job with STANDARD SET and with RED DOG BLITZ! (How fun was that??!!!)

Looking forward…next week we do not have: Jake or Gavin for the scrimmage. We need 100% commitment for the remaining six players if we are to have success. Please let me know if you will not be available for either the practice or the scrimmage.

Have a great weekend folks…is this FUN or what?

Friday the 13th was a very good day for the OSU Beavers as we took on the Wisconsin Badgers. The Beavers definitely looked better in this week's scrimmage. The defense was much more cohesive and the offense had a fantastic first set of downs despite playing the entire scrimmage with just five players. We don't keep score but the final score would have been 28-7 in favor of OSU. The first touchdown came on Fly 3000 when Jake Hardesty hit Gavin Dykema with a 25 yard TD pass.

Nice execution of the play fakes and Jake threw an exceptional pass. Great catch Gavin! On the very next play we ran X-BOX and missed another TD by six inches with a pass that was just barely over thrown to a wide open Parker and went off his finger tips in full stride. A very well thrown ball and a great diving attempt on the catch by Parker.

Jesse, JT and Jonah- Please make sure you are practicing running play #1 between now and the next practice. A little later in series #2 Troy rotated out nicely at quarterback and gets the ball to Jake on play #3 and he takes it 30 yards to the "HOUSE"! (TD). No question about it...Jake is fast!

Things went downhill from there though in series #2 as Troy struggled to get hand offs into the hands of the ball carriers. For a kindergartener though, he is doing fine and I promise to work with him on his footwork a bunch between now and next Wednesday.

In series #3 on our second play Jake once again showed great hip movement and went 35 yards on play #3 all the way to the end zone. We enjoyed a lot of success on defense as well including an interception returned for a touchdown by Gavin. I hope to have some pictures later in the weekend from Jennifer Dykema if she has time and will add them to the story on the team website at: http://www.fnlfootball.com I also have a lot of video but need to create a secure password protected portion of our site before loading those up.

I think just about everyone got a flag and despite only having five players the OSU Beavers did an absolutely fantastic job this Friday in our second scrimmage of the year. We have a very long way to go but at this rate of progress we will be ready for our first game on Friday, September 10, 2010 and should be at least competitive with the other teams in our division. The recap stories like this one will appear on our web page as well each week.

Please feel free to share the site with family and friends. Years from now it will also serve as an archive of your athlete and is fun to look back at when they are teenagers and driving your car! Good times indeed.

Dear OSU Team Parents and players:

As a reminder we have practice today at 4:00PM. Please arrive no later than 3:55PM with your shoes tied and having already gone to the bathroom. Be sure to bring water or Gatorade or similar liquid refreshment. If you find yourself running late or not able to make it, please call me and if I do not pick up just leave a message or send a text: 562 301 8334 .

Your athlete should be helping you assemble what they will wear to practice today. You may want to print this out and have them check off each item in the list themselves as they place the items into a bag.

• Tee shirt
• Lose fit shorts
• Underwear
• Cleats
• Socks
• Mouthpiece
• Water or similar

We still have a few spots open and need to fill them in the volunteer grid:

 TEAM SPONSOR
 VIDEOGRAPHER
 PHOTOGRAPHER

If you have not volunteered for a position yet, please select one of these and send me a note as to which one you would prefer.

Please make sure you have gone over plays 1, 3, and 4 before today’s practice. If you are unsure how to read the playbook then please drop me a note and let me know that and I will make sure I spend 1-1 time with your athlete (and with you if you would like me to) going over what the symbols mean. If you are not familiar with football playbooks it is NOT THAT SIMPLE to figure out. I am here to help!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Dear OSU Team Parents and players:

Today marks the official beginning of the season for FNL. Weekly reminders, practice schedules, and home work will all be included in the weekly updates on the home page of our web site. Please bookmark it. http://www.dryuv.com/osub.htm

Hopefully by now everyone has a ball, cleats, several mouthpieces and has run over their playbooks at least once. Be sure to practice at home with your mouthpiece in. This item can be very distracting if you have never worn one for an extended period of time.

We still have a few spots open and need to fill them in the volunteer grid:

-TEAM SPONSOR
-QUARTERBACK COACH
-VIDEOGRAPHER
-PHOTOGRAPHER

If you have not volunteered for a position yet, please select one of these and send me a note as to which one you would prefer.

NOTE TO ALL: I do tend to over communicate so feel free to hit the "DELETE" key at any time. :-)

HOMEWORK: Please make sure you spend some time between now and Wednesday with your player either running the plays: Play 1, Play 3, Play 4. (All running plays) or at least looking at them in your playbook. Those who demonstrate the ability to execute these plays in practice on Wednesday will get more touch time on the ball during our scrimmage on Friday. I would like EVERYONE to carry the ball Friday so PLEASE*** work on these plays with your player! They don't have to know all three but they have to know at least two of them.

For those who have the time and want to make a huge leap forward in performance for their player, the LAHS FNL clinic #2 begins tomorrow (Monday) at Los Alamitos High School. Walk ups are okay and there is no late registration fee. Clinic begins at 10AM and runs until 1pm. Jake Hardesty (One of our players) liked it so much last week that he signed up for another week! Drop me a note if you need additional information on this clinic.

Wednesday practice outline:

We will start at 4PM sharp.

A few timed sprints.

Cone of Death= 15 minutes

Water- 2 minutes

Bean the coach in the head with the ball drill- 5-7 minutes (Kids love this one)

Long Range throw drill- 5 minutes

Offense plays- 20 minutes Two sets only. Standard and Bunch set.

Water- 2 minutes

Defensive sets- 10 minutes- Two sets only. Standard set and cover ZERO.

Offensive player position assignments-Offense drills 10 minutes. Players will be given positions to work on.

Defensive position assignments- Sets and coverage review- 5 minutes

Water-2 minutes

King of the Minnows 10 minutes

END OF PRACTICE.

As you can probably tell, I am fired up and looking forward to the season. If you have read this far, many thinks for being thorough and for helping get your athlete prepared for the season.

Coach MEETING: Friday, July 30th- 5:00PM at Islands on Los Al Blvd
All parents are also invited to attend if they are interested.

Dear OSU parents and players:

The season has arrived! Our first practice is Wednesday, August 4th at 4:00PM at Lee Elementary School in Los Alamitos. Your player needs to arrive no later than 3:55PM and have their:

• Mouthpiece
• Cleats
• Tee shirt/sweatshirt
• Shorts
• Water

Please make sure they have already gone to the bathroom before practice.
If you are running late or cannot attend practice, please call me: 562 301 8334.

Welcome parents to another great year of Friday Night Lights flag football. Our emphasis this year will be focused on teaching the players the game of flag football through the use of various drills mixed in with a pre season scrimmage or two. While there will be some running during the practice, our main goal will be to make sure everyone has fun and EVERYONE carries the ball. The same will be true in games.

Friday Night Lights has enjoyed remarkable growth in just five years. The fun and light atmosphere combined with great food vendors (A new one each week) make for a true community experience. Competition on the field is combined with the all important “What’s for snack?” which at this age is what they really remember at the end of the day.

Practice

We will determine a practice time and location that fits into everyone's schedule to the best of our ability. The practice will be limited to a maximum of 90 minutes with most practices being done by 5:30PM. We only get one practice a week as a team so being on time and ready to play is key to their individual development. Please be certain that your player arrives five minutes early and has a cold water/ Gatorade or similar and has already gone to the bathroom and has their cleats on and tied tightly. A properly fitting mouthpiece is a must on the practice and game field at all times. I suggest you start the season with 3-5 of them as they do occasionally go missing!

We will try and schedule a Friday Night scrimmage each week until the season so that the players can get rid of the "First game Jitters" sooner rather than later. The scrimmages are strictly optional as a big part of FNL is a minimal time commitment.

FNL is a 100% volunteer based operation. The team's success is very much dependant on your support and involvement with the players and the practices and games. It actually takes a lot of effort to prepare the players each week and we can never have too much support. We welcome OLDER siblings to come and help with practices. Each family needs o take at least one volunteer position. They are available on a first come first serve basis. The chart on the team web site will provide a list of what is available. Please email or call me and let me know which position you are volunteering for. email: dryarmour@aol.com phone 562 301 8334.

Everyone wants to carry the ball. Everyone would like to score. In order to participate in a meaningful way your player will need to know their plays. Those who demonstrate their knowledge of the plays will be given the opportunity to score touchdowns. Players who come to practices on time with a good attitude and try hard will be given the opportunity to score more often. I believe in rewarding those who show up on time ready to work and pay attention for the duration of each team activity.

If your child suffers from a medical condition of any kind, please make sure I am made fully aware of the condition immediately. I have a son with severe ADD so I know the challenges a short attention span can create and I will work with you and your child to make the FNL experience a positive one regardless of any condition they may suffer from. In the event that your player becomes sick or injured during the season, please let me know as soon as possible. If your player has a bad day at school please make me aware of that as well. If there are issues at home that you feel comfortable sharing with me then it will often go a long way toward helping your player cope with the rigors of our somewhat demanding practices. I may go easier on a player who may be experiencing trouble off the field so communicating with me will often times help them in their quest to making his parents proud of each week's game performance.

School comes first. Period. The player will be made aware of this on the first day of practice. In the event that your player is not performing to your expectations in the classroom I can be highly motivational and may be able to help them pull their grades up. Just let me know if there is a problem with academics and I will work with you to help solve the problem.

Sportsmanship. I do not tolerate foul language of any kind. I will not allow smack talking or taunting of the other teams, parents or coaches at any time regardless of whether the referee hears it or not. We will do our best to be competitive and we should win some of our games and we will likely lose some of the games during the nine game season. I would like to win more than we lose but I am more interested in improving your athlete as a player and a person than putting up numbers on the scoreboard.

Personal responsibility. The players will be notified that the gear they need for football is their responsibility. Their shorts, shirts, game jerseys, socks, mouthpieces and cleats are all to be kept in a single place, preferably in a bag or backpack. If the gear needs to be washed then the athlete is responsible for either washing the gear with parental supervision or request that the parents get the gear clean well ahead of practice or game day. Please help them keep the gear together but if the player comes to practice or a game missing a piece of gear then it is his responsibility to explain why they are missing the gear and then take whatever steps are necessary to replace that gear immediately.

Last but not least, we are a family for the duration of the season. I fully expect the players to take care of one another on and off the field. There will be no complaining about another athlete's performance and I expect them to look out for one another during the games and also at school.

I have been coaching youth sports for better than 10 years now and this will be my 9th season of flag football at the age 5-6-7 range. We will emphasize learning the rules of the game as well as offensive and defensive fundamentals. My goal is to make your player better throughout the season not just on the field but also in their day to day life by learning how to be competitive and gaining respect for coaches, players and the referee. I think you will be amazed at what they are capable of by the end of the season.