East 20, Kearns 18

Not much to say, but it feels like a loss for some reason. I know that Kearns had a lot of breaks, but we allowed them to get up on us and we can never do it again. I watched the film today after the game and it wasn't pretty. We were just plain horrible.

- Bad tackling form
- DL not filling the assigned gaps
- DL not even firing off the ball, just standing up
- LB's not scraping fast enough to make the tackle
- RB's not faking well when they should be
- RB's not blocking very well on both pass and run
- OL STILL not stepping with the correct foot and getting themselves in position

I don't know what to do, but we as coaches are going to keep trying. Sometimes it just looks like you don't care. I'm not calling you out OL, but a few of you were just plain lazy. Holding blocks for 1 second doesn't cut it.

Defense was the worst part of the day though. WAY too many people standing around and watching. Way too many people reaching to tackle with their arms, rather than sticking their shoudler pads into the person and wrapping up. Defense did not play a TEAM game, the way this defense is designed. Everyone must know where their assigned gaps are and it seems we've gotten away from that.

I don't want to scare anyone, but we are going to have to make some drastic changes on the defensive line. I want 4 guys that know their assignment, fire off the ball LOW, and fill their gaps. What I see are 4 guys that want to stand up, read and see what is going on, then react, thus allowing the offense to get 4-5 yards rushing downfield. This isn't going to cut it.

Now, on a positive note, on the plays we looked good on, EVERYONE looked good. OL were stepping with the correct foot, RB's were faking, blocking looked excellent, RB's moved with the ball well. It was great. Credit some great running by the backs, notably Takai who had 133 yards rushing.

We still have a target on our chests and will through the whole season. Skyline is the team to beat guys, but we can't over-look our next opponent. Granger is a tough team too and if we come out and play the way we did against Kearns, I hate to say it, but our goal of an un-defeated season is over. We MUST band together and believe in one another and not want to let the guy next to you down. Play for each other, support each other. These are important things for a team to have good Chemistry.

So our minds are now focused on Granger and the preparation we need this week. I want to see it in your eyes the moment I blow my whistle at practice guys. I'll see you there.

Oh yeah, I'll post video highlights likely on Monday night. I'm going to be too busy to get anything done before then.

East vs. Kearns Stats

(Refer to the "Links" section on the right for season total stats)

Passing
Brown 2-4, 20 yds, 1 TD, 1 Sack

Rushing
Takai 9-131 yds, 1 TD
Fonua 4-16 yds, 1 TD, 1 XP
Brown 4-(-)2 yds, 1 XP, 1 F
Latu 1-(-)1 yds

Receiving
Malic 1-12 yds
Utuone 1-8 yds, 1 TD

Punt & KO Ret
Malic 2-43 yds
Takai 1-15 yds
Zulcic 1-1 yds

Defense
Fonua 3.5 tkl, 1 FF
Brown 3 tkl
Utuone 2.5 tkl
Takai 2.5 tkl
Pole 2.5 tkl, 1 sack
Malic 2.5 tkl, 1 int/0 yds
Tauliauli 1.5 tkl
Rich 1.5 tkl
Latu 1.5 tkl
May 1 tkl
Fangaake 1 tkl
Makoni .5 tkl
Marsden 1 FR

Back when football was pure

I was going through my digital photo's and found these old photo's I forgot that I had of my grandpa back when he used to play football. I thought it was pretty cool.

Obstacle Course

How many of you (that read this) liked it? Would you want to do it again sometime?

Various updates

Please take a look on the right side of this page under the "Links" section. Here I've placed things like our Schedule (including the address of the away games), Season stats, World Conference (the conference we play in) Standings, and other various links you may find useful.

East vs. Cottonwood Video Highlights

Takai's first TD run



Vilimir's first TD catch



A strong run by JJ



Semisi's hit forced this guy to drop the ball



Ezra's great catch and run



Vilimir's 2nd TD catch

Update: Team pictures canceled on Tuesday

Due too the fact that many of our jersey's have not come in, Team Pictures are canceled this week and will be re-scheduled for a later time. I'll post the update on this Blog and also remind you in practice.

East 33 Cottonwood 7

Good job East Jr's. You finally accomplished what this team has failed to do in 3 years. I'm proud of the way you played. I'm proud of the way some leaders stepped up and took this game personal. I'm proud that we can get this monkey off our back and move forward.

However, with a 3-0 start, comes a lot of responsibility. We now have a target on our chest and every team is going to look to upset us. Going by the standings, we are in first place, but there is still one more un-defeated team and that is Skyline, which is putting up really good numbers and sounds like they are a much improved team. I see that Skyline, Bountiful, and Grainger are going to be our toughest opponents yet to come.

Now, how many of you will continue to try to get better? To make YOURSELVES better? I don't care how good you are, are you going to work to get better? That is the question.

From all the great big plays we had, we also had some times where we still looked really bad. We are still making mistakes we were making in the pre-season. We need get pay attention in practice and get a lot of reps to our back-ups. We also need to make sure we're staying focused as a team. I still see a lot of finger pointing and people passing the blame onto others when something doesn't go right. LEADERS need to take the blame themselves, even if it's not their fault. LEADERS help out the little guy, or the guy that is un-sure of himself. LEADERS are people that EVERYONE likes. Who are our leaders?

Guys, I love you to death and am glad of the effort you have put in. Let's get ready for Kearns this week. Let's not go through this week like we did against Olympus and say "Oh, it's just Kearns". We cannot take them lightly. What we need to do is get a lot of points early against this kind of team so we can rest the starters and get everyone else some valuable experience as back-ups and get them a chance to prove they are good players.

Practice is this Tuesday at 5:30. Everyone be there on time (5:20) and when we say "get your pads on" we should not have to say it again.

I will post video clips later as I don't have much time. There were a lot of great highlights in this game.

East vs. Cottonwood Game stats

Passing

Trevor Brown 9-12, 112 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT

Rushing
Sosaia Takai 5-85 yds, 2 TD, 1 F
JJ Fonua 6-23 yds, 2 XP
Nick Garcia 5-22 yds,
Ezra Latu 2-9 yds
Thayne Rich 2-5 yds
Trevor Brown 2-3 yds, 1 XP
Brent Poulsen 1-2 yds
Velimir Malic 1-(-)1 yds
Collin Teague 1- (-1) yds

Receiving
Velimir Malic 3-73 yds, 2 TD
Dakota Marsden 2-12 yds
Ezra Latu 2-8 yds
Semisi Utuone 1-11 yds, 1 TD
Chase Weichers 1-8 yds

Punt/KO Return
Trevor Brown 2-11 yds

Defense
Velimir Malic 2.5 tkl
Makoni Pole 2.5 tkl
Semisi Utuone 2 tkl
JJ Fonua 2 tkl
Thayne Rich 2 tkl
TJ Tauliauli 1.5 tkl
Ezra Latu 1 tkl
Damir Zulcic 1 tkl, 1 FF
Trevor Brown .5 tkl
Paula Fangaake 1 FF, 1 FR
Alex May 1 FR
Josh Monsen 1 FR

East Vs. Cottonwood info

One more day of practice guys and we will be ready to face the demon that has been bothering us for the past 3 years. NO MORE! Let's be focused.

The game is at Cottonwood HS on field #1. We will need to arrive by 11:45 and be ready to start warming up (kicking, long snapping, etc.) by noon. At 12:15 we will begin our game prep. We must arrive focused.

The address is: 5717 S. 1300 E.

Here is a map (click on the picture for a more detailed view):

Season statistics

Team. On the right you will see a link to the season stats. Please refer to it from time to time if you want to see how the stats are looking for the season.

East 20 Olympus 6

The East Jr's came out on Saturday a little flat with 2 penalties that put them back on their first drive. However, we bounced back to take some control of the game. Some key big plays (intereceptions by both Vilimir and Takai) and one big kick-off return by Takai is what helped us. We should all be patting Sosaia on the back because he scored all 3 of our TD's and put the game on his shoulders for us. Good job Takai.

The key thing that happened is that we did in fact win and I am proud of you guys for stepping up, especially those of you that have not done it in the past practices or game.

I think we over-looked Olympus a bit, but we need to respect their potential and ability. They have a good chance to make the playoffs in their division.

I was impressed with the way we played defense at times, but other times we seemed to play lost. I know it was only recently that we changed things up, but if anyone finds out about this game, they are going to try to run the option on us, so we need to focus on our option assignments. Remember, the outside contain person always has QB and the Corner has the option man. We can defend this by ensuring we always have our heads on a swivel.

Defensively a lot of you stepped up and did a great job. Makoni and Paula were a couple of mad-men all over the place and JJ really started playing like a middle LB should. Good job to you. Just a reminder to everyone, be sure you do your assignements up front. If you do not go where I send you, it can spell doom to our defense.

Offensively, we cannot afford the stupid penalties that happen. Holding, false-starts, etc. I know the OL is on edge because they do the toughest job, but we need you to be focused. I think our offense should have still put 10 more points on the Olympus defense.

Special teams did much better. We actually had to punt, so we got to see how we respond in those situations. Kick-offs had great coverage too and Vilimir's directional kicks slowed them down on returning the ball.

The over-all reason for us not putting Olympus away was that we still lacked good preparation during practice, and before the game. When we say we want to start at noon, we mean it. We didn't get started until 12:30 and it seemed to me the players had the "we'll start whenever we feel like it" attitude. From a coaches standpoint, this is very frustrating.

You guys are capable of going und-defeated still, but you have to get in your minds that we still have not faced our toughest opponent yet. Our toughest opponents are Granger, Cottonwood, and Bountiful and even Skyline have a great defense.

Now, it's time to focus on this week. The name COTTONWOOD should be enough to motivate you. We MUST prepare well this week. The coaches should not have to ask you to put your helmets on, or to hurry up to start a drill. It should come within. If it doesn't, I don't know what will. We NEED to beat them to prove that they don't own us and that their past wins were not deserved. I believe we CAN beat them, but I want to put the game out of reach early. Let's prepare for it now, not later.

I'm proud to be a part of this team everyone. I hope you are too. We still do not have the leadership we need (still a lot of people being lazy, or pointing fingers at others). We need to UNITE as one and love each other (and ourselves) before we can truley be confident that we will be champs and that we will win every game. I believe in you all, that is why I'm here.

East vs. Olympus Game Stats

Passing

Trevor Brown 2-5 78 yards

Rushing

Sosaia Takai 9-52 yards 2 TD's
JJ Fonua 4-21 yards 1 XP
Ezra Latu 1-5 yards
Nick Garcia 1-3 yards
Trevor Brown 1-1 yards 1 XP

Receiving

Velimir Malic 2-78 yards

Put and KO Return

Sosaia Takai 1-75 yards 1 TD
Velimir Malic 1-15 yards

Defense

JJ Fonua 4 tkl
Semisi Utuone 4 tkl
Makoni Pole 3.5 tkl, 2 sacks
Velimir Malic 3.5 tkl, 1 int (0 yards ret)
Paula Fangaake 2.5 tkl
Ezra Latu 1.5 tkl
Dakota Marsden 1.5 tkl
Sosaia Takai 1 tkl, 1 int (15 yards ret)
Thayne Rich 1 tkl
Trevor Brown 1 tkl
Vaha Makoni 1 tkl
TJ Taliauli .5 tkl
Brent Poulsen .5 tkl
Caiden Root .25 tkl (out of bounds though)

East vs. Olympus Video Highlights

Takai's interception



Paula's perfect job of sniffing out the screen and making a tackle behind the line



Takai's 20 yard run



Vilimir's athletic grab



Takai's Kickoff return for a TD

East 40 Taylorsville 13

Great job everyone. The team showed up today to play some football. While it was an impressive win, the opponent wasn't that impressive. They had some talent, but they lacked dicipline. We showed we can strap on the helmets and play a great game when the time comes. I hope we can keep the same energy and enthusiasm during our week of practice. We still have many things to go over and a long season ahead of us.

Offensively we had great blocking by the OL, but it appeared you got worn out and tired as the game went on. It's going to get tougher guys, so we need to get you in better shape.

RB's ran hard like we asked, but again, we need to ensure we are checking for the cut-back lane on the sweeps and we lower our shoulder and run over people when there is nowhere else to run.

WR's need to make sure they go all-out on every play, even if it's a run. Don't necessarily try to block your DB either. Maybe run a corner/fade route to make him run with you.

Defensively, we didn't get as much pressure on the QB as we would have liked by you, but I understand that you may have been tired. Also, ensure all gaps are covered and protected and that you are lining up where you are supposed to.

LB's, great job stepping up, but make sure you be the leader on the field. You need to make sure the DL are lined up where they are supposed to be. Sometimes they get confused.

DB's, we need to time our jumps on passes better. We had about 3-4 opportunities for picks.

Still, over-all we played the kind of game that we should have against this team. Thanks for stepping up and being men after our horrible practice on Tuesday. We will call a practice short again if this happens, so continue being leaders among each other.

I'll try to post a few higlight video clips later tonight or sometime on Sunday.

Stats for the game:

Passing:
Trevor Brown 6-6, 117 yards 3 TD's, 1 XP pass

Rushing:
Sosia Takai 2-48, 1 TD
JJ Fonua 4-20
Sharrod Smith 4-20, 1 TD
Thayne Rich 2-10, 1 XP
Trevor Brown 3-7, 1 TD and 1 XP
Ezra Latu 2-4, 1 XP

Receiving:
Vilimir Malic 3-101, 3 TD
David Hales 2-1, 1 XP
Dakota Marsden 1-15

Team Total Offense:
220 yards


Tackles:
Ezra Latu 6 tkl, 1 FF, 1 FR
Semisi Utuone 4.5 tkl
Alex May 3 tkl
Anthony Trabert 2.5 tkl
Thayne Rich 2 tkl
Paula Fangaake 2 tkl, 1 FF
Makoni Pole 2 tkl
TJ Taulaili 2 tkl, 1 FF
Trevor Brown 1.5 tkl
David Hales 1 tkl
Sosaia Takai 1 tkl
Kelton Struck 1 tkl
JJ Fonua .5 tkl
Josh Monson .5 tkl
Velimir Malic 1 FR
Vaha Makoni 1 FR

I'm proud of the jobs you did, now let's move on and prepare for Olympus at home. Nobody ever comes into our house and pushes us around!

Highlight clips vs. Taylorsville

Vilimir's first TD catch



A good swarm tackle job by the defense



David Hale's XP catch



Defensive pressure on the QB always creates an opportunity for a turnover



Vilimir's 2nd TD

Picture Day

Just a reminder, picture day was moved to Tuesday, September 19 sometime during our practice time.

Video Clip

This is a test of a video clip. I hope it works.

Keep your fingers crossed

I don't want to sound negative in any light, but I'm so frustrated right now with how the team has been practicing. We have some guys that give effort on every play, then we have some that just seem bored. To those that seem bored: GET OVER IT! There are times when life can be boring, but you have to make the most of every situation.

When we do offense against no defense, the purpose of that isn't go go easy, it's to work on our execution so the coaches can ensure everyone is stepping with the correct foot on the OL, so that the backs and the QB's footwork and timing are correct, and it gives us a chance to get a little conditioning in as well.

To sum it up: You all need to see the positives in every situation of practice, wheather it's high-pace, or slowed down. I tell you this because I know they do similar things at both the HS and the college level. Heck, the 49ers were famous in the Bill Walsh and George Seifert era for only having ONE DAY of pads practice. The rest of the time was spent perfecting what they do by ensuring that each player knew their job.

I've told you time and time again: 80% of executing an offensive or defensive scheme is knowing where you need to be on the field during each play. The other 20% is just knowing how badly you want it.

Practice was horrible early this week. We had a better practice on Wednesday, but things seemed to dip down and around on Thursday, but an "OK" practice for the most part.

I tell you all to keep your fingers crossed because even though Taylorsville may be missing some key players, you all forget that about 3 years (mighty-might age) ago they were a team that dominated you guys, and that was with your complete team. With the players we have, I expect a win. Even with the players that have opted to play up on the Sophomore team, we still have TONS of talent to go undefeated, but we do not practice like an un-defeated team.

One last note on the Sophomore team. I understand we have players we want to support up there, but I don't ever want to see what happened yesterday (Thursdays game against American Fork), where we had practice starting and a group of you still down at that game. When we say we have a specific time for practice, we mean it! I don't care if you're sick or hurt, you are to be at practice. This isn't some lame rule that only we put in, it's the same at the high school and even college level, so get used to it now.

For any of you that need driving directions to the game, here is a map: