Today, we woke up to our pregame breakfast. First off, this consisted of a 4 pound slab of bacon (purchased from the Mahogany Smoked Meats Co.). You have never seen a group of guys go this wild for meat.
With the bacon, we made sausages, eggs cooked with the bacon grease, potatoes and onions cooked with bacon grease, and threw it all into breakfast burritos. Clearly, there was salsa and cheese involved. But it was meat-tastic.
After breakfast, we relaxed and either slept or went into the freezing cold river for a nice wake
up dip. We then gathered to elect team captains while getting game gear ready to go.
Each player had to vote for three players that they think displayed the greatest form of leadership. Although we only planned on having three captains, the vote was so close that the coaches added a fourth. The result was John Olivo, Cody Triggs, Grant Spencer and Min Ung Choi.
We checked our gear one last time before loading up into the vans and blasting pump up music. We all got into our own zones, and prepared ourselves for battle.
We arrived to the field with one goal in mind: Win. We showed up an hour prior to kickoff, and began our warmups. The captains led the team in their stretches and agility workouts, and then broke up into individual position drills.
The whistles blew, and the starters took the field to compet
e in what very well may be the greatest 48 minutes in OVS history.
For those that don’t really get it, the game is 12 minute quarters, which totals 48 minutes for those not particularly strong in math.
The team was engaged in a vicious battle with Lee Vining, but, as Coach Titus said during the game numerous times, “Bend, don’t break!”
The offense was firing on all cylinders to start the game, coming out to an early lead with a first possession touchdown. Lee Vining answered back the very next drive with a score of their own. From then, however, the team entered lockdown mode.
Something ignited in the bellies of every defender. There was chemistry established between players that had never played together before. We switched to a new formation after Lee Vining’s first touchdown.
There is only one word to explain the defense today: unstoppable.
Everything was going right for OVS, stopping almost every run that was thrown at them. This, in no way, is a shot at the Lee Vining offense. They were playing with passion and heart, despite starting a game with a 9 man lineup that dwindled down to 6 players by the end of the game.
Of course, every great victory has their setbacks. The game was not won without some losses.
Perhaps one of the biggest losses was that of Kolby Saucedo.
Close to the end of the 1st half, a Lee Vining player found a slot to run through, and looked like he was taking it in for 6 (or a touchdown as the kids call it these days). While he was able to pick up a large amount of yardage, Kolby ran down the ball carrier and pushed him out of bounds. While he made a great play and established his presence earlier in the game with solid blocking and tackling, Kolby was down and visibly in pain.
Kolby’s kneecap was dislocated, and this only made the rest of our defense stronger. After seeing Kolby taken off the field by paramedics, the defense locked down for the rest of the game in order to avenge their fallen brother.
We did not disappoint, only allowing 3 touchdowns the remainder of the game.
The offense played a strong, scoring 52 points throughout the game. There are a lot of highlights that will be highlighted later, as we are giving statistics its own blog.
Once the smoke cleared and the final whistle blew, the Spuds emerged victorious by a score of 52-28.
Before we talk about probably the most important part of the game, we want to recognize the Lee Vining squad.
The team was such a small squad, but played with such heart. It was really an admirable effort by their team considering how outnumbered they were coming into the game. We must respect that fact as we are usually the smaller squad facing the larger teams. No matter who hit who, there was always a player picking another up off the field, and compliments given throughout the game between teams.
We also want to send a special thanks to our one spectator for the game, Jack Olivo (my dad). He drove up from San Diego to watch us compete and after the game seemed very pleased. It meant a lot to have some family there for something this special.
We want to highlight, however, that the win is also a piece of history for the Ojai Valley School.
The football team accomplished something that no other OVS team before them has done. In its 6 year history, the school has not recorded a varsity win.
That is no longer the truth. After today’s victory, this team has given the Ojai Valley School its first varsity football victory. It hasn’t really hit us all yet, but it will, and it will stay with us forever.
By the way, we aren’t exactly blogging from the most predictable spot. We are currently sitting in a McDonalds playplace in Mammoth Lakes, California. We don’t exactly fit in here, but we needed to seize this opportunity for a quick picture.
There is no Wi-Fi in trees. Goodnight, we love you all, from John, Keaton, and Wick in Mammoth Lakes. Please don’t get stuck in the play place slide. Keaton can tell you all about that. (His 6 foot 1, 230 pounds of manliness was just too much for the slide).