De Sales Football Book Sample

another friday night like no other The evening gathers, as do fans, at Ty Baffney Field. The lights come on, signaling the dawn of a new season. September 4 Photo by Jeff Horner

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September 4

Lightning strikes Irish in home opener By Ken Morgan

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ightning struck three times Friday night at Ty Baffney Field in the first 24 minutes of nonconference football action. La Salle made those three first-half scores stand up as the Lightning avenged last season’s season-ending loss to DeSales in the state Class 2B-11 playoffs with a 20-0 win. “They are a very veteran group,” Irish coach Pat Graham said of La Salle. “We just made too many mistakes on both sides of the ball. We (only) have three returning starters (Pat Richard, Tyler Wahl, and Pat Sharkey). We had a lot of new faces out there, and you could tell. We just didn’t quite have our timing on offense, and we got a little out of sync on defense.” La Salle took the opening kickoff and marched 66 yards in six plays, with 195 pound running back Tony Cacchiotti going in from the 10 as the Lightning took a 6-0 lead with 8:41 left in the first. The Irish answered with a Tommy Gregg run for 10 yards, a Michael Mathews 11-yard catch and a Pat Richard-to-Gregg pass for 18 yards that highlighted the drive. Following a Richard keeper on third-and-three from the Lightning 14, the Irish had a first-and-goal at the La Salle 7. Richard, out of the shotgun, took off on the next Irish snap, but Cacchiotti ripped the ball loose, and Josh Bartlett fell on the fumble at his own 5 to turn away the Irish threat. Cacchiotti then ripped off a 19-yard run to start the Lightning on a 95-yard, 15-play, seven-and-a-half-minute drive that Kerry Duffy culminated with a 9-yard burst to paydirt. The Lightning added Cacchiotti’s run for the two-point conversion and led 14-0 with 9:56 left in the half. “They like to pound it,” Graham said. “They’re disciplined, execute well and play hard. They earned the win.” An interception by Dylan Sattler on the Lightning 30 ended the second Irish possession of the game. Following a Lightning punt, a holding penalty derailed the third Irish possession even with a 10-yard screen pass from Richard to Kyle Lindgren. Duffy scored his second TD on the ensuing La Salle possession with a 19-yard run, and La Salle led 20-0 with 1:30 left in the half. The Lightning defense forced a three-and-out, and La Salle 14

TOMMY GREGG TURNS ONE Wide receiver Tommy Gregg finds an open field and turns one of quarterback Pat Graham's passes into a big gain against La Salle. September 4 Photo by Jeff Horner

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was knocking on the door at the Irish 5 with only ticks left in the half. Ben Konen ended the threat by breaking through to sack Lightning quarterback Mike McGree back at the Irish 11 as the half ran out. “Their offense pretty much kept us off the field and out of any (offensive) rhythm,” Graham said of the Lightning’s 17-plus minutes of first-half possession. “(On defense), we got them in third-and-long, but we couldn’t stop them.” The Lightning and Irish battled to a scoreless standstill in the second half. “We made some adjustments defensively and held them scoreless in the second half,” Graham said. “Our defensive line and linebackers came out (in the second half ) and were more physical, which was the reason we were able to keep them out of

the end zone.” On offense, Lindgren ran for 60 of his game-high 77 rushing yards in the second half. The Irish offense, spearheaded by the running of Richard and Lindgren out of the shotgun, marched to the La Salle 13 to open the fourth. Joe Sullivan picked off an Irish pass in the end zone to turn that DeSales threat away. In the closing seconds, DeSales again knocked on the door by marching to the Lightning 18. With one second left, Richard hit Gregg, but the Lightning defense ran him out of bounds at the 10, and La Salle preserved the shutout. “In the second half, we got into a rhythm and established the running game,” Graham said. “We were able to do some things. We’ve just got to finish.”

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Irish 0 Lightning 20 at Walla Walla La Salle DeSales

One down, 10 to go Junior running back Victor Mata gets past one Lightning defender and only has 10 more to dodge as he looks to gain more yardage. September 4 Photo by Jeff Horner

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Q1 6 0

Q2 14 0

Q3 0 0

Q4 Final 0 20 0 0

La Salle — Cachiotti 10 run (kick failed). La Salle — Duffy 9 run (Cacchiotti run). La Salle — Duffy 19 run (kick failed). La Salle First downs 18 Rushes/yards 43-236 Passing yards 87 Passes (att-comp-int) 14-9-0 Punts 3-33 Fumbles-lost 2-1 Penalties-yards 4-29

DeSales 14 30-169 65 22-9-2 3-33 3-1 4-47

Individual Statistics

RUSHING — La Salle: Duffy 13-62, Cacchiotti 6-67, Woodard 5-5, Kuribayashi 8-52, McGree 9-36, Anderton 2-14; DeSales: Gregg 3-19, Richard 11-66, Lindgren 14-77, Wales 2-7. PASSING — La Salle: McGree 9-14-0 87 yards; DeSales: Richard 9-22-2, 65 yards. RECEIVING — La Salle: Sattler 1-6-0, Duffy 1-3-0, Sullivan 3-32-0, Cacchiotti 2-35, Anderton 2-11-0; DeSales: Rea 2-4-0, Mathews 1-11-0, Gregg 5-40-0, Lindgren 1-10-0. 17

ONE-HAND STOP La Salle got past the Irish, but on this first half play, a flying Dan Solomon missed the interception but takes down Lightning receiver Kerry Duffy with one hand. September 4 Photo by Jeff Horner

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September 10

Irish quarterback Pat Richard leads the way By Ken Morgan

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eSales travels to Milton-Freewater Friday looking for its first win of the 2009 football campaign. The Irish dropped a 20-0 non-conference decision to La Salle to open the season and will look to rebound against the Mac-Hi Pioneers. The Irish will turn to senior and four-year varsity member Pat Richard (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) to help get them into the win column. “Pat is my (second) cousin, so I’ve known him since he was a little kid,” Irish coach Pat Graham said. “It’s funny to see him grow up and be here as a senior leader. It’s fun to see the maturity and exciting to see him turn into the kind of player he is.” Richard has been a three-sport mainstay in the Irish athletic program — football, basketball and baseball — during his high school career, and he has developed an interest in physiology and anatomy. After his high school athletic career ends, his goal is to remain connected to the sports scene. “I’ll probably pursue baseball at community college (WWCC),” Richard said of his post high school plans. “I’ve always been interested in biology and the study of the body.

RICHARD ON THE RUN DeSales quarterback Pat Richard tucks the ball and runs against the La Salle defense. September 4 Photo by Jeff Horner

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Putting one up Richard throws a pass against La Salle in the first game of the season for the Irish. Richard was 9 of 22 in passing with two interceptions. September 4 Photo by Jeff Horner

After two years of baseball, if that doesn’t continue, I’ll probably go to Washington State University and do something in sports medicine.” In football, Richard was thrust into the quarterback role as a freshman when varsity starter Kevin Baffney went down with an injury. In 2007, with Baffney back at the controls, Richard went back to a wide receiver position and helped the Irish capture the 2007 Class 2B-11 state football crown. As a junior in 2008, he moved back to quarterback and led the Irish into the state playoffs. “The highlight has to be winning the state championship,” Richard said of his high school career. “Wide receiver is the position I prefer to play, but quarterback needs to be played. I like quarterback, but receiver is my position of choice.” Offensively, everything flows through the quarterback, and Richard is ready to take that responsibility as the Irish go for win No. 1 Friday. “He has really stepped forward to take the leadership and 22

embrace his role as quarterback,” Graham said. “As he has thrown himself into that (role), it has shown on the field. He’s a great athlete, but for him to come this far as a quarterback is what impresses me. He’s a competitor and the type of kid that’s going to get after it no matter what position you put him at.” Richard said, “Coach Graham, since he was a great quarterback here, can relate to what I’m seeing on the field. He’s got my confidence up and given me some more tools to work with out on the field. My job is to spread the ball out to our playmakers. I’ve got to make good decisions, control the ball and not give the other team opportunities to score.” Richard, who led the Irish defense in tackles against La Salle, also quarterbacks the Irish defense from his safety spot. “At safety, you have the best view of the field,” Richard said. “So you have to move people around.” The Irish had to fit in a lot of new faces, because they were hit hard by graduation, but Richard sees the team coming together.

“We have a lot of new faces, but a lot of them saw some varsity action,” Richard said. “(Those who didn’t start) have come along a lot further than I thought they would (by this time), and the underclassmen have really stepped it up. It takes a little more time on offense, because you have to do this when (opponents) do that. On defense, you pretty much just have to get to the ball. This coming week will be another challenge.” Mac-Hi gained 320 yards with a pounding ground game in its 29-18 loss to Tillamook last week. The Irish gave up 236 yards on the ground to La Salle. “A lot of the things we had issues with last week, we’re going to see the same with Mac-Hi,” Graham said. “It will be a challenge for our front seven to stop their running game.” Richard sees the same challenges and expects the offense to

do some things better. “Mac-Hi is as physical as La Salle, if not more so,” Richard said. “We have to play faster and more physical. On offense, we have to improve on execution. We were in the red zone several times and didn’t get a single point out of it. We have to finish (drives).” Richard could feel more than his share of pressure, given that he is the quarterback, a four-year varsity player and a member of a renowned DeSales athletic family. His dad and three uncles — Todd, Brian and Jason — all played for the Irish, as did two older brothers — Jason and Tim. Not to mention cousin Pat. But so far, Pat Richard knows what it is all about. “There is some bloodline expectation to do well,” he said. “But mostly, I just try to have fun.”

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