Last season, the only game I shot was the last game against Oakmont. I received and email from the new Del Oro football website administrator asking for me to take photos of the last games for all three teams. There was a girl named Ella who was photographing the games for Charlie as a senior project, but she was doing it terribly. Although she had the same gear I did, she would always send them to Charlie a week late, never shot the freshmen games, and the quality was terrible. I was hesitant because I wasn't planning on going to that game in the first place, but also excited because I would be shooting football again which I never thought I would be able to do after my senior project ended. The games started and ended, I sent my photos to Charlie, we emailed each other until the first week of January, and then life took over. My passion for football photography faltered during that time and when September came, I was pretty set on not shooting football. Charlie never emailed me to ask if I was going to shoot this year, but that started to bug me and after the second scrimmage passed, I emailed him (still not really wanting to shoot football, but not as dead-set). He still wanted me on the sidelines so I charged, cleaned, and packed up all my gear for the first JV and Varsity games (couldn't shoot the first few games of the freshmen due to school).
Today, I cannot imagine how my life would be if Charlie didn't ask me to shoot the last game of 2008 and if I didn't email him in September. It would probably be full of regrets and I would be a complete 360 on the happiness spectrum. The first couple games I was sort of an outcast on the sidelines, but I couldn't blame the players. The probably forgot all about me since the last time I truly shot them week after week was in 2007. The freshmen were 7th graders, the JV were 8th graders, the junior players on Varsity were freshmen, and the senior players on Varsity were sophomores. Now they see me as a regular on the sidelines and never hesitate to move an inch over so I can squeeze through and many talk to me now or give a quick smile as I walk past. Even though I shot my first Frosh game a couple nights ago, they have already accepted me as a regular on the sidelines.
The whole point of this post was to type down the most important game of the year in Northern California down so I wouldn't forget about it. Allow me though to start off with the highlight of the Frosh game on Thursday, October 15 when none of us realized that Bobby Jackson from the Sacramento Kings (our crappy NBA team) was in DEL ORO'S STADIUM! Here is what I said to other people on my facebook: "Yeah! He has a nephew on the GB frosh team and was wandering around the back of the north goal with another guy and the refs were not happy about it. So they told Paris to tell him to get off. Paris was already pissed about the game, so he stormed over, Bobby or his friend told him they weren't leaving the track, Paris storms back, tells one of the sidelined frosh players to get Mr. White, Mr. White comes down, talks to Bobby and his pal, comes back and sheepishly tells us it was Bobby Jackson. Bobby and his pal went up and sat in our side of the stands for a few plays before disappearing. Everyone got a kick out of it though on the sidelines, even Mr. Powers! Who would have ever guessed that Bobby Jackson would be watching a football game, let alone a freshmen high school football game!"
Now allow me to jump back and forth from now on starting with the beginning of the season. In the beginning of the season, no one really knew how Del Oro would do. In 2007 the Varsity team only lost their two games to Granite Bay ending the season with an 11-2 record which ended at the SJS DII Championship game. In 2008, everything went downhill. The team did not get along well which the nation was able to witness on live television during the first game in Idaho. There were fights against their own team-mates during the entire game. They lost against the Idaho team and Del Oro crumbled to end the season 4-6 which included a heart-breaking loss agasint Granite Bay with a score of 50-8. At the end of the season, it was rumored that the head coach was going to put the 2008 quarterback's younger brother as quarterback next year (2009) as his replacement since he was going to graduate. I was pretty unsure about this because not only was this kid going to play as a junior, but his brother was not the greatest quarterback. Yes he was able to run, but he hesitated constantly which resulted in sacks or passes to imaginary players and overpowered his passes which sent the ball flying over his receiver's arms. Another worry was that half of the offense and defense on 1st string were going to be juniors. Sure we still had Bryce Pratt (senior) as our runningback and Freddie Cargile, Spencer Butterfield, Eddie Love, Travis Doupnik and a few other notable players playing as first string seniors, but I was dreading a repeat of last year and dreading having to photograph these games.
However, the first game came and Del Oro beat California High School which is a D1 team. Max Magelby (junior quarterback) not only proved to be quite the quarterback and opposite of his brother, but he was also a phenomenal leader. After he would play he would walk up and down the sidelines patting all the player and talking to each one of them regardless of what position they played or if they never played. Juniors Adrian Williams, Kenny Andri, Ryan Cope, Angelo Pasquale, Tyler Adair, and Derrick Luque also showed senior-like qualities. I think all the Del Oro fans sighed a little after this game, but still held in their breath as Del Oro marched to Santa Rosa to play the Bay Area power, Cardinal Newman. Del Oro too beat them as well as Franklin of Elk Grove, Merced, and Vintage.
After each game, the notion that Del Oro could possibly beat Granite Bay or not lose as bad as the two years before got stronger and stronger. Everyone on the sidelines acted as a leader and gave each other confidence which was a pleasure to witness on the sidelines. It also helped that Bryce is the exact replica of an Engergizer Bunny; he constantly hops all over the sidelines and yells at anyone who is about to go in with "encouragement". After the game against Franklin, I think it finally dawned on everyone in California that the game of the year was going to be the one against Granite Bay. The local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, started writing article after article about the so-called nail-biting game and even wrote a huge article about Bryce Pratt. The hype in the week before the game was unbearable. Everywhere online there were comments about who was going, comparisons of both teams, predicting scores that were only a touchdown apart, and a break-down of both offenses and defenses. Everyone who followed high-school football knew that this game was going to be big, but nobody knew how big.
Every Friday since football season started I left at 5:00PM so I could make it in time for the JV kick-off at 5:15PM. The stadium parking lot isn't like any other stadium parking lot in Placer County; it's almost all dirt, long, and situated on a hill. Usually I park before the start of the hill so I can pull out and drive away easily and the majority of the time there are only a couple dozen cars parked in the parking lot. However, on Friday, October 16, that was an entirely different story. As I turned left into the entrance of the stadium parking lot, I almost slammed on my brakes at the scene I saw in front of me. There had to be a hundred cars or more already parked in the parking lot. The first thought that went through my head was "Oh. My. God." Actually, I said that out loud probably a dozen times as I snaked my way past the rows of cars before turning around and parking on the side next to the ditch. Everyone's afraid of the ditch, but my truck is a beast so I wasn't afraid.
Walking into the stadium was some what of a shocker. With that many cars in the parking lot I would have expected the stands to be almost filled, but that wasn't the case. It seemed like every person in the stands brought their own car. As the JV game went rolled on, the stands started to fill rapidly and were filled by halftime. This was the largest crowd ever at a JV game and although it was pretty awesome, there was a downfall; the noise was something the JV coaches were not use to. Usually when the coaches yelled at a player to get their attention on the field, everyone in the stadium could hear it, but this night was different. It was so loud that the coaches were sceaming at the top of their lungs and the players still couldn't hear them. It kind of went like this; "Bobby!" (a little louder) Bobby!" (a little bit more louder) BOBBY! (okay, let's try a different version of his name) BOB! (let's scream at the top of our lungs and say the name suuuper long while jumping up and down and waving our arms!) "BOBBYYYYYYYYYY!" Eventually the coaches had to give up because the players had to play, but the players didn't mind. They were stoked that the stands were filled during their game!
In the middle/end of the last quarter of the JV game, two school buses pulled up at the entrance of the stadium and an army of 80 or so boys marched out, all clad in silver uniforms and uniforms with a large 'G' on the sides. All of us on the Del Oro sidelines looked at each other in confusion because usually the visiting team arrives at the girl's locker rooms to get dressed and get ready. Not Granite Bay. They lined up at the end of the south goal (near the scoreboard) where their little JV players were trying to make a touchdown. No such luck for GB JV. They couldn't make the touchdown, but I think they tried for the field goal and got it. Del Oro's JV beat Granite Bay 23-8.
Although our JV won, I was absolutely freaking out inside. By this time, the stands were packed, the fenceline on top of the stands and a the track were packed, and almost the entire dirt lot on either side of the stadium were packed. There was an estimated 6000 people in the stadium that night and I'm sure that didn't include the fifty extra on the sideline. You knew it was a big game by just looking at who was on the sidelines. Steve Montoya (the main man from Maxpreps) was there, a reporter from ESPN was there, a SacBee photographer was there, News 10 and KCRA 3 were there, and so many others. I was dreading taking photos on the packed sidelines because it was already difficult to manuever through football players and coaches let alone a couple dozen photographers and reporters.
After that, the rest of the details are hazy because I wrote this too late after the game, so I will copy paragraphs from The Sacramento Bee and comment on them. For those who want to follow with photos, visit http://blueseal.smugmug.com/DelOroFootba
"Pratt capped an eight-play, 68-yard drive by scoring on a 14-yard run to open the game" - Holy cow, that was amazing. Spencer helped by catching a pass from Max (IMG_7028 and IMG_7030), but Bryce really fought against GB's defenders by spinning and then just pushing through them (IMG_7035 through IMG_7037). I was near the goal line and everyone was going insane. But in the back of my mind I was worried because this happened in the Championship game against GB; we scored the first touchdown and everything went downhill from there. The only thing I could do is cross my fingers and keep cheering our boys on while taking photos all at the same time.
Granite Bay got a touchdown and that's when Spencer went down. My heart dropped to my stomach as I watching him withering in pain while grabbing his left knee. Coach T ran out there immediately as well as the head trainer. Everyone was huddled around him so I couldn't see what was going on, but eventually he got up and walked off of the sidelines in immense pain. I could tell that he wanted to keep on playing regardless of the consequences that will happen later in life. After wrapping up his knee pretty good, he was back out on the field. I am just hoping that it isn't anything serious.
"The Golden Eagles used up nearly 10 minutes on a 16-play, 74-yard drive that ended with Max's two-yard touchdown dive with 4 minutes to play in the first half. It put Del Oro up 14-7." - I am so so SO proud of Max on this one! I honestly didn't know where the ball went until I saw Max getting tackled RIGHT at the goal line (IMG_7264).
"The 6-foot, 195-pound senior appeared to be going down near midfield after breaking through the middle of the line. But he regained balance without his knee touching the ground, squirted away from two Grizzlies and outran another the rest of the way to the end zone." - BEST PLAY OF THE GAME. I saw Bryce fumble the ball and I immediately put the camera down because usually when a player fumbles they just land on the ball to recover it right? Not with Bryce! It dropped and then bounced right back in his arms and he kept on running! I think the GB defenders knew he fumbled and faltered to look for the ball, but once they realized Bryce still had the ball and was RUNNING with it, it was too late. Amazing what a millisecond can do! (IMG_7391)
"After Pratt's breakaway to put the Golden Eagles up 21-14 with 6:40 to go in the third, Granite Bay tied it a third time, 21-21, when Keeney found tight end Matt Kasner open in the back of the end zone for a three-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 3.6 seconds to play in the third quarter. The Grizzlies drove 49 yards in eight plays after of a Del Oro punt. Granite Bay got as close as the Del Oro 33 midway in the fourth quarter, but Keeney was the victim of dropped passes and the Grizzlies turned the ball over on downs." - That last pass could have been the winning touchdown for Granite Bay, but luckily the wide receiver for GB got blinded by the lights and the ball hit him right about the face-mask! That pass was so full of win! Everyone was absolutely dying of laughter on the Del Oro sidelines! Before this though, Max got sacked but tried to throw the ball away because he knew he was going to get sacked. I don't know what to think of it. Part of me thought it was a smart move just executed a little late, but the other thought...it didn't know what to think. After watching Maxprep's video, there wasn't a GB player over there, so it wouldn't have mattered.
"They ran 11 plays, in which Pratt carried nine times for 34 yards, setting up Ian Scott for a 35-yard field goal attempt with 7.6 seconds to play. But Scott's knuckling, line-drive attempt was too low." - Poor poor Ian. He had to watch Coach T run the clock down and the crowd was just insane. Cheering everywhere. I knew that Ian was trying to keep it cool, but I could tell that he was getting so flustered. I just hoped at that point that we would perform a miracle and win in overtime so Ian didn't do something horrible to himself after the game. (IMG_7499 through IMG_7502)
"Granite Bay got the ball first in overtime." - I actually like the tie-breaker. A team gets picked to go first and they start on the south goal's 10 yard line (facing the goal) and they have 4 downs to get a touchdown. If they get a touchdown the other team has a chance to get a touchdown too. If the other team gets a touchdown, then the first team has to get another touchdown and so on. If the first team does get a touchdown, the second team does, the first team gets another, but the second team doesn't, the first team wins. If the first team doesn't get a touchdown and neither does the second team, the first team to get a touchdown wins. If the first team doesn't get a touchdown but the second team does, then the second team wins. Got it? John McLemore (#54 from 2006) asked how this worked and I just looked at him thinking, "you frickin' did this in the Nevada Union game of 2006! That was the first year this tie-breaker thing happened! You know this!"
"Starting at the Del Oro 10, Devaunte Bolton went five yards, then Cory Brehm was gang tackled for a one-yard loss. On third and six, Pasquale intercepted Keeney's pass in the end zone." - I was ready to puke by this point, so I didn't get the epic photo of Angelo intercepting! Everyone went crazy including me! I wish I would have been able to see clearly so I could see the shock on the Granite Bay fan's faces because that would have been epic as well. I was just jumping up and down and screaming my head off!
"Pratt ran four yards on first down, then busted through a hole off tackle and scored the game-winner. That set off a wild celebration in which half of Loomis seemed to storm the field." - With a population of 6000, I'm pretty sure half of Loomis did storm the field. BUT HOLY COW. I don't know how I got a photo of the winning touchdown. I just couldn't believe it when I went through the play-back and there it was, the winning touchdown in my memory card! I just remember jumping like mad with my fist in the air while screaming my lungs out. The stadium just rocked with all of the cheering/screaming/yelling. (IMG_7511) But then everything came crashing down when the head trainer was helping Adrian Williams off of the field and the EMTs were ALREADY waiting for him with IV's and an oxygen mask. We figured he broke his rib(s) in the beginning of overtime, but he kept on playing. I hope Ian doesn't feel like it was his fault because it wasn't!
Another epic moment of the game was the traffic
This is a game that is going down in history. Both teams were equally matched and played really well. GB's coach, Ernie Cooper, was as one SacBee user called, "a one man circus show". He's an excellent coach, but he kept going onto the field and just yelling at the refs. Probably because he team wasn't winning, but jeez louise. If Coach T did that, I would be insanely embarrassed!
I am so proud of the Del Oro boys. If a heart could burst with pride, mine would have been blown out on Friday night. They have grown up so much since I last shot them as Frosh/JV players two years ago and I'm glad they are the come-back team after last year's mess. It has been such an honor to photograph these boys and I don't want it any other way.
