Sunday, October 30, 2011

Cal Lutheran Football and a Don McLean Concert


Saturday was a very busy day for us. First up was a short road trip to nearby California Lutheran University with Brian FitzGerald and Ryan Bolland for another great afternoon of NCAA Division III football.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags
2-1, SCIAC, 3-3 Overall
at
Cal Lutheran Kingsmen
4-0 SCIAC, 5-1 Overall

CLU's brand new
William Rolland Stadium

The Kingsmen entered ranked #10 in the latest NCAA Division III national poll and riding the crest of an 18 game SCIAC winning streak that dates back to the final two contests of the 2008 campaign.

CLU has outscored their last three opponents 118-3 in the first half while averaging 56 points per game during this same stretch, looking every bit the part of a nationally ranked squad!

I think that they play
American football here

"What a BEAUTIFUL day
to play American football!!!"

This was my first visit to CLU's new, state of the art stadium. It is magnificent!!!

The home stands were packed

It was Homecoming, a warm, cloudless day and a very good team was playing.

What more could you ask for?

Hard to find a seat on the visiting side too

It was "Standing Room Only" for us!

CLU Defense Swarming as usual

#6 CMS QB Peter Kimmey breaking away

CLU Defense "Rip and Strip"

CMS would recover their own fumble.

The Kingsmen defense would hold the Stags to a long field goal attempt . . .

. . . Too long an attempt

The attempt fell about five yards short in the end zone.

Nice new CLU Scoreboard

#10 CLU QB Jake Laudenslayer

He is enjoying a great season having thrown for 1,391 yards and 12 TDs in the first six games. He is a Senior and graduates at the end of this semester.

Are you listening EuroBall coaches?

#4 CLU WR Eric Rogers

He leads the Kingsmen with 580 receiving yards and has hauled in 6 TD passes this season.

Suddenly these two big fellas
just started Square Dancing

Goal Line Trench Warfare

Kingsman Gio Lapp for SIX!!!

He is somewhere under that mass of humanity. CLU lineman Jordan Austin, 6-4, 320 lbs. may be a little high in his Goal Line charge.

#40 CMU Stags Kick Returner Nick Nasse

Nasse finds a Wave of Blockers
on his Kickoff Return

CMS runs the Option

CLU attacking the QB on the Option

Imagine that! Thus forcing a very quick pitch which is a good thing.

#34 CLU RB Daniel Mosier

He leads the team through six games in rushing with 691 yards and 11 TDs.

Rogers is loose again in the secondary!!!

Mosier and a Ref about to go 1 on 1!!!

Will he run the ref over?

Nope, Mosier went with a juke move!

Mosier would rush for another 96 yards today and score 3 TDs.

A 16 yard TD Pass to #8 Frankie Jones

Laudenslayer would go 15 for 23 passing for 273 yards with 2 TD strikes.

BLINDSIDE!!!

The CMS QB had a long, hard, uphill fight on his hands all day against the aggressive CLU defense. The Stags could only muster 197 total offensive yards on 56 plays.

Big Boys Tussling

#10 CLU Return Man Justin Haulcy-Bateman

Don't ask,
you just HAD to be there!!!

Finishing touch of a CLU Facial

The Kingsmen played every bit the part of the highly ranked team in downing the Stags by a final score of 54-6.

With the win, CLU clinched no worse than a tie for first place in the SCIAC and has earned the conference's automatic bid into the 2011 NCAA Division III playoffs.

Up next for the Kingsmen is a non-conference road game at Chapman University (4-3) next Saturday. CLU will then close out the regular season with another road trip to play conference rival Occidental College (2-1 SCIAC, 4-3 overall).

Occidental beat Chapman on Saturday 27-17.

Saturday Night Concert

I had a dinner/concert date with my bride Laurie in Santa Barbara last night.

The dinner was at a very nice State Street restaurant called Palazzio, Italian cuisine and oh so good!!! Their motto is "People Don't Leave Here Hungry!"

I didn't.

Laurie picked the concert which was held in Santa Barbara's gorgeous Granada Theatre.

The concert's star was . . .

Don McLean then

Frankly, I questioned her choice as I remembered him as pretty much a fabulous one hit wonder for his huge hit "American Pie" from the early 1970's. Laurie would remind me that he also wrote and sang "Vincent," a.k.a., Starry, Starry Night.

The crowd was mostly made up of 60+ year old geezers. What were two hip young people like us doing there?

Don McLean today

What a delightful surprise!!! He sang a mixture of romantic ballads and Delta blues songs plus his two landmark tunes.

I must admit that I joined the McLean and all of the geezers when it was time for singing "American Pie." Most definitely we all enjoyed the long version.

He and his excellent four man back-up group played exceptionally well and McLean's voice is still very strong and clear at the age of 66!

He performed for an hour and 40 minutes without a break. He did warn us at the start to hitch up our diapers because there would be no intermission!

If you get a chance to hear Don McLean live, JUST DO IT!

Don't be afraid of all of the old people that will share the evening with you, most won't bite and are toothless anyway.

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