Kicking System Blog

The LA Lynx might consider changing their name to the “Bakers,” because they sure seem to produce a lot “turnovers”. That was the talk among Cox Arena faithful as the Shockwave forced eight Lynx turnovers (out of 11 possessions) on their way to a 77 - 6 victory and a three game season sweep of their neighbors to the north. The 77 points is a franchise record.

The festive, music-reveling Cinco de Mayo crowd of 3,013 witnessed four defensive scores with running back Tyrone Evans adding four short touchdown runs of his own as the Shockwave continued their domination of LA. In all, eight Shockwave players got into the scoring column; four on offense, four on defense.

The game was never really in doubt. Shockwave led 14 - 0 after one quarter. It quickly ballooned to 42 - 6 at the half, (also a franchise high), thanks in large part to a 21 point scoring flurry in the final minute of the 2nd quarter. By then, the two visiting high schools marching bands performing at halftime were tempted to play taps.

The Lynx’s lone score came when Jason Brehm scored on a 2-yard run early in the second quarter.
Los Angeles missed the two-point conversion, making the score 14 - 6. The only other good news of the night for the now  0 - 4 Lynx was that the three game season series with the Shockwave has mercifully concluded. On the season, the Shockwave outscored the Lynx a staggering 194 - 21.

Similar to last week’s 61 - 6 Shockwave victory in LA, when the halftime score was 41 - 6; the halftime score was 42 - 6 tonight. And like last week, Shockwave starting quarterback Roman Ybarra had a strong first half, finishing with two touchdown passes. Equally identical to last week, Matt Pound played the second half, finishing with one touchdown pass.

The Shockwave receiving corps, wide receivers Chris Pittman, Deondre Alexander and Nakoa McElrath each caught a touchdown. The most dramatic catch of the night was Ybarra’s 45-yard rainbow to McElrath at 1:20 of the second quarter. McElrath caught the ball in full stride along the right sideline before slamming into and flipping over the end zone dasherboard. “A spectacular, highlight reel catch,” said winning head Coach Bob Bees. “It rivaled the catch (Chris) Pittman made against
Beaumont a few weeks ago.”

On the other hand the Lynx were anything but spectacular, gaining an anemic 30 yards of total offense on the night. The Shockwave had a respectable 224 yards of total offense. Again, the Lynx fell apart on nearly every possession due in large part to
San Diego’s stifling defense. “They (LA) made a lot of adjustments coming in and went with a good power I running offense,” said Shockwave defensive coordinator Montra Edwards. “But we adjusted to it and played our usual relentless style of defense.”
 

Kicker John “Auto” Matich was perfect for the evening, converting all 11 PAT’s. Lineman Ricky Leungwai (3 sacks) and his mates again completely obliterated LA’s offensive line, harassing and sacking LA’s quarterback Michael Hamilton five times, forcing three fumbles and two interceptions. Leungwai also forced a first quarter fumble that teammate Andre Reed fell onto for a touchdown.

Still in the first half, DL Wallace Thomas got into the act, returning a fumble for a touchdown. And LB Rico Curtis, not wanting to be left out, alertly picked up one of his two fumble recoveries on the night, returning a loose ball for 10 yard touchdown run with just 2 seconds remaining in the first half. DB Shedrick Harris rounded out the scoring at 1:45 of the 4th quarter, intercepting and returning an errant
Hamilton pass 27 yards for a score. DB David Beverly had two interceptions.

“The return of veteran DB Emmanuel Bentley helped us on defense,” added Coach Edwards. “We missed his leadership which will be important as we march on toward our goal; a championship.”

The 5 - 1 first-place Shockwave have two tough road games the next two weeks, facing two undefeated opponents. On May 12th, the Shockwave visit the San Bernardino (Bucking Bulls) and on May 19th, to
Alameda (Tri-Valley Ranchers). ”We still have a lot of work to do and we plan on getting better each week,” reminds Coach Edwards. “We’ve got some stiff competition the next two games against
San Bernardino and Tri-Valley. But our eyes are on the prize - an NIFL championship.”

Beaumont’s well runs dry

Saturday, April 14^th

Cox Arena                                                                                        

Led by a dominating, unrelenting defense, the San Diego Shockwave scored early and often and coasted to an impressive 46 - 9 victory over the previously unbeaten Beaumont Drillers at Cox Arena on Saturday night. 

Played before 2,486 enthusiastic fans, even legendary
Texas oil well blowout expert Red Adair couldn’t cap this one.

The Shockwave’s defense confused and stifled the seemingly non-existent Driller offense through the first three quarters. While Beaumont’s offensive was adequate in last week’s 34 - 32 win against
Atlanta, tonight, they turned the ball over 6 times. When they did hold onto the ball, their output was held to a barely a trickle - the Drillers didn’t complete a pass or record a first down until the 4th quarter. Their only offensive gain in the first half was on a broken play.

Meanwhile, the Shockwave offense, led by first time starter Matt Pound played relatively mistake-free football. They scored on two short Ali Culpepper runs, two Pound TD passes - to WR Deondre Alexander and WR Chris Pittman - and a long FG from reliable K John Matich, taking a commanding 32 - 3 lead into the locker-room at halftime.

The most dramatic play of the evening came on the heels of one of many Driller 1st half turnovers. Taking advantage of the scoring opportunity, Pound connected with Pittman on a 38 yard TD to take a commanding 25 - 3 lead midway through the 2nd quarter. Pittman, who finished with 2 TD catches on the night, caught this one in full stride while slamming, a split second later, into the unyielding dasher board in the back of the endzone.

“I was zoning in on the ball, trying to stay focused and make the catch,” said Pittman of his amazing reception. “I really didn’t see the wall coming. Fortunately, I hung on.”

“That was a big-time catch,” commented winning Coach Bob Bees who, at 2 - 1 in his first season as a head coach has the Shockwave in first place in the NIFL’s Pacific Division. “Pittman’s catch really fired up the crowd and the team. We knew we were on our way.”

The Drillers meanwhile, couldn’t shake the dust off their boots, trying three different QB’s in the first half alone, all with the same result.
Beaumont’s QB’s combined for five first half turnovers. In fact,
Beaumont turned the ball over six times in their first eight possessions.

“Our defensive line was relentless from the beginning, really setting the tone for the entire game,” added Bees. “Everybody did a great job tonight. Our offensive line stepped up and showed what they could do. Our receivers - who dropped 6 or 7 balls last week in
Wyoming - really stepped up and made some great grabs, particularly Chris Pittman’s catch.”

With the game out of reach,
Beaumont starting QB Kirk Dean hit WR Chad Luttrell on a 36 yard fly pattern for a TD at 8:14 of the 4th quarter.  The 2 point conversion failed, making the score 39 - 9.

Roman Ybarra came in late in the game to throw the final TD pass for the Shockwave, a 5 yard scoring strike to Pittman.

“I was excited to have the chance to start,” said QB Pound, a local product from 
Escondido. “I made a few mistakes in the beginning, but our defense held them scoreless. All I had to do was get the ball to my teammates and let them do the rest.”

Montra Edwards’ defense, which gave up 57 points the week before, shut down
Beaumont. DL Ricky Leungwai started things off at 11:50 of the 1st quarter, by blocking a long field goal attempt into the end zone for a safety, making the score 2 - 0. 

Well, we just won again. We beat the Beumont Drillers 49-6 on Saturday night.   We all played well and it was great team win.  I was fortunate to have a small field goal 20 yards and connect on 5 or 6 extra points.  Its always nice to win in front of the home crowd.  The kicker for the Drillers had a nice 48 yard field goal.  I must admit the kickers in this league are great kickers.
It was a busy weeekend as I spend Saturday morning on the field and all day on Sunday performing kicking lessons.  And it didn’t stop there as I had more sessions on Monday.   I am also finishing up my graduate degree from the Univeristy of San Francisco, and I have a few more sections left in my Masters Project.    It will nice to graduate next month and have a little breathing room.  I also have concluded a corporation status form my non-profit called “The Extra Point Foundation.” I will be having a kicking camp for youth football kickers this summer with proceeds going towards the San Diego Childrens Hospital.

So far to date I am 3-4 on field goals and 12-12 on extra points. The long field goal is 41 yards.

I will keep you posted…

John Matich

The Wyoming Cavalry scored 20 unanswered points in the 3rd quarter turning what was a tight game into a lopsided 57 -20 win against the San Diego Shockwave. The game was played before 2,692 fans at the Casper Events Center in Casper, WY on Saturday night.The veteran Cavalry club, who outscored the Shockwave 33 - 0 in the second half, won the game going away over the younger, mistake-prone Shockwave.

The first half was a see-saw affair. After stopping the Shockwave on their first drive, the Cavalry’s Trey Ransom opened scoring by converting on a 39 yard FG at the 9:41 mark of the 1st Quarter. The Shockwave tied it at 3 -3 five minutes later with 4:41 left when K John Matich hit from 41 yards out.

Both teams swapped TD’s and the first quarter ended in a 10 - 10 tie. Momentum seemed to shift the Shockwave’s way when the Cavalry’s WR Dante Dudley was stopped at the Shockwave’s 2 yard line on a 4th and goal early in the 2nd Quarter. But the Shockwave quickly turned it over and Wyoming capitalized on a 5 play, 23 yard drive, with a 7 yard QB Matt Strand TD toss to WR Dante Dudley. The PAT failed, making the score 16 - 10.

The Shockwave responded and took their only lead of the game with 1:48 remaining in the first half when QB Roman Ybarra hit WR Chris Pittman with a 6 yard TD pass. The PAT was good giving the Shockwave a 17 - 16 lead. That lead, however, was short lived. The Cavalry, benefiting from good field position resulting from a short kickoff, scored with 27 seconds remaining making the score 24 - 17.

On the ensuring kickoff, the Shockwave quickly advanced the ball several times to the Cavalry 17 yard line. The Shockwave called a timeout with 1 second remaining and K John Matich had enough leg to muscle a 27 yard partially blocked field goal attempt through the uprights. Score - 24 - 20, Wyoming at the half.

The first half was hard-hitting and penalty-filled. “Mistakes and penalties did us in not only in the first half, but the entire game,” said a disappointed head coach Bob Bees of the Shockwave’s play. “We came out flat in the second half. It was a very tough loss.”

Despite the relatively small gathering, the raucous Wyoming fans - led by their famous 9th man - the fired up crowd - seemed to play a part in the Shockwave’s undoing, disrupting the San Diegans at key moments throughout the contest. While time of possession favored the Shockwave 32 minutes to 28 minutes, the Shockwave really couldn’t muster any offense - dropping numerous passes, suffering three interceptions and losing one fumble. The Cavalry, meanwhile had plenty of giddy-up on offense. Their defense, though was the story, turning the fumble and one interception into two, 3rd quarter Cavalry TD’s that put the game out of reach.

Some questionable officiating at key moments didn’t help San Diego’s chances. Calls appeared to go Wyoming’s way most of the night, sealing the Shockwave’s fate. “The officiating seemed a bit lopsided,” lamented Shockwave wide receiver coach, Eric Van Tassel. “There were an inordinate number of calls that broke our momentum and stalled our drives. They certainly weren’t 37 points better than we were.”

Shockwave WR Nakoa McElrath led all receivers with 6 catches for 77 yards and 1 TD. WR Chris Pittman added 5 receptions for 29 yards and 1 TD. Shockwave RB Ali Culpepper, who ran strong in the season opener against LA couldn’t get untracked, gaining just 8 yards on 5 carries.

Cavalry DB Brandon Everage had two interceptions, and DB Brian Guthrie had one; the costly 49 yard interception return for TD, that punctuated Wyoming’s performance and put the game out of reach, 44 - 20. Cavalry WR Dante Dudley also had a big night, catching 3 TD passes. Speedy RB James “Spiderman” Jones seemed to always be involved, touching the ball 16 times for the Cavalry. He gained 30 yards on 11 carries and had 5 receptions for 46 yards.

“While we don’t like any loss, this shows us where we’re at and the adjustments we need to make,” vowed Coach Bees. “And we’ll make those adjustments and be ready next week. Our schedule doesn’t get any easier. Beaumont, our next opponent, is a very good team. They just beat Atlanta 34 -32 Saturday night.”