Grinding Out A Victory

I know I have done a lousy job keeping up with this blog, and for that I apologize.  Since my last blog entry, so many twists and turns have taken place, so I will attempt to catch you up.  

My neck is not getting any better, but I have gotten used to the pain.  Just sitting for long periods at a time still makes it hurt and my arms go numb....so I have learned to type faster  lol  After the season I will probably get this ruptured disc cut on or something....but I will not be doing anything for a few months. We have a long season ahead of us.  

Since my last entry, we had a major hurricane pass right through us.  Hurricane Irma came though and messed things up for awhile.  Many of us (including me) were out of power for about a week.  Also, the storm caused us to cancel a couple games.  However, we just found out that we will be playing Tallahassee Lincoln High School on October 20th (instead of having a bye-week)  Lincoln is a very iconic and tough program in the State of Florida just like us.  The match-up is great...but it does cause me more headaches.  Lincoln is no joke.  Oh well, like Ric Flair says: "To be the man...you have to BEAT the man"   

My Son Mike and Grandson Mason

Check this photo out.  This is my son Michael and his son Mason.  Mike and family (Wife Alex and Son Mason) are going to a military funeral out in Colorado.  I love to get photos of Mike in his dress blues; unfortunately, I do not get very many of them. Mike is absolutely my hero these days, and he is probably the bravest man I know.  An Infantry fighting man never backs down from anything.  Mike is the reason I have such a strong stance about anti-flag and anti-country demonstrations.  I am so very thankful to be associated with Vero Beach High School  where this type of thing does not or has not happened.  When you see me standing at attention during the national anthem...now you know exactly what (or whom) I am thinking about.  I take this chance to honor my son and my country very seriously.  

Granddaughter Kirby.  

I am excited that my buddy Chris Hiser is streaming the games on our YouTube channel.  This gives my kids (all living out of the area) a chance to follow our (PawPaw's team) every game.  Apparently, my granddaughter Kirby is quite the Fighting Indian Fan...she sends me a note before every game.  Last night I was blessed to have a chance to send the kids a PawPaw shoutout during the broadcast.  I was thrilled to have the chance, and I heard the kid's eyes got big and they just squealed when they heard their name over the airwaves.  

Now on to Football:

Lineman of the Week vs Pahokee  Hunter Riggins 

The hurricane really screwed things up with our schedule.  Back to back games (Dr Krop- Ft Lauderdale) were both cancelled.  We came back and played 1A  powerhouse Pahokee last week and beat them 28-12.  Pahokee had great athletes at every position, great speed, and they were very physical.  Our offensive line played outstanding, and this allowed our big running back Akeem Dixon to gain 240 yards on the ground.  Hunter Riggins had another outstanding game, and he again won the "Lineman Of The Week" award for the second time.  Our first back to back winner.  

Last night we lined up against district rival Port St Lucie Centennial at Billy Living Field.  The Eagles were undefeated coming into the game last night, and we were expecting a real fight for our first district matchup.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate very well, and the game was not played in optimal conditions.  It was wet and sloppy all game long which turned the game into a ground war on both sides.  Coach Jankowski (Lenny) is a genius when it comes to formations and plays in both the running game and passing game.  Luckily, we are not a one dimensional team, and even better for us,  Akeem Dixon thrives in these conditions.  We ground out a 30-3 Victory to take the lead in our district. 

I feel so blessed to be a part of this great organization.  We have great coaches, great players, and absolutely the best booster club in all of Florida.  

See you soon. 

GZ 

Complete Update

Here I am apologizing again for not keeping up with my blog.  I don't have a great excuse for not writing except for time restraints, and my neck is still giving me fits.  It is often painful to just sit down and peck at a keyboard, so I try not sit for too long at a time.  It almost feels like there is a tooth missing from a sprocket and my head gets stuck in place.  The pain is only bad when I rotate my head from side to side, so I can deal with it.  We are treating this like a soft tissue injury right now, and truthfully, this non-invasive treatment is all I am willing to do at this point in the football season.  I have another MRI scheduled for Wednesday at 7:30am.  I think it may be a waste of time.  I sure won't be complaining to the other football coaches, because any show of weakness, these guys will be on you like flies on burnt cookies.

I will now get all of you updated on the teams progress so far this year.  I will also use this opportunity to introduce The "Lineman Of The Week" from each game thus far.

Kickoff Classic:  Vero Beach vs Melbourne Viera    (Won 42-30)

This proved to be a very tough game for us.  Viera is a powerhouse program in Brevard County.  They are always district winners year and state ranked after year.  Viera is also a spread offense tempo team, so the whole game was very fast paced.  I recorded 197 total plays run during the ballgame which is a lot.    Both teams suffered from cramping in the 90 degree and 90% humidity weather.  Finally, we wore them down with our depth and pulled away with a twelve point victory.  This Viera team is no joke, and they will make some real noise this season.

Jarvis Jones: "Lineman Of The Week"  

Week 1: Vero Beach vs Oscar Smith- (Chesapeake, Virginia)  (Won: 28-21) 

This was a long road trip for us.  We were invited to play Virginia's Oscar Smith which was supposed to be on national television (more on this later)  Anyway, this team is considered a national powerhouse, and truthfully, I was more than a little worried about the match up.  We bused 45 football players, the coaches, film crew, support crew, cheerleaders, etc.. twelve hours North to play this game.  We stopped in Raleigh, North Carolina to spend the night and get a short workout in at North Carolina State University.The next morning we drove another three hours to Chesapeake, Virginia.  During pre-game, Oscar Smith looked every bit the intimidating team they were billed to be, and they certainly passed the eye test.  Great looking kids everywhere.  

Fortunately, our kids got off the bus ready to play.  We got off to a little slow start and turned the ball over.  They scored and went up 7-0.  Luckily, our defense was smothering and kept us in the game until Lenny J. got the offense rolling.  We eventually went up 28-14 and I knew the game was over.  They got a last minute cheap TD to make the score respectful.  I was extremely proud of our kids....this was a quality win on the road.  The value of the experience for our kids cannot be measured.   

By the way, our Football Booster Club spoiled all of us the entire trip.  Our kids and coaches were all treated like an elite college football team the entire trip.  I keep saying this, but our booster club is just fantastic.  I don't think our team could be as successful without these hard-working people. We are so blessed to have them in our football family.  

Carlos Perez: "Lineman Of The Week"  

Week 2:  Vero Beach vs Wellington:  (Won 62-24)

Once again, we went on the road to play another strong program in Wellington, Florida.  This small city is a suburb of  West Palm Beach, and they are always strong and competitive with lots of great athletes. We had our hands full for sure.  Personally, I was worried about our kids being a little flat and tired coming off the huge road win against Oscar Smith the week before.  Luckily, our experienced coaching staff recognized the possibility of this happening, so our little issues were treated like BIG issues during practice last week.  The practice week was treated like: 'YES, we won, but we looked like crap doing so!'  The intensity paid off, and we put together a pretty good all around team victory.  

Hunter Riggins: "Lineman Of The Week"  

NOW, you are caught up with how we are doing.  I am writing this blog entry in my office at 1:54 pm (Monday-LABOR DAY) YES, we practiced this morning....we LABORED on Labor day.  We hit the field at 8am and was off the field at 10am.  All the kids showed up for practice, so it went pretty well.  

I won't promise a blog entry everyday, but I will make an effort to update regularly.  I love to write, but my neck does not like it as much as I do.  I am happy people have been asking about my next blog entry...at least I know people are reading.  

This is a good year for me.  

GZ