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