Riverton takes Alta behind the wood shed 27-6

What an ugly game on a lot of fronts. Some of the goals we wanted to do on offense never got accomplished. We didn't control the line of scrimmage and we weren't tough physical brutes on defense. This week we didn't run well enough to inflict our will on our opponents and the blocking on the run plays by our backs and receivers was missing on many of the key plays. On a positive note the quarter back had plenty of time to throw this week and that was great. I just wish we could have connected on our passes when we had the good protection. Turn overs killed us again especially the one on the first drive. The boys need to do a gut check because at this point its about how much competitive spirit they have and are willing to bring to the surface.

Alta Pewter Beats Alta Crimson 15-6

What a hard fought game with tons of emotional ups and downs. I really liked the way the team fought back and won the game. Alec Davey nice catch. Way to be ready when called upon to do your job. Ryan way to lay out for a ball too. Zack nice moves for a score. Crosby nice arm this week. Offensive line was tough. It looks like the new blocking will help. Joe Denos nice sack on fourth down to end the half. Ry nice tackle for a safety. Nate Tripp sorry for busting your chops when it was actually Trudo's guy who caught the ball. Nick Linares your best play was when you didn't even make the play but turned the guy in on the sweep that could have gone for big yards. Chris good job on not giving up and pursuing your guy all the way to the sideline. Defensive team way to step up and stop them from scoring when they were pounding on the door, It took a lot of heart. I must say it was just an all round gutty effort by everyone and that's how we will have to play to win all of our games. It doesn't get any easier, we have a must win game coming up against Riverton. Good luck Boys.

YUMM!

Wow! what a tail gait party the kids loved it. I think I speak for the coaches too, we loved it. The hot dogs and chili was a hit. Kudo's to the team moms and the parents who work so hard on behalf of the boys. Parties like that boost moral and build friendships that last for years. I know that my boy's still talk about pep rally's from previous years like they were just yesterday. I went to a coaches camp some years ago and one of the instructors said that some kids only motivation might be to play for the end of game treats , half time snacks and parties and that's OK because it will eventually change to something else (like maybe "winning and succeeding in football"). Silly me, what do I know I thought we played for the love of game, the thrill of the hit, the crushing block, the long run where your feet barely touch the ground, the amazing flying catch, the smell of fresh cut grass or the smell of hard earned sweaty pads..... So if truth be told Team Mom's you may be more remembered in the years to come than the coaches or the season it self. GOOD JOB MOMS- WE APPRECIATE IT, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

Alta vs Bountiful

ALTA WINS

Well, that's what will happen this week regardless of which team wins. I am hoping that we can right the ship this week as the last two weeks we lost the fight. In the loss to Bountiful we didn't use our quickness to penetrate the defense and on offense our line was a little leaky. Hopefully this week we can work of the fundamentals again. We've got to have lanes to run in and time to pass or our aspirations will have to be re adjusted. You always hear that you have to take the other teams will to win away and replace it with the will to survive. Lets not let that happen to us. With a win this week we can still be in the hunt for a play off spot and if we get lucky maybe some teams will beat the teams we lost to. This week its us or them for the bragging rights to be the best Alta team in our division. Let the victor be Alta Pewter

Feelin' Down

I didn't want to post this week because I felt DOWN. We worked hard and should have won our last game. We knew Olympus' every play and we knew how to exploit their weaknesses but we didn't get it done. So there is why I was feeling sorry for myself and the team. What a mistake... I was reading an article writen by Lee Benson of the Deseret News that lifted my soul. I'll sort of tell the story and paraphrase it for you.
" When Art Berg broke his neck in the summer of 1983 he had no idea it would help the Baltimore Ravens win the 2001 Super Bowl.

He was traveling across a lonely stretch of Nevada freeway, a 21 year old Californian on his way to Utah to get married, when the car he was riding in smacked head on into a car traveling in the opposite direction. One minute he was on top of the world, the next he was in a Las Vegas emergency room with doctors shaking their heads. He had broken his 5th vertebra in his neck rendering his arms and legs useless. To medical science he was a Quadraplegic, tethered to his wheel chair for the rest of his life. No sooner did he regain conciousness than he began hearing all the things he wouldn't be able to do.

Incredibly Art, He layed there Paralyzed and began to tell himself all the things he could do.

Amoung the many inspirations he turned to were the words of a 19th century English poet named Williqam Ernest Henly who, when facing a crisis of his own, wrote a poem called "INVICTUS," which is a latin word for "unconquered, unsubdued, invincible."

The poems last stanza goes like this:

"It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate;
I am the master of my soul."

Holding to that thought, Art embarked on a journey that took him to heights he may never have visited if he hadn't been tethered to his wheelchair. He became an accomplished athlete (he ran numerous marathons and played on a nationaly ranked wheelchair rugby team), A fulfilled Family man (the woman he was engaged to waited for him and they had two children), A sucessful businessman (he was named Young entrepeneur of the year in 1992), and he was one of the country's most sought after motivational speakers (at age 39 he was in the National Speaker's Hall of Fame).

Art Berg, Champion paralytic, rolled into the Baltimore Ravens pre season camp for a 7:30 in the morning speech. Dozens of football players in the midst of two-a-days sprawled in front of him in various stages of repose, These players had heard half time speeches and rah rah talks since they were probably Gremlins. Now what was this man in a wheelchair going to tell them that they hadn't already heared?

Then the man in the wheelchair told them about "INVICTUS". He told them not to worry about the negatives that would come along during the season, but to prepare for how they would handle whatever they turned out to be.

He told them what he did.

In the first preseason game after the speech, the Ravens were in a deep hole at half time. David Modell, the teams president, told Art, who was sitting next to him in the owners box, that if the Ravens some how could pull out the win, He was going to put the word "INVICTUS" on the scoreboard.

The Ravens won. There after, following every win, "INVICTUS" was put on the board.

During the teams only real slump, a three game losing strek at mid season, Coach Brian Billick called the players together, Pulled out Henley's poem, and disected every line.

They would not lose again that season.

Later The Ravens called Art at his home in Highland, Utah and invited him back to training camp. When he arrived, he went to lunch with, amoung others Modell and Billick. There, they pulled out a large jewelry box. Inside was the Baltimore Ravens XXXV Super Bowl ring, with Art's Name on it.

The $28,000 14 carat gold ring has 40 diamonds and a ruby eye, with a football field back drop of white gold.

And there on both sides, in bold, beautiful letters, there is the single word: "INVICTUS"

Now I to feel "Unconquered, Unsubdued, Invincible" regardless of the loss.

(Thanks to Coach Taylor for sharing this story with me)

Our backs are against the wall with the loss to the Braves 15-6

Lets work hard and beat Bountiful

I don't like to lose, and that isn't so much because it is just a football game, but because defeat means the failure to reach your objective. I don't want a football player who doesn't take defeat to heart, who laughs it off with the thought, 'Oh, well, there's another Saturday.' The trouble in American life today, in business as well as in sports, is that too many people are afraid of competition. The result is that in some circles people have come to sneer at success if it costs hard work and training and sacrifice.
-Knute Kenneth Rockne

Alta Vs. Olympus

Nice comeback but too many mistakes. Alta loses 21-32 to

THE JITTERS

Tomorrow we face our first real challenge as a football team. We face an unbeaten team in Olympus. Olympus has two fast kids on their team that will present a challenge for our boys. I believe we have the skill players to shut them down but it will still be quite a task to slow them down. I bring that up, the fact that its going to be a challenge, because it's also very exciting, so much so that here I sit Friday night because I can't sleep. I say Friday night but it's now way into the morning already. I went down into the family room where the boys are sleeping and they are out cold. How do they do it? I'm so worked up you would think I was the one playing because I'm the one with pre-game jitters. Many moons ago when I used to play I would always have to throw up (Yuck!) to calm my nerves right before the game got started. Hopefully the Jitters is all I need this week.