It was not the best first half for the Cats last Friday but they cam out with Passion and a purpose in the second half and came back to win the Game. The Cats traveled to Tualatin to take on the Timber Wolves in the First Round of the OSAA 6A 2009 Football Playoffs. This was a great night overall.
The defense was once again stifling. Despite some vicious cut blocking by Tualatin the Cats hung tough. Inspired play by Colin Forman, Timote Pongi, Corey Smith, Mike and Doug Saeks and Mike Leunen fired up the team.
Daniel Keel made several big hits on Defense and caught several passes in offense including a long bomb form Phil Belding on 4th and 11 to help the Cats keep a late drive alive.
Chase Byers, Alex Hansen, and Austin Grant also played very very well. The second half saw them all getting the job done down after down.
Lastly we have to Credit Matt Tyner with a field goal in cold and damp conditions that made the difference in this one. On 4th and long Tyner stepped up and put the ball through from about 30 yards out. It barely made it but it made it. He had missed an extra point earlier and a short field goal as well. The game ended on a Tualatin interception which was picked off Colin Forman who had 159 yards rushing as well. Great job by him all night!
The cats now move on to round two to play the West Linn Lions at Home Next Friday! See you all at the game. Go Cats!
Sorry for the late updates. We have been really buried trying to keep up! The Cats went to Sunset on 10/23 and really rolled very well with a bog win 37-0. It was a convincing and lopsided battle for sure.
The following week was a Road trip to Aloha High School. The Warriors were fresh off a win against Sunset as well. Their first win in the Metro League in 5 years. The game was tough right from the start. No excuses here. Having said that Timote Pongi was out for the night and Hayes Garrity was injured is the first quarter. In fact he broke his hand. The Cats were also Missing three linebackers due to discipline issues. The game see-sawed back and forth and in the end the Cats just did not have enough offense. Colin Forman had a great game for the Cats as did Mike Leunen. Whatever happened they left with Aloha a winner 16-10 in an improbable turn of events that few would have predicted.
That loss created a log jam in the Metro League going into the Final week of action. The Cats Hosted Rival Southridge in a a Game that would have the Cats and Southridge on one end of town battling for survival and a playoff birth. Across town at Beaverton High the Beavers were hosting the Warriors. Three of the four were going on to the Play offs at Nights end. One was going home.
The Cats who had been on the goal line at Jesuit with a chance to win as time ran out and take the Metro league title were now on the verge of elimination. The gamae against Southridge was nasty and a defensive battle. Still beat up the Cats looked a little better. Pongi was back and so was Garrity in a cast and now playing only Defense.
Forman took on the backfield duties as a RB and did a superb job going for 170 yards. He also made a great strip on defense and ran the ball 65 yards for a TD; the only score for the Cats. Three field goals and a Southridge surge later the game was tied up.
Time ran out at 13-13. The Kansas Plan overtime began and just as it did the word came across the speakers that Aloha had notched their third win and secured the 2nd Metro seed by beating the Beavers. That was a relief and the Cats now knew that they would take at least 4th place no matter what.
Southridge on the other hand would be out of the playoffs if they lost. They turned on the heat and played like a team possessed. The Cats failed to score and The Skyhawks did. This gave them the 3rd seed and the Cats the 4th. Now the Cats would have to Rally and see if they could beat the #1 Team out of the Pacific Conference in the Tualatin Timber Wolves. Time would tell if this team could make a Rally.
Thanks to the hard work of our very own Dirk Knudsen, Alumni Dad and youth coach, who is a reporter for OregonPreps.com for these great picture albums of our games so far. Fans and Players are welcome to some and download the albums or any pictures you want for FREE!! There are some great ones in here:
Last season was the beginning of a New era in Wildcat Football. We said goodbye to many familiar faces and players. We found a new Head Coach in Greg Fisher. After loosing 30 plus Cats who moved on after 2007 it was hard to say what would happen. The boys honed their skills and worked very hard in strength and conditioning and preseason. The Canby summer camped proved that the team still had weapons and that 3 year starter Josh Hill was going to continue to be a threat as the Cats competed well in several scrimmages.
Doubles and Triples came and went in the sweltering August heat. The coaches and staff watched and sometimes wondered at what the team would become. Everyone knew there was and talent there. After all this is Westview! But the Cats had doubters to prove wrong. Pre-season finally came and so 2008 began.
The boys scrambled, hit, ran, and scored their way to an incredible 4-1 start beating the likes of Barlow, Grant, and David Douglas along the way. It seemed that all was going great for the Cats. But there was no rest for the wicked. The Metro league opened against Power House Jesuit! That game was one sided and the Cats tasted what defeat was like in the worst way.
The following weeks saw wins against Aloha and Sunset and losses to Beaverton and South Ridge. It was a tough second half of the year.
Many good athletes were lost along the way. Colin Forman, Anthony Munyan, Micah Larimer, and Mitchell Fowles were all lost with difficult injuries. The team had to reload and find a way through murky waters and tough times. Nobody knew for sure what would become of 2008. The season ended and at the last tick of the regular season the Cats found themselves in the 4th slot of the Metro League and were matched in the playoffs against the #1 seed from the Mt Hood Conference Central Catholic.
At PGE Park in that First Round Game we saw a revitalized Wildcat team come out and absolutely dominate the Rams. When it was all over the Cats won big and left 602 yards of total offense on that field. Josh Hill, Casey Kasai, Robert Casteel, Johnathan Pearson, Konner Knudsen, Christian Magdaleno, Ricky Martin, Grady Garrett, Patrick Acosta, David and Daniel Aguilar, Clif Heim, and others, all Seniors, played like seniors with something to Prove and shut down the highly touted CC Rams. It was amazing.
In week two the Cats traveled to Eugene to face the Sheldon Irish. It had been about 14 months since the Wildcats had been at Sheldon and in that Game the 2007 Cats laid down the law on the Irish who had not been beaten at home in 7 years. Once again the Cats were expected by supposed experts to lay down and roll over for the "Superior" Irish.
Somebody forgot to tell the Wildcats. This game was so hardly fought and there was virtually nothing more that could have been done. Leads changed and there in the Fog we all saw it...we saw the 2008 Cats find themselves. Together down by down and step by step they battled. Nothing was left undone except for the final kick from 52+ yards with 2.8 seconds left that could have sent this thriller into overtime. That kick by Patrick Acosta was blocked and after a wild finish that you had to see to believe the Cats season ended 33-30. We will never know what would have or could have happened had that kick gone through but we all knew he was going to make it. This is the stuff that memories are made of and that drive the human spirit on by the thoughts summed up in two simple words....."What If?".
There in the fog and the sweat and blood that is Friday Night Lights we saw this small band of Seniors and a very tough group of Juniors and Sophomores fight harder brother to brother than perhaps any Wildcat team had ever fought. They fought to win and to not disappoint. They fought for the years of pain and suffering and exhaustion they had endured. They fought for the Fans, for mom and dad, for each other but most of all they fought to try and stem the tide of time that they all knew was rolling in on them. They fought for one more chance and one more down.
When it was over we saw what the new era and 2008 season had produced. With full hearts and open but tearful eyes we saw the heart of the Wildcats. In that moment we saw the best these boys had to offer. And it was great....it really was.
"To the Seniors...I love you. My heart is full. Thank you! To you Juniors and Sophomores you use this thing as fuel. Remember this. I love you all."
Coach Greg Fisher
You said it all Coach! Great season boys and the fans, parents, and coaches of the Westview Organization wish to acknowledge the great effort that was given in 2008 by the entire team. We are very proud of you all!
The Metro League must be pretty mighty, because its No. 4 team routed the Mt. Hood Conference champ Friday at PGE Park.
Westview racked up 598 yards offense and scored on a bevy of big plays to beat the Rams, 42-7, in the first round of the Class 6A football playoffs.
Quarterback Josh Hill completed 10 of 16 passes for 233 yards and three long touchdowns and added 118 yards on eight carries on the ground, including a 70-yard sprinting score. Running back David Aguilar, sidelined for the first quarter after missing two practices with sickness, ran for 170 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
The Wildcats (6-4) let Central Catholic score only once, tying the game 7-7, and then rattled off 35 unanswered points. It wasn't like Central didn't move the ball; the Rams got into Westview seven other times, but left without points after three interceptions, three unconverted fourth downs and a missed field goal.
The Rams (9-2) saw their nine-game winning streak end. It wasn't a fluke, this No. 4 team beating that league champ.
"They have some explosive kids," Central coach Steve Pyne says. "We ran up against a team that was physical and fast, and I don't think we matched up well. Give them credit, they played well."
The Wildcats were coming off a 54-14 loss to Southridge, only the second time Westview has lost to its Beaverton School District rival. The Wildcats had a good week of practice, capped off by a night of bowling and pizza on Thursday.
"Finishing fourth place in Metro, maybe nobody was looking at us," the 5-11, 195-pound Hill says. "But, it's the best league in the state; coming out four, we're probably as good as a one or two in other leagues. It's a playoff game every week in the Metro."
Westview advances to play defending state champ Sheldon next weekend. The Irish beat Tigard 29-14.
Hill, Aguilar, Hayes Garrity and Robert Casteel shined for the Wildcats, who turned a close game into a rout in the second half.
The teams traded some defensive stops and missed field goals, and then closed the first half with scoring.
Casteel caught the ball over Central defender Seth Downes and scored on a 30-yard pass play to put Westview up 7-0. But the Rams responded with a well-executed passing play, as QB Derek Bowen rolled out left and threw back across the middle to hit Marcos Montas on a 63-yard scoring strike.
But the Wildcats came right back as Hill hit Garrity, who outleaped a Central defender, for a 23-yard reception. On the next play, Garrity caught the ball and cut between two defenders and a blocker by the sideline and ran for a 45-yard score, putting Westview up 14-7 at halftime.
Westview made a defensive stop to start the second half and then scored quickly, as Hill ripped off a 28-yard run and Aguilar found a big hole on a sweep and scored on a 52-yard run.
Central still felt good about its chances, and decided to use injured running back Luke Onderko in the second half; he tweaked his sore hamstring in pre-game warmups, and Rams coaches wanted to be cautious. The 5-11, 220 Onderko pounded ahead for 39 yards on five carries, as Central moved to the Westview 25.
On the next play, defensive back Hill telegraphed a Bowen pass and made an interception.
Hill then found Casteel again on a 41-yard catch-and-run, with Central's Jordan Perry saving a touchdown with a tackle.
Four plays later, Aguilar scored on a 3-yard run and the rout was on.
Daniel Keel picked off Bowen, and the very fast Hill outsprinted the Ram defense on his 70-yard TD run, making it 35-7.
Early in the fourth quarter, Hill and Casteel hooked up again on a 45-yard score. Later, driving for pride, Central got stopped again as Westview's Grady Garrett picked off backup Ram QB Perry.
Running the spread offense, Hill has been known to tuck and run with the ball too much. But he showed off his passing ability, after throwing low, behind and high to receivers early in the game.
"We had some miscommunication and I was a little jittery," Hill says. "My senior year, I want to do big things. Once we settled in, it was all good."
Westview's domination started at the line of scrimmage, Hill adds. "We were getting five and 10 yards without getting touched," he says. "When we do that, big things happen."
Westview coach Greg Fisher says his team has athletes, it's just been matter of putting things together.
"It is a game of momentum. You get one (score), and you're trying to get another if you get a team down who's a half step behind," he says. "All season long it's been us working on us as a team, the maturity level, because we have athletes."
Garrity, substituting for Aguilar early, rushed for 50 yards on seven carries, and he added three catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. Casteel had four catches for 123 yards and the two scores.
Bowen, fairly crisp in the first half, finished 19 of 33 for 189 yards. He was 7 of 17 for 61 yards in the second half, as Westview's pressure got to him. Nick Aguas and Onderko combined for 85 yards on 16 carries, and receiver Downes caught seven balls for 65 yards for Central.
"Our guys who made plays for us all year long struggled," Pyne says. "It's what you expect out of kids — they struggle sometimes — and it's tough to win football games. We moved the ball, we just couldn't finish drives.
"It's unfortunate, but our seniors accomplished more than anybody thought they would, being 9-2 and winning the league. It hurts, it's disappointing, but I'm proud of them."
