Press Hop 2 is Glorious

Those that follow ADvantage Catdome knows that I'm a mark for DJ Steve Porter and his work. If you haven't seen the original Press Hop you have to give it a spin. A classic in its own right but Press Hop 2 is a tremendous effort. If you haven't heard of DJ Steve Porter, you've probably seen his work during the NBA finals. This is just something to start your weekend right.

2010 Incoming 'Cats: Quarterbacks

Welcome back to the 8th round of our special series featuring our incoming 'Cats of 2010. This week we'll be featuring our incoming Quarterbacks. The 'Cats have 4 QB's coming in from three states (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho).

The quarterback job should be wide open after the 2010 season and the competition for the starting job should be very competitive. From the current young QB's in the program to the infusion of talent of our incoming QB's it should be great to see who develops as the 'Cats QB of the future. Needless to say, the 'Cats are going to continue to be very talented on offense for the foreseeable future. That just gives WC11 a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

Video are in alphabetical order (Last name) and may have been edited to save time/space, and some indicate jersey numbers)


Logan Krellwitz (QB) – West Linn High School – West Linn, Ore. - Single Game


Josh Yoder (QB) – Canby High School – Canby, Ore. - Highlight Comp

Missing:
Nicholas Fairhart (QB) – Eatonville High School – Eatonville, Wash.
Jake Wylie (QB) – Bishop Kelly High School – Boise, Idaho

2010 Incoming 'Cats: Kickers

Welcome back to the 7th round of our special series featuring our incoming 'Cats of 2010. This week we'll be featuring our group of incoming Kickers. The 'Cats have 4 kickers coming in from two states (Oregon and California).

Now some of you may be saying to yourself: "Wildcat11 why are you dedicating time to kickers? They're kickers." While it's easy for most football fans to poke fun at kickers, Wildcat11 is not one of those people and is in fact a major fan of having a good kicking game. WC11 has full respect for the work Linfield's kicking group puts in.

Nobody says much about a kicking game...that is until they don't have much of one. Kicking is one of the most underrated aspects of small college football. Having good punters and kickoff specialists are vital in the field positioning game and a good field goal kicker takes major pressure off the offense and gives a coaching staff more options. WC11 loves a good kicking game and I'm looking forward to seeing our new legs compete with a very solid group of returning kickers.

Video are in alphabetical order (Last name) and may have been edited to save time/space, and some indicate jersey numbers)


Markus Trujillo – Edison High School – Huntington Beach, Calif. (Highlight Comp)


Jordan Walker – Milwaukie High School – Milwaukie, Ore. (Highlight Comp - Practice footage)

Missing:
Scott Goodman (couldn't get DVD to work) – Newberg High School – Newberg, Ore.
Josh Kay - South Salem/Whitworth (Transfer) -Soph - Salem, Ore.

Fisher and Nishizaki named to D3football.com 2010 Pre-Season All-American Team

The Bible of Division III football, D3football.com, has released their annual pre-season All-American team today. Two Linfield Wildcats were named to the very selective group of division III players from around the country. Linfield Safety Drew Fisher (Jr. - Gresham, Or.) was named to the 1st team defense, while Defensive Tackle Paul Nishizaki (Sr. - Beaverton, Or.) was slotted on the 2nd team defense. This is a great honor and very well deserved by both Drew and Nish as they were both a force for the Wildcat defense in 2009 and should have a great 2010 campaign.

I think that Drew and Nish would be the first ones to deflect any attention away from themselves because they know that Linfield's success isn't built on a single person but by a collective effort. If you run into either of these two 'Cats be sure to congratulate them on the honor because they deserve it.

Drew Fisher - Safety - Junior - Gresham, Or. (Centennial High)

The hard hitting playermaker tied the Linfield lead with pics at 5 during the 2009 season (Nate Dixon) and lead the Wildcat Defense with 73 tackles (39 solo, 34 assit), 4 tackles for loss, had 9 pass break ups, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recover, a blocked kick (punt vs UST), and a number of bone jarring hits for the Wildcat defense. Drew was also named the team's defensive player of the year.

Paul Nishizaki - Defensive Tackle - Senior - Beaverton, Or. (Westview High)

Nish is the wrecking ball for the Linfield defense over the past two seasons. Nishizaki accumulated 30 tackles (18 solo, 12 asst), 8.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 3 QB hurries, and 2 forced fumbles. However, individual statistics has never reflected the true value of what Nishizaki brings to the Linfield defense. He is really one of the most hated players by OC's around the Northwest Conference for his ability to disrupt the running game by stuffing interior offensive linemen that allow the 'Cats LB's and Safety's to come flying in and clean up the mess. I think that it's great that D3football.com looked beyond stats to see the value of Nishizaki's game to one of the country's best teams.

However, with these teams there is always some controversy and debate about those on the team and those that were not listed. This pre-season team isn't exempt for that debate. For Wildcats fans there is one name that many are surprised (including WC11) that didn't make the team and that is Linfield quarterback Aaron Boehme. The Senior-to-be had a stand out 2009 campaign in throwing for 3,261 yards, having a 60.5 passing completion percentage (245-405 with 12 picks), tossing 33 touchdowns, and rushed for 551 yards and 10 rushing TDs. It was just a dream season for any quarterback.

Listed as the first team QB is Alex Tanney from Monmouth College and his numbers are really off-the-charts good and has long been a staple on these All-American teams during his career in the mid-west, however, the name that caused some head tilting as the 2nd team QB was Hardin-Simmons QB Justin Feaster. Feaster's season was pretty much ended in 2009 when he suffered an injury late in the 3rd quarter vs Linfield in a beating the 'Cats put on HSU. I have mass amounts of respect for Feaster but in having a chance to see him up close the past three season and witnessing Boehme's progression, I just think that Boehme is the more polished and better quarterback. Boehme is a more refined pocket passer and showed last year that his legs are also very dangerous.

When the question of Boehme came up on Catdomealumni.com's facebook page, D3football.com's publisher, Pat Coleman, was there to answer the question about how they selected their two quarterbacks: "We looked pretty closely at how Aaron Boehme and Alex Tanney did in their home playoff games against St. Thomas. Then we also looked closely at healthy Justin Feaster vs. Aaron Boehme and I feel very comfortable in both being ahead of Boehme.

Not sure if anyone else in the nation is, though. We just aren't going to name three or four quarterbacks on a team to try to keep everyone happy. That waters down the award."

While Wildcat11 may not agree with Feaster over Boehme, we do agree 100% with D3football.com in not watering down their award. Those that follow the blog know that I've harped on this point over and over and over again with the NWC coaches about the ALL-NWC team and their slow progression to sanity. D3 knows they are going to get some people upset but I applaud D3football.com in keeping the team short, sweet, and all it does is make the awards more elite.

2010 Incoming 'Cats: Tight Ends

Welcome back to the 6th round of our special series featuring our incoming 'Cats of 2010. This week we'll be featuring our group of incoming Tight Ends. Our incoming tight ends come from two states (Oregon, & California).

These tight ends are coming into an offense where the Tight End plays a vital role in the zone running scheme and the 'Cats passing attack. Wildcat11 is looking forward to seeing these three young 'Cats develop in the Linfield offense.

Video are in alphabetical order (Last name) and may have been edited to save time/space, and some indicate jersey numbers)

Nelson Franks (TE) – Cleveland High School – Portland, Ore. (Highlight Comp)


Dalton McDaniel (TE) – Imbler High School – Summerville, Ore. (Highlight Comp)


Jacob Priester (TE) – Patterson High School – Patterson, Calif. (Highlight Comp)

Kelley Bertrand's "Blood Makes The Grass Grow"

A few weeks ago 2004 Linfield graduate and All-Star Defensive End, Kelley Bertrand dropped me an e-mail. Kelley, who's currently a police officer in Beaverton, was having a restless night when he decided up open up his laptop and write a short story about his life playing football from the moment he found out that all he wanted to do was play football as a little guy to his time at Linfield where he tore his ACL the first game of the 2004 season. "Blood Makes The Grass Grow" takes you through "little guy" football to high school and how he miraculously found his way back to the field before the end of his season year at Linfield that saw him hoisting up the Bronze and Gold. For anyone that loves football and Linfield this is a must read from a great Linfield player.

Regarding Kelley, I hated writing the term "All-Star" in that first paragraph. In WC11's opinion I think there is little doubt that Kelley was the most complete defense lineman/players in the program in the past 16 years I've been around. 2004 was going to be a HUGE year for Kelley and I was 100% positive it was going to end with him being a 1st team All-American. He had all you can ask for in building a defensive player; size, speed, strength, a mean streak, and smarts.

It was crushing to see him go down to an ACL tear in the first game of the season and it felt like Linfield's defense was cursed (lost returning All-American Safety Ray Lions in the first game of the 2003 season). However, the end was like a Hollywood story. He defyed the odds, came back and played well on a torn ACL, separated his shoulder in the National Semi Final game vs Rowan, rubbed some dirt on it, and went on and bulldozed his way to the game clinching sack in the National Championship game vs Mary-Hardin Baylor. So in the end, I don't know if you would go back and change anything (Kelley probably has a different opinion).

Kelley will dive into that moment and much, much, more in "Blood Makes The Grass Grow". It's a great read for parents, former players, coaches, current and incoming 'Cats. It has something for every football and Linfield fan.

Here is an excerpt from Kelley's story on when the D1 offers didn't come after his senior year in High School and how he found Linfield:

-------------------

Now that the season was over all there was left to do was sit back and wait for all the scholarship offers to roll in. Well that’s what I did. Wait and wait and wait and wait and wait. You see where this is going. The scholarships didn’t come in as I had hoped. I enjoyed multiple recruiting trips, but every time I kept hearing the coaches telling me how they wanted me to play for them, but they would like me to walk on and earn a scholarship later. Wow, I felt like someone had kicked me in the nuts. I was supposed to play for the University of Oregon just like my dad and when I found out that wasn’t going to happen I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t understand why the offers weren’t coming in like they were supposed to. I was a decorated high school player, having earned first team all league offense and defense my senior year. I even got selected to play in the annual Oregon Bowl (high school senior all-star game now called The Les Schwab Bowl).

Isn’t that what schools were looking for? Maybe that was it; maybe my playing days were over. No I wasn’t going to let that happen I was going to find a school that wanted me and I was going to continue to play.

I decided to take a trip down to a small division three school in McMinnville called Linfield College. I had heard about Linfield College before from a family friend and knew that they had a strong tradition of football. It took some time to make up my mind because I was swaying back and forth about the idea of walking on at the U of O or going to Linfield. I finally made my decision in May that I was going to attend Linfield. To this day I can honestly say that was the best decision I have ever made.

---------------

"Blood Makes the Grass Grow" is over 25 pages long and since it's so big WC11 decided to allow you to download a Word Document copy of Kelley's short story. Don't worry, it's safe to download, WC11 isn't trying to pull a fast one. This is an edited version of BMTGG as we had to cut a couple items out that were a little PG-13 but the story doesn't lose anything in the process.

Download Kelley Bertrand's: Blood Makes The Grass Grow

2010 Incoming 'Cats: Corners and Rovers

Welcome back to the 5th round of our special series featuring our incoming 'Cats of 2010. This week we'll be featuring our group of incoming Corners and Rovers (hybrid linebacker/defensive back.). Our incoming Corners and Rovers represent 4 states (Oregon, Washington, California, and Hawaii) and will be tutored by a talented group of returning Wildcats in these positions.

Wildcat11 wants to note that I try my very best to track down video for EVERY player but sometimes I'm unable to. If I didn't have your video posted PLEASE don't take it personal. Wildcat11 never wants to short change our 'Cats and please contact me if you can hook me up with the missing clip.

Video are in alphabetical order (Last name) and may have been edited to save time/space, and some indicate jersey numbers)


Jeff Dillon (Corner) - Archbishop Riordan High School - San Francisco, Calif. (Highlight Comp)


Brandon Funk (Corner) – West Valley High School – Spokane, Wash. (Highlight Comp)


Zach Lea (Rover) – Crook County High School – Prineville, Ore. (Highlight Comp)


Michael Link (Corner) – Jesuit High School – Portland, Ore. (Highlight Comp)


Billy Simon (Rover) – Tracy High School – Tracy, Calif. (Highlight Comp)
-------------
Missing:
Jason Cheyne (Corner) – Kealakehe High School – Kailua Kona, Hawaii
Chris Larson (Corner) – Marysville-Pilchuck High School – Marysville, Wash.
Josh Dalton (Rover) – Crater High School – Crater, Ore.

2009 Linfield Scoreboard Video Bring Home Silver

The National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) selected The 2009 Linfield College Scoreboard Video as the Silver Medalist in the Group III Video Board Segment for 2009-10 (see bottom of page). The winners were presented their awards during NACMA's 19th Annual Convention, June 22-25 in Anaheim, Calif.

Initiated in 2003, the NACMA Awards program honors outstanding achievement in marketing and promotions. Awards are presented in 13 categories, with each category divided into three groups based upon school size and conference affiliations. More than 650 entries were received for the 2009-10 year.

For your information the Group I are major Division I conferences, Group II are mid-major Division I conferences, and Group III are all Division II, DIII's and NAIA schools. Last year we took the Bronze for the 2008 Scorebaord Video so it was pretty cool in capturing the Silver this year and see our video slugging it out with Division II powers NW Missouri State and Grand Valley State.

Linfield SID, Kelly Bird, submitted Catdomealumni.com's scoreboard videos the past two years and was on hand to pick up the hardware while attending the NACMA's 18th Annual Convention.

Wildcat11 has been hard at work in the lab (the floor of the living room) trying to come up with ideas for the 2010 version and thoughts are starting to slowly simmer. Like our Linfield Wildcats, WC11 is aiming for the number one spot this season. Go 'Cats!