Our dinner was ok--but it was nothing like the Swan's...
But, I enjoyed every second with Jesse, Steph, and Brynlee at my table and I also loved every sip of those Shirley Temple's.
Portland State put together a banquet at one of the host hotels and when we arrived, they had each of our girls sit at different tables with players from the other teams so that they could play a few games and get to know each other. (Eastern cheated of course.) And they hooked the coaches up with a HUGE gift basket. They had also prepared a highlight film and a slideshow announcing the All Conference Teams. Congrats to Leah (Honorable Mention), Chelsea (2nd Team), and Brittney (1st Team) for earning those awards.
The next morning we got up bright and early for our match with Montana. It was such an intense game and I thought things were going to go well for us as we scored the first 3 points, but Montana battled back and from then on it was anyone's game. The match was long and ended up going to 5 games. It wasn't looking good for us because we were down 8-3 at the turn, but little did we know that it was far from over. We came back and ended up beating them 15-12! It was such an emotional game and we felt like we had a great chance against Eastern in the semi-final.
After a quick lunch and shower, we resumed our post on the visitor's bench and began our match against the #2 Eagles. We ended up losing in 3 and we were all very disappointed. Eastern outplayed us for sure, but that is a lot easier to do when you sat on your butt all morning while the other team was playing a tight 5 game match. The coaches are going to revisit the format of the tournament for next year when they have their conference call. It just puts the lower seeded teams at such a disadvantage to have to play back to back in the same day, so a 3 day tournament would be better. Anyway, Portland beat Northern Colorado in the finals and ended up winning the whole thing in 4.
After the match, we got our flight changed and I decided to see what my chances were of getting a flight to San Luis Obispo instead of Salt Lake to watch our football playoff game. I found one that connected through San Francisco, so I checked with Colton to see if someone could pick me up at the airport there and we bought the ticket. (He actually paid for it and said I only needed to pay him for half of it. What a sweet boy.) I figured I could drive back to Utah with his parents, so we bought a one way ticket.
I had Nancy take me to the airport bright and early on Saturday morning so I could catch my 7:30 flight. Too bad we didn't end up taking off til 9:45! San Francisco was too foggy to allow flights to come in or go out, so they issued a ground stop and I had to sit on the runway for two hours. It was ridiculous. When we finally landed in San Francisco, I was afraid I'd missed my connection so I took off running through the airport and barely made it to board the the puddle jumper into San Luis Obispo. Fortunately, that flight had been delayed by 45 min so I actually made it!
John Swan and Monty Hadley picked me up at the airport (at 2pm after I should've landed at 11:30am) and we went to the mall to hook up with their wives. We went to Pismo Beach and had lunch in a little restaurant right on the pier. The weather was gorgeous and it was funny to think that I'd been in the rain earlier that morning.
We stopped at a grocery store to pick up some snacks so that we could tailgate in the handicapped parking lot (thanks to Monty's permit) with the Carpenter's. When we got to the campus, all we could see was a sea of green. Their whole town must've been there to tailgate next to the stadium. They had their band out playing the whole time and even a corner where all the little kids played games while their parents drank beer and ate ribs. It was quite the site. And we really stuck out in our purple!
Once the game started, it was non-stop excitement. Cal Poly led the nation in offense going into this game and we had to completely change our defense in order to stop them. This put a lot of pressure on Colton because it meant that there would be three safeties in the game. He was nervous all week long but it sure payed off! His guys played unbelievably well and ended up with 3 picks and one of the DB's had one as well. The game was back and forth the whole first half and normally, I'm not a yeller. But I couldn't help it at this game. It was honestly the most exciting game I've seen since good old PHS won the state championship my junior year in high school! We led at half 28-21 and ended up beating them 49-35. Tim Toone is the man. He had some BIG catches when we needed them most and Josh Morris shut their big reciever (Ramses Barden) down.
It was so much fun! Somehow, Colton managed to hook me up so that I could fly back for free on the team's chartered flight, so no 13 hour drive! So after the game--and lots of pictures (which I will post when I can get my hands on Marti's camera)--we boarded the bus back to the Santa Maria airport. They herded us through a hanger where there were five people with metal detector wands who took turns patting us down. Trust me, there is nothing like getting felt up because your underwire bra beeped in front of an entire football team! Luckily for me, Vicky McBride had to endure the same agony and embarrassment. We took off around 1:30am and didn't get back to Ogden til 4am. Despite the team's jokes about the Swan family section (because Biff sat on our row) or the lovebird section (because Etuati and his girlfriend were sitting behind us) on the airplane, it was fun. Traveling with a bunch of boys is WAY different than it is with our girls...Now we're heading to Missoula to face the Grizzlies for the 2nd time this season in the 2nd round of the FCS playoffs. We beat them earlier this year, so I'm excited to see if we can keep our streak alive!
It was such a great weekend overall. I'm so proud of our girls this season. 21 wins is the best season we've had since 1988 when they won it all. We overcame some difficult obstacles and managed to do it with the smallest team ever. I will really miss our 2 seniors. I feel like they've been here as long as I have and it has been so much fun to see them grow as players and people. I can't imagine the locker room without them...
3 comments:
That sounds like a great thanksgiving weekend you had.
Yeah rub it in that Colton got you on the plane! You know you would have LOVED the 14 hour drive back!
Seriuously, I'm super jealous! That all sounds like fun. How come whenever you go to CA, I'm never with you? We need to ammend that! Pronto! Love ya!
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