Happy Valentine's Day
From The Bedlam On Baltic Avenue.
Showing posts with label kaga. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kaga. Show all posts
California Golden Bears: 2015 Armed Forces Bowl Champions
FORT WORTH, Texas - Faced with an opportunity to craft the final chapter in a season filled with positive progress as a program, the Cal football team didn't have to look hard for a game plan when it lined up against Air Force in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.
Instead, a 55-36 victory over the Falcons at Amon G. Carter Stadium followed a familiar script for a Cal program that took serious strides in 2015. Yet another tremendous performance from quarterback Jared Goff paved the way and the Bears followed his lead, rolling to their eighth win of the season for the first time since 2009.
As was often the case for the Bears this year, Goff was the main character in Cal's story of success, completing 25 of 37 passes for 467 yards, six touchdowns and no interceptions to earn game MVP honors. Along the way, he set Pac-12 single season records for passing touchdowns (43) and yards (4,719) while setting a Cal bowl record and tying his career high for touchdowns in a single game. His touchdown total also tied for second-most in Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl history.
Goff's focus wasn't confined to one or two main targets. Kenny Lawler found the end zone three times, hauling in five passes for 75 yards while senior Bryce Treggs made his final collegiate game a memorable one with four catches for 143 yards and a touchdown. Fellow senior Darius Powe caught two touchdown passes and nine different Bears caught a pass and Cal (8-5) racked up 586 yards of total offense while breaking the school record for points in a bowl game of 52 (2003 Insight Bowl vs. Virginia Tech).
"I thought the way we played today was really indicative of the way we practiced leading up to the game," Cal head coach Sonny Dykes said. "I was really pleased with the way we focused. We started practicing the week after the Arizona State game. And it's a long way away when you start thinking about practicing. You have about a month between that game and this game. And we've got to give our guys a lot of credit, because they had the right mentality. They came out and practiced hard every day. They were real focused, and I thought we played that way as a result. So, again, it was nice to see them prepare the way they did."
Air Force (8-6) kept pace with the Bears into the second quarter, trading scores with Cal to keep the score a manageable 14-all with a few minutes gone in the period. But, as the Falcons tried to grind out yards with their triple-option attack, Cal countered with its full arsenal of big play threats.
A 5-yard touchdown pass from Goff to Powe, followed by an over the shoulder dime to Lawler for a 24-yard score put Cal up 28-14. After a long drive by Air Force resulted in a 1-yard touchdown sneak by quarterback Karson Roberts, Goff fired a 55-yard strike to Treggs that set up a 14-yard pitch and catch to Lawler that made it 35-21 Bears at intermission.
Cal's attack kept rolling without much resistance in the third quarter. Goff connected with Powe again for a 12-yard touchdown pass, Matt Anderson added a 29-yard field goal and Lawler snagged a 25-yard pass for his third touchdown of the day to push the score to 52-29. In the process, Lawler also continued to move upward in the Cal career record book, tying for second in career touchdown receptions with 27 as well as single-season touchdown receptions with 13.
"The guys got open and made it a lot easier for me," Goff said. "The O‑line started to protect really well. And I'm just sitting back there, like you said, playing pitch and catch. And, when they're that open, I don't want to say it's easy. But it's not as hard as it would be if you had to fit one in there."
Anderson finished the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 30-yard field goal, capping a 14-play drive that took almost eight minutes off the clock to seal the victory. The bowl win is Cal's first since a 24-17 win over Miami in the 2008 Emerald Bowl and is the Bears' second over Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl, joining a 42-36 win over the Falcons in 2007. It also gave Cal eight wins in a season for just the 11th time since 1952.
"Credit to these coaches for really just instilling a belief and holding everyone accountable," said safety Stefan McClure. "And it showed with the improvements over the each of the past two seasons. So just a great honor to really be a part of this team and just show how much hard work really pays off. And now we're sitting here with eight wins, and the program is in great hands and looking forward to see what these guys are going to do next year."
Melbourne Victory: 2015 FFA Cup Champions
Melbourne Victory have added to the A-League’s biggest trophy collection in grand style, downing Perth Glory 2-0 in the FFA Cup final.
The Victory were dominant in the first half of Saturday night’s decider as they became the first side to concurrently hold all three domestic titles, having won a third A-League premiership-championship double in 2014-15.
The only down-side for them was the disappointing crowd of 15,098, with high ticket prices blamed for a half-full AAMI Park. Melbourne were well deserving of their two-goal halftime lead, following an opening 45 minutes played at a tempo worthy of a cup final.
The home side had the ball in the back of net as early as the 16th minute courtesy of a powerhouse strike by in-firm New Zealand international Kosta Barbarouses, although that effort was correctly disallowed as Victory defender Matthieu Delpierre was clearly offside.
Victory went ahead in the 35th minute, when Oliver Bozanic was on hand to lash the ball home after a good build up down the right from Jason Geria and Barbarouses. Melbourne doubled their advantage seven minutes later. Captain Carl Valeri played a perfect through-ball into the path of striker Besart Berisha, whose first touch took him past the final defender.
The Albanian goal-poacher then fired a brilliant strike across Glory keeper Ante Covic and inside the left post. Glory looked dangerous at times on the counter-attack although Brazilian striker Sidnei Sciola was mostly well held by Delpierre. Perth started the second half brightly and almost halved the deficit within four minutes when Diogo Ferreira slammed a shot into the right-hand upright.
In the 61st minute, Glory captain Richard Garcia’s first-time effort flew over the crossbar. The visitors had most of the best scoring chances in the second half without being able to convert any of them.
Victory were forced to play the last eight minutes with 10 men after Valeri was sent off for a second bookable offence - a heavy foul on Dino Djulbic. The same fate befell Valeri in the A-League grand final against Sydney FC earlier this year, although his team held on to win both matches in comfortable fashion.
Perth were unable to consider several important players due to injury on Saturday night including Chris Harold and import Gyorgy Sandor. The two-goal defeat meant Glory are still to win any silverware in the A-League era, having lost last year’s inaugural FFA Cup final to Adelaide United and the 2011-12 A-League grand final to Brisbane Roar.
Beat Of The Rising Sun
I'm feeling bright
Come baby come on
I say to you "it's all right"
Just you and I
We gotta fly
Oh, baby feel it
Music is power
I wanna stay all the night
I wanna hold you tonight
Oh, baby let me stay now
I'm all right, babe
Because you want it
Ready to dance
whoa oh, whoa oh, whoa oh, whoa oh...
Beat of the rising sun
Beat of the rising sun
You gotta feel the dance
It's always in your heart
Feeling the time to come
Beat of the rising sun
I wanna feel your heart
The power of the sun
I wanna fly
With you in the sky
Come take it easy, baby
With you tonight,
You're gonna shine
Oh, baby listen
Music is power
I wanna stay all the night
I wanna hold you tonight
Oh, baby let me stay now
I'm all right, babe
Because you want it
Ready to dance
whoa oh, whoa oh, whoa oh, whoa oh...
Beat of the rising sun
Beat of the rising sun
You gotta feel the dance
It's always in your heart
Feeling the time to come
Beat of the rising sun
I wanna feel your heart
The power of the sun
Beat of the rising sun
Beat of the rising sun
You gotta feel the dance
It's always in your heart
Feeling the time to come
Beat of the rising sun
I wanna feel your heart
The power of the sun
Beat of the rising sun
Beat of the rising sun
You gotta feel the dance
It's always in your heart
Feeling the time to come
Beat of the rising sun
I wanna feel your heart
The power of the sun
Beat of the rising sun
Beat of the rising sun
You gotta feel the dance
It's always in your heart
Feeling the time to come
Beat of the rising sun
I wanna feel your heart
The power of the sun!
whoa oh, whoa oh, whoa oh, whoa oh...
Texas.
It's been a while, and I've been alone
and you've been the only thing I've known
Born in the South, at home in the North
We could be anywhere you want
Now you're taking me down where you grew up
I wish I had known you when we were young
You figured me out, I know I've said it enough
but waiting is just too much
So cover my skin with your sunkissed light
There's a bonfire burning tonight
We could be all right
Evaline, Evaline, Evaline, Evaline
Picture it now, down the road
Oh just say the word and I'll go
Wherever you are, whatever the coast
You are the one I care for the most
Remember the night we slept on the roof?
I didn't sleep much to tell the truth
Now we're the sand caught in the tide
We laugh until we cry
Won't you cover my skin with your sunkissed light
There's a bonfire burning tonight
We could be all right
Evaline, Evaline, Evaline, Evaline
Pull me closer, hold me tighter
The nights are long but the stars are brighter
Pull me closer, hold me tighter
Take me down, take me down, take me down
Won't you cover my skin with your sunkissed light
There's a bonfire burning tonight
We could be all right
Evaline, Evaline, Evaline, Evaline...
Won't you cover my skin with your sunkissed light
Won't you cover my skin with your sunkissed light
Won't you cover my skin with your sunkissed light
Evaline, Evaline, Evaline, Evaline...
Avaya Stadium Sex Machine Boogaloo A La NorCal!
SAN JOSE, Calif. – To San Jose Earthquakes team president David Kaval, Sunday wasn’t just the grand opening of Avaya Stadium.
“I think our fans have been waiting for this for so long, it was kind of like a wedding/bar mitzvah/anniversary all wrapped up into one,” Kaval told MLSsoccer.com after the Quakes beat the Chicago Fire 2-1 before a sellout crowd of 18,000. “The joy for so many fans was just palpable.
“Just an incredible day.”
About the only thing that seemed to go noticeably wrong for the Quakes in the debut of their $100 million stadium was when one member of a skydiving team had to land in a parking lot instead of on the field due to high winds pushing him off course.
Otherwise, it was a rollicking party, fueled by early tallies from Fatai Alashe and Ty Hardenthat staked San Jose to a 2-0 lead after 21 minutes.
“The atmosphere was fantastic,” Quakes coach Dominic Kinnear said. “I’m glad we gave them good early goals to get them excited and keep them nice and vocal. … Overall, it’s a wonderful place to play.”
San Jose goalkeeper David Bingham said the noise made it tough to hear at times – something that might have played a part in the Quakes’ goals. Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson, standing in the enclosed end of the arena for the first half, appeared to err to some extent on both occasions, opening the door for San Jose’s attack.
“The crowd was awesome the whole time,” said Harden, who scored his first career MLS goal. “It was loud and everybody felt really close. All the guys on the team jumping and piling on me made it feel that much better. I thought it was electric inside.”
Fire coach Frank Yallop, who spent eight and a half years on San Jose’s bench, said he had “goosebumps” walking into the stadium for the first time.
“It was a really nice feeling,” Yallop said. “It’s a special place. They did just a magnificent job on the stadium.”
The occasion afforded MLS commissioner Don Garber a chance to take a triumphant victory lap in a market the league had to vacate in 2005 after the first-generation Quakes – and their owners, Anschutz Entertainment Group – couldn’t get a soccer-specific stadium built and thus moved to Houston. San Jose’s current team was born as an expansion side in 2008.
“It feels like we’ve been waiting from my first day in 1999,” Garber told reporters at halftime in the Avaya press box. “Certainly when we left, we so desperately wanted to come back. And we wanted to have a stadium that our league could be proud of, and we are very proud today.”
Garber and Yallop both praised the field-level luxury boxes, and the commissioner pointed to the (relatively) lower cost as a potential blueprint for other clubs in the future.
“I think this is going to be one of the best models for us going forward,” Garber said. “They built it smart. … They’ve built it very efficiently, and that’s important. Not every stadium’s got to be several hundred million dollars. It’s actually good to have them built in a way where the economic model makes sense, and I think that’s what we have here.”
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