By Ed Piper
Head coach Tyler Roach shared some thoughts before his football team played against Christian High at Granite Hills High Sat., Oct. 28. The two football teams have an intense recent history, shall we say, during Roach's tenure, the past seven years plus this, his eighth season at the helm. Christian is a little down this year, partly due to injuries. In past years, they brought it, and the games were real battles.
Q: Coach Ty, what can we expect tonight?
We need a win.
Q: And how do you motivate the guys the last regular season game of the season?
It should be easy. We can't stand these guys, so it's easy to get motivated. There's a lot of history with these guys. We've had some good battles over the years. Last year they beat us on our Senior Night (at La Jolla), so the objective will be to return the favor tonight.
Q: The goal is a bye next week? (Fri., Nov. 3, in CIF Division 2 bracket placement)
That's one of the goals tonight, if we take care of business. It should be a reality tomorrow. (It was.)
We're excited.
Hank Hansen began the season listed as a tight end on offense, but his role has expanded through the season to include lining up beside the quarterback to run the ball as well.
Q: HHH, how did the touchdowns feel? (last week, Oct. 20, in a 45-14 win at Patrick Henry)
They felt great. (smiling)
Q: The first two?
Yes. It was good, actually. There's been a little drought of touchdowns.
Q: Walk me through them. I was just doing photos of them yesterday. You were handing the ball to the ref on the second one.
The first one, they got mad at me for holding the ball too long and celebrating with my teammates, so I gave it to them right away. (I'm laughing.)
Evan Martin is the Vikings' kicker and punter. He is a senior captain, one of four on the team.
Q: EMart, do you have any more kicks in you?
I got more kicks in me. (Grinning) The more the season goes on, the sorer my leg gets. We're going strong.
Q: What's the motivation tonight?
It's definitely weird playing on a Saturday. We've never done that before. It's new to all of us. We want to go undefeated in league. To give our bodies a week to rest before our first playoff game would be nice. So we're fired up to win this.
Junior Wyatt Boczanowski is a maniac on defense. He leads the team in tackles by far, with 97 (40 of those are solo). The next closest teammate has over 30 fewer tackles.
Q: What's the outlook tonight?
We're just going to see how the game goes. So I've been sick recently.
Q: Are you playing tonight?
Yes. All last week I wasn't practicing.
Your team won the league title two weeks ago. So what is the motivation tonight?
Our goal is just to win CIF. That's the main goal. We just have to be determined and work our asses off. It's right there.
Q: How do you get up tonight?
It could be a blowout. I'm hoping we destroy them.
Q: But you're not going to take it lightly.
We'll see how the game plays. In the first quarter, in the first half, we're going even, then we're going to have to play hard, which I'm not planning on. If it's a blowout, I could take it easy and rest on the sideline.
Ryan Price is Defensive Coordinator/Associate Head Coach.
Q: Who else has stood out on defense? (besides Ryan Kestler - look at that blog entry two weeks ago)
Carson Diehl. He is leading the county in interceptions. He is an amazing two-way player. He is a natural ball hawk.
Q: Did you think you guys would enjoy the season this much?
I'm actually enjoying focusing on the football part again. Being the head coach (at University City for six years) was great, but this whole football part has been really amazing.
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