Fangupo out for the season

Sources say that USC defensive lineman and former Mountie Hebron "Loni" Fangupo, suffered a broken ankle in last Saturday's game against Washington State. He will be out for the remainder of the 2009 season, will have to wear a protective boot and is using crutches.

I really thought Loni would be able to get through this, but you don't want to risk putting his career in jeopardy. He's a tough player but that injury looked really nasty. I'm glad it's not anything career ending. The position he was in was just asking for a back injury.

I wish you the best, Loni and hope you can "fight on" next year and continue creating chapters in your life story.

Mounties football report

The Mounties played a hard fought, but very sloppy game on Saturday in a 24-14 loss. They just couldn't get anything going offensively. Credit the Saddleback Gaucho defense for matching the Mountie defensive intensity, but more is expected from the Mounties.

It took the Mounties a while to get Jesse Canada into the mix and when they did, it was for big yardage. Quarterback Tyler Vanderzee said he felt fine and felt like he was able to go with the flow, but I think they didn't use their weapons effectively.

They didn't use their run game as effectively as they usually do and maybe it was the Gaucho defense, maybe it was lack of trust in Vanderzee, but they tried to incorporate the wildcat offense which didn't really work. It worked from a yard away to score, but really felt like it was going away from what the Mounties have done all year.

Maybe it was the absense of Matt Faulkner at QB. Vanderzee has played in big spots, but just didn't seem to get in a flow.

The defense was spectacular, but got a little bit careless at crucial times. Except for the flea flicker in the first half, the Mounties were able to stop just about every trick play the Gauchos drew up. But again, a big personal foul on Bruce Irvin (You really can't blame the guy for playing with passion and aggression, but the refs did) and a facemask call when the Mounties seemingly had the goal-line stop to win the game cost the game.

It's just one game and at the end of the day Saddleback has an outstanding squad, but it was a very winnable game that just slipped through the Mounties' hands. It was a very close game and on any other day the Mounties could get away with these mistakes, but the Gauchos were able to take advantage.

They have a bye-week coming up and plenty of time to regroup and get healthy. Coach Jastrab will let thim ponder on this loss, fix the mistakes and have them ready for the next game against Citrus.

Loni goes down

Those of you who missed the USC vs. Washington State game tonight, missed Hebron "Loni" Fangupo, the pride of Mt. SAC go down in agony.

Loni made a tackle inside and was caught in an awkward position. As he came down, five trojans landed on top of him as he twisted backward like when playing limbo.

In the position he was in it looked like it might be a back injury, but my guess is that it's his shoulder that he injured last season.

One of the strongest men I've had the pleasure of interviewing was down on the field, thriving in pain as the medical staff came to assist him. After a commercial break, he was still down as they soon after carted him off the field.

Loni, being the warrior that he is, stood upright and signaled to the crowd "fight on."


It was horrible to watch, but knowing Loni, he will come back and fight on. Playing for USC was his dream and I know he will not let this deter him from living out his dream.

I will keep you guys posted whenever I hear word of his progress.

Spoiled by last year's team

The Mounties are 2-0 this year, but there's this sense of worry because they're not wining the games by 40 points. It doesn't matter how you win, what matters is that you win.

Coach Jastrab knows how to produce winners. He's been to the state title game the last two seasons and the players have been transferring to D1 schools like USC, UCLA, BYU and Tennesee. He knows what he's doing.

Matt Faulkner has done a pretty good job at quarterback and is getting a grasp of things. He was new to Mt. SAC and had a rough first game but had a nice bounce-back game going 18-for-25 and a touchdown to Jesse Canada.

Talking with Faulkner, he's a very confident player and he seems to feel comfortable with the weapons around him.

If he can stay within himself and just manage the game, keep the turnovers at a minimum and keep handing it off to the three-headed monster at running back, he won't have to be the aerial beast that Nick Lamaison was last season.

Speaking of that three-headed monster, they certainly have a nose for the end zone. With yet another great offensive line this season, Burton Iosefa, his brother Lancer Iosefa and Bryce McBride have been able to share the carries and produce effectively.

Burton has gotten the most of the carries and has already found the end zone three times this year. When he lowers his shoulder and there's someone in the way, you won't see a pretty little spin move. It's him vs. the defender and the defender is most likely going to take a seat on the grass.

That running game will open up the pass a little more for Faulkner and as the season goes on they'll be clicking on all cylinders.

With Bruce Irvin putting pressure on the opposing QB (Irvin's leading the team with five sacks and 14 tackles after just TWO games) the defense will be there all season.

It was fun watching Mt. SAC score like crazy last year, but smash mouth football that leads to a win is just as pretty to watch as the 60-yard touchdown pass that leads to a win.

Meeting the Montanas

Way before Hannah, and hitting his prime just after Tony, was a man named Joe who also carried the name of one of my top 3 square-shaped states of all time, and lit up the NFL. He dominated the sport of football like maybe no other will, and solidified himself as arguably the greatest quarterback in history.

Brought up as a San Francisco Niners fan, Joe Montana was on my Mt. Rushmore of sports heroes growing up. He was right between Michael Jordan, Mike Piazza and Bugs Bunny. (I was 8 when Space Jam came out. Are you kidding me! Combining my favorite cartoon character with my favorite sport was epic!)

Super Joe hasn't done much lately. It's doubtful that he'll be dancing on channel 7. Probably won't be belittled into sharing a house with reject stars on VH1, but once in a while he'll make public appearances at local community college football stadiums. Guaranteed.

Nate Montana plays the coveted position of hall of famer's son at Pasadena City College.

Young Nate had the privelage of playing his first collegiate game ever, at Hilmer Lodge Stadium against our very own Mounties.

Did the Mounties know he was Joe Cool's son? Ohhhhh you better believe it. Poor Nate was on the ground more than a person doing Wii Fit Yoga.

Anyway, Mounties won and it was time to do my journalistic duties and interview the brutalized Montana kid. He was cool as can be. Knew the right things to say and handled the interview as if the loss hadn't affected him. I thanked him for the interview, and watched the son of greatness run away into the brutal California sunset.

After a couple more interviews, I noticed a casually dressed man who glowed like Dr. Manhattan and had a crowd around him like the Fonz. It was Joe Montana. The football Icon in the flesh!

As a sports fan I almost wet my pants, but once I gained composure, I put on my reporter hat and walked right over to the legend. The awkward confrontation went like so:

Me: Hello Mr. Montana

Super Joe: Hi there

Me: Would you mind if I asked a couple of questions for the school paper?

Super Joe: I'm sorry, I'm here for my son and I don't do that stuff. I let him take care of the questions.

Me: Oh ok. Thank you anyway.

Ok. Fair enough. I understand why he wouldn't want to talk. He's freakin Joe Montana! He can talk to or not talk to whoever he wants.

It was really tough for me though. One of my Rushmore heads was right in front of me and I just couldn't leave empty handed. I couldn't ask for an interview again, that'd be stupid. So since he didn't want to talk to me as a journalist, I tried it as a fan. I looked in my backpack and I saw something I never thought I would see at that moment. It was a Sharpie! I ran to Joe Cool for one more shot at a perfect moment with one of my heroes. I asked him for an autograph.

He politely said no. Wamp Wamp. What an ending.

There I was, holding a Sharpie and a game program, alone in the world while my head was spinning like Sidewinder.

I was almost scared to put that picture of him up (above) in fear that copyright laws might reject me from putting it up.

I was rejected twice by the greatest of all time. Just might be the greatest rejection of my life.