fishing for words

It was a clash of defenses Friday night, with the Benicia Panthers taking on the Hogan Spartans. Unfortunately, defense alone can’t win a championship. But it can sure help a team along. The Panthers forced five turnovers, with Sean in on forcing one fumble that put his team in Spartan territory. Best of all, Sean finished the game without an injury to his shoulder! (He also had about the normal number of tackles, which is quite a few.) Because he didn’t participate in contact during practice, he didn’t start the game, but it wasn’t too long before the coach put him in. He and his defense — he’s a captain — did a great job of not only keeping Hogan from scoring, but in putting the Benicia offense in position to score. In the end, Benicia won 20-6, but it was a tough offense game for the Panthers. Next week, Sean will go head-to-head with his step brother as Rodriguez takes on Benicia at home.

Guess I’m getting to know the fishing grounds of the Eastern Sierra. I’m no expert, but any means, but I passed what I know to a co-worker and he ended up enjoying a fishing trip to the “Eastside.” This tale is excerpted below:

…we released everything we caught. The Walker is very low at this point. There were a couple of sizeable pools right by the campground, but those two were the only ones we really found, at least at the West Walker. I caught four 10-12 inch rainbows at those pools with a small, black Panther Martin.

We tried a couple of other spots with no luck, but finally had some solid bites on powerbait at the lower Twin Lake. I caught three decent-size rainbows at the lake.

The most exciting, however, was the East Walker in Bridgeport. The East was very low as well, but I found a pool about four feet deep downtown. I saw a few small fish hovering at the surface, and on the first cast (a small gold spinner) I saw a ferocious 12-incher chasing the lure. It bit and, voila, I had my first Brown. I ended up catching five more fish, mostly browns and one bow.”

I’d said they had a good first experience in the Eastern Sierra…

Though the Panthers couldn’t sustain their winning streak, I think Benicia’s defense has every reason to be proud of their performance. The defense not only score almost half of the Panthers’ points (8 points on a touchdown and safety), but it make the Fairfield Falcons earn every point. It was a seesaw game into the half, with the score at 20-20. As usual, Sean was in the thick of it, stopping or helping to stop the run numerous times. In the end, it was a fumble by the Panthers offense with less than two minutes on the clock that sealed their fate. Unfortunately, as has happened in games before, Sean end up nursing his arm through the last quarter. After a visit to the doctor, it was determined that he’s feeling the efforts of typical football injury, commonly called “stingers” (medically referred to as brachial plexus injury). While he will attend practice, he’s supposed to stay away from contact for most of the week. Let’s hope all’s well next week, when the games begin to count!