It seems that Sean will have one more game in his high school football career, even though the Benicia Panthers didn’t make the playoffs.  He was named to the Solano County Athletic Conference’s 2006 first-team defensive line, which means he will have a last “high school” game sometime during the summer.  Congratulations to Sean!

What a tough ending to a season and a high school football career. It was a tough game from the beginning, with the score tied at zero at the half. Murmurs around me in the stands hinted at a belief that the first team to score would win the game by sheer momentum. In the end, the Bethel Jaguars (Vallejo) took away any hope of the Panther moving into the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs. In the end, Benicia simply made too many mistakes and couldn’t capitalize on the hard work of the defense, which was on the field much more than in most of the season’s games. Sean put in a strong effort though he was floating around on both offense and defense. One of his runs gained a first down for the Panthers deep in Bethel territory, but that’s where Benicia’s offensive drive ended. Not the best ending to a season, but I think its a season that Sean can look back upon and be proud of and one in which he really learned the meaning of “hustle.”

This was a big game for the Panthers, and this win keeps them in the hunt for the Solano County Athletic Conference championship.  When Benicia’s defense was on the field, I don’t think more than five or six plays went by without the announcer saying “Konoske” in a sentence as Sean was hustling all over the field.  He had numerous tackles and one big “textbook” tackle that got the crowd to groan.  You should be able to view a video clip of this tackle by clicking here.  Great game!  (And check out Sean’s swagger after that tackle!)

P.S. Sean ~ posted this, but still waiting on your stats, dude…