On to State......

Here we go again. What a season. What a privilege my boys have had to be a Connell Eagle and part of this football team. It has been a wonderful thing for them to be surrounded by such a great team of boys and coaches; something I hope they don't take for granted.

The Connell Eagles defeated the Chelan Goats 42-14 on November 26, 2011 sending them to the Tacoma Dome on December 3 at 1 p.m. to play in the Title game agains Cascade Christian three years in a row. We won in 2009, they won in 2010. The boys have worked hard, they deserve to win. Go EAGLES!

Connell Eagles defeat Cashmere, advance to Semi-finals

The Connell Eagles gave us a game to remember. It was THE most exciting game I have ever watched and I have the sore throat to prove it. In addition to a sore throat, Todd has sore ribs from me elbowing him to quit screaming plays to the coach....sheeshhhh. My heart was racing like no other. I was worried for Jande, Chandler's sister, who is nearly ready to have a baby. I thought the stress from the game would do her in. :) One of the Cashmere players was ejected from the game for punching Matt Hadley in the ribs while in the pile, which I guess is not an uncommon occurance of Cashmere. Another player got a personal foul for plowing Kade over after the PAT. Every Eagle gave it their all. Coach Riner and staff did an excellent job leading the team. The Eagles play Chelan (who we beat early in the season 35-0, but Chelan was missing key players) Saturday at noon in Moses Lake. The winner advances to the Tacoma Dome for the Title game, December 3, 2011.

To make the game even better, all of our college kids made it home for the game! Kraymer and Kaitlan traveled home Thursday night and Kortneigh and Shayne got home early Saturday morning. They are all so good to support each other. It has been great having them all home. We had a busy weekend with the game on Saturday, early church meetings Sunday and song practice, Karigan's patriarchal blessing, YW recognition night, and tithing settlement. It was a great day.

Connell gets last laugh in battle of 1A powers
Craig Craker, Herald staff writer

WENATCHEE -- Revenge is a dish best served cold -- at 27 degrees.
The Connell Eagles dominated Cashmere 20-9 in a snowy Class 1A quarterfinal game Saturday at the Apple Bowl in Wenatchee.
The victory more than made up for the 47-14 pasting Cashmere handed to Connell during the regular season.
"We just showed that we get better as the season goes on," Connell's Kennan Vanhollebeke said. "Cashmere is a good team, but they stayed the same."
The Eagles got more than better Saturday, holding the Bulldogs to just one first down and 38 yards of offense in a stifling defensive effort.
"Coach (Wayne) Riner is an excellent defensive coordinator, and he's been preparing for this offense for three months," Connell's Matt Hadley said. "He had us ready."
The Eagles switched to a 4-2-5 defense, allowing Hadley and Kade Eppich to roam and attack the misdirection of Cashmere's offense. Combine that with the upfront play by the Eagles, and the Bulldogs' only first down came on a questionable spot on a fourth-down play.
"That's as good of a defensive effort as I've had at Connell in a long time," Riner said. "That's what a good championship football team should be doing. I'm so happy. This win here is better than a state championship. They've beat us in the regular season, but we beat them every time in the big games."
The victory was reminiscent of 2002, when Connell bounced back from a regular-season loss to Cashmere to knock the Bulldogs out of the playoffs.
The Eagles won the state title that year and appear poised to make a run at another one after Saturday.
"Tell all the teams (in the state) to get ready," Vanhollebeke said.
Connell certainly was ready Saturday, marching up and down the field most of the game. Garrett Salisbury kicked two first-half field goals, as the Eagles were sloppy in the red zone and failed to take advantage of multiple opportunities to score.
Late in the third quarter, Cashmere's Kenny Johnston blocked a punt, and the Bulldogs recovered at the 7-yard line. Two plays later, Mahliek Roberts punched it in, and Cashmere suddenly had a 9-6 lead.
"We needed that," Connell's Tyson Brook said. "We had all those chances to score and didn't, so we used their momentum to push us, to prove to them we could score."
Connell did just that, shoving the ball down the throat of the Cashmere defense.
Starting at its own 15, Connell went on a 12-play, 85-yard drive, chewing up nearly 5 minutes of the game clock. The drive was highlighted by a Hadley 37-yard run, where he broke seven tackles and refused to be dragged down.
Brook punched it in from a yard out, and the Eagles led 13-9.
On the ensuing kickoff, Salisbury's pooch kick was dropped by Cashmere. Braiden Whitby dived on the ball, and the Eagles went on a 12-play drive that nearly drained the clock.
Hadley scored from a yard out on fourth down to seal the victory over the stunned Bulldogs.
"I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting this (dominating of an effort)," Hadley said. "But the look in my teammates' eyes before the game and during the game, I knew they wanted to shut them down.
"Beating the No. 1 team in the state like that ... right now, there is no better feeling."

Young Womanhood Recognition

Karigan completed her Personal Progress goals in August and wanted to wait and receive her Young Womanhood Recognition Award when Kraymer, Kaitlan, Shayne and Kortneigh could be here. She is receiving the award on Sunday, November 20th at 6 p.m. in the Basin City Ward Chapel. All are invited to attend this special night in her honor.

Young Women Personal Progress is an achievement program designed to help young women:
• Strengthen their testimonies of Jesus Christ.
• Strengthen both their present and future families.
• Prepare to be worthy to make and keep sacred temple covenants.
• Prepare for their future roles and responsibilities.

Great job Karigan, we love you!

An Epic Night

The Connell Eagles advance to the quarter finals after defeating Freeman 26-7 last night. This game was a bit sad for us as we realized it was the last time an Eppich would play football on Connell's Field of Dreams. Our melancony was short lived. The Eagles gave it all they had and came up with some big plays to secure a much anticipated rematch with Cashmere next Saturday. It will be a tough game but the Eagles can do it.

Kade had one of his best nights of football. A great way to play your last game on home turf. It was a fun game to watch, despite the bitter cold.

Here is a link to the 11 pm news.

http://www.keprtv.com/sports/133734668.html

Kade intercepting the ball, he read the play and ran across the field to snag the ball. Kade and Garrett Salisbury. Garrett is having a great season. He has missed only 2 field goals the entire year out of 60+ attempts. He is only a sophomore.

Buddies Matt Hadley and Kade

Connell beats Freeman 26-7
By Craig Craker, Tri-City Herald

CONNELL -- The Connell football team needed someone to make a big play Friday and Kade Eppich was more than happy to do so.
With its normally potent rushing attack slowed down, the Eagles got some much-needed offense from their 6-foot-3 wide receiver.
He also provided some stellar defense to help lead Connell to a grind-out 26-7 Class 1A state playoff victory Friday over Freeman.
"The coaches were saying you have to step up in these big games," Eppich said. "We just came up with the big plays when we needed them."
Eppich provided two nearly back-to-back in the second quarter to help the Eagles jump out to a lead they would never relinquish.
Trailing 6-0 on two Garrett Salisbury field goals, Freeman was marching down the field when Eppich intercepted a long throw by quarterback Cody Unfred.
"He looked it down and it was poorly thrown," Eppich said, "and I went to go get it, I guess."
Eppich ran nearly across the field to pick off he high-arcing pass.
Six plays later, Eppich was on the receiving end of a Chandler Salisbury bullet. Eppich took the pass 40 yards to the house for a 13-0 lead.
"It was a little slant and the corner was on my right," Eppich said. "It was thrown perfectly between the safety and the corner."
It was one five receptions on the night for Eppich, all of which were for more than 10 yards.
"We are lucky to have talented receivers as well as a great running back," Connell lineman Cole Vanderbilt said.
The victory puts Connell back into the quarterfinals, where it will face Cashmere at 1 p.m. next Saturday, most likely in Wenatchee.
On Friday, the Eagles weren't quite done with the big plays, as on the very next play a poor pitch by Unfred hit the turf and Connell's Tyson Brook recovered.
After a nice sweep by Austin Huber, Connell's Matt Hadley scored his lone touchdown of the night from 8 yards out.
The Eagles appeared primed to run away with the game, but turnovers plagued the offense the rest of the night and Connell had to rely on its strong defense to close out the game.
Hadley intercepted two passes and Chandler Salisbury and Vanderbilt came up with plenty of tackles, as the Eagles held the Scotties to just seven second-half first downs -- with three of those coming by penalty.
"We just had to go back to playing our base defense," Vanderbilt said. "Once we got into five down linemen, we shut down their counter."
The Eagles' ground game eventually got untracked, running out the final six minutes on a blustery night.
Salisbury finished 12-for-20 for 179 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Eppich had the five catches for 98 yards, while Ryan Heinen had three receptions for 49 yards.
Hadley rushed 25 times for 131 yards and a touchdown. Brook had the other touchdown on a 5-yard catch.
Now, the Eagles get their rematch with No. 1 Cashmere, the lone team to beat Connell this season.
"We've been waiting for this game all year," Vanderbilt said. "Everyone on this team wants this game."
As was evidenced by the big plays Friday.

Family Pictures 2011

When Shayne, Kortneigh, Kraymer and Kaitlan came home for the Royal game in October, we decided it would be a good time for a family photo before Kraymer left for his mission. I'm so glad we did it, I wasn't thrilled about waiting until Thanksgiving/Christmas break to freeze our hind ends off like we did for Shayne and Kortneigh's wedding. When Kraymer leaves, it will be 3+ years before we are all together again (Kade will leave on his mission before Kraymer returns). I love my family :)