Game Winner

Shawn was faced with his first game winning kick this past weekend and he didn't even flinch. After Sequoyah scored first on a touchdown run Shawn's extra point sailed left and hit the upright. His first miss of the season. Score 6-0. Rome then followed with a field goal closing the gap to 6-3. Before half time Rome scored again with a touchdown but the ensueing extra point flew right and missed the uprights all together....score 6-9 in favor of Rome. In the third period Rome kicked a field goal after our defense held them on a short field. Score 6-12. We all knew a touchdown would give Shawn the chance to redeem himself. And so it was. With 4:12 left in the game a pass gave us the tie at 12-12 and Shawn trotted out onto the field. With 4:06 left his aim was true and the ball split the uprights and gave Sequoyah our win in the first regional game of the season. We are now 2-2 over all and 1-0 in the region 7-AAAA.

B737 Trip Photos

Took a few pictures with my new camera that takes videos. The videos I have posted are with the new camera as well. These are a few of the pictures I took on my last trip. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them. If you enlarge the panoramic photo you will notice the HUD is stowed and not visible. Clicking on the third photo is pretty cool. You really get a good look through the HUD. Photos include Lake Havasu City, AZ from 37,000', the heads up display "HUD" in the B737-800 and a view through the HUD. For those who don't know the HUD is a retractable glass panel that displays all the flight information so the pilot does not have to look down at the instruments, back up through the window and back down at the instruments repeatedly. He can see everything at once. Helps with situational awareness. Also I have included a shaddowed panoramic view I took while jumpseating.

Sequoyah Falls to Hillgrove

Sequoyah dropped its second game in a row by failing to stop the Hillgrove Hawks. Below is the article from the Cherokee Tribune, our county newspaper. I have highlighted where Shawn in mentioned. Shawn is now 8 for 8 when called upon in game situations. Notice when watching the video, and pause it if you like, how high the ball is as it clears the uprights. This 30 yard kick could have cleared the cross bar from a 45 yard field goal! The ball actually flys behind the students end zone stands.

POWDER SPRINGS - After holding ninth-ranked Hillgrove on its first possession, and scoring on a 32-yard field goal midway through the first half, Sequoyah couldn't have asked for much more.The problem was, Hillgrove was trying to give more.Either way, the Chiefs headed back to Cherokee County on the wrong end of a 21-3 loss that marked the second straight defeat for Sequoyah. "Their defense played well, but part of it was their offense taking control of the game," Sequoyah coach James Teter said. "We were sort of living on a double-edged sword. We could try to keep running the ball in the second half and run out of time, or we could start throwing the ball more."Sequoyah fell to 1-2 after the Region 7AAAA crossover game. Hillgrove moved to 3-0, avenging its second loss from '08 in as many weeks following its win over Rome last week.Sequoyah beat the Hawks, 28-6, last season at Skip Pope Stadium.Hillgrove turned that 3-0 deficit into a 18-point halftime lead and the Hawks were never threatened in the second half. But it didn't look like it would be a Hawk walk early. Hillgrove had a bad pitch on a fourth-and-inches that resulted in a 10-yard loss and turned the ball over on downs on its opening drive. The Chiefs were given a second shot at the end zone on the ensuing possession when the Hawks jumped offside on a field-goal attempt, but Sequoyah had to settle for just three points on a Shawn Wortham's field goal.From that point on, nothing went right for the Chiefs.Hillgrove took the next possession and wasted little time in driving 65 yards in five plays. Synjyn Days completed just two passes all night, but both of them went for scores. The first was a 32-yard touchdown to Trevor Tatum.The next time Sequoyah had the ball, eight plays netted 1 yard of total offense and a punt to Hillgrove. The Hawks took that possession 90 yards in just six plays with Kenyan Drake capping off the drive with a 2-yard scrambled on a botched pitch.It was that kind of night for the Hawks. On Sequoyah's third possession, Hillgrove held the Chiefs to three-and-out and minus-1 yard. A fumble on the next offensive play for Sequoyah gave the ball back to Hillgrove and the Hawks scored on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Days to Chuby Uwadie.From there, Sequoyah never got its offense on track. A three-and-out possession marked the start of the second half, and Hillgrove ate nearly 9:00 off of the game clock with a non-scoring drive. The Hawks may not have scored, but they kept the Sequoyah offense off of the field."We've got a lot of kids on this team that came in with a lot of inexperience, but they are going to get better," Teter said.

Mall of America Day Trip

Dallan and I took a day trip to Mall of America for Labor Day. Wish Shawn and mom could have come but Shawn had practice and mom just wanted a day at home. Worked out well. We had a great time and visited a lot of store there at the mall. We even found a BYU mini helmet in a sports store and so we bought it as our souvenir of the Mall trip. They also had Utah and Utah State mini helmets! It was great to see a Mountain West and WAC colleges in a store out east.

Shawn Named Chic-fil-A Player of Week

This week Shawn was named the Chic-fil-A player of the week for his performance in week one against Cherokee. As a reminder he was 4-4 on his PAT's and a 33 yard field goal. Quite an honor for his first competition high school football game ever.

Shawn still hasn't missed a kick in loss to Creekview.

This video is a bit shaky because the metal bleachers were shaky and not built on concrete, but still gets the point across. Although we lost to Creekview 13-7 Shawn made his PAT,twice!. He kicked the first and then had to rekick due to a penalty on the defense. We were hoping the team could score again allowing Shawn to kick the winning extra point but we threw an interception on the next possesion.