Friday Night Lights

by Preston Cavignac

The Francis Parker Lancers have had Saturday home games for the past 25 years. Each year the Lancers have hoped to get lights, and finally this wish has turned into a reality. The Lancers second game of the season was against Linfield Christian, a small school from Temecula, who had tied the Lancers last year. The two teams met at 7:00 under 40 high-powered lights. The Lancers sideline had an excess of 1,000 people, while Linfield had about one hundred. With the excitement of the lights colliding with high number of fans, the Parker football team disappointed no one.

Linfield won the toss and deferred their option, so the Lancers opted to receive. Jason Blake received the kick off and returned it for 23-yards. The Lancers then tried to run the ball twice but were not able to line up in the correct formation, busting the play. Facing a quick 3rd and 6, Johnny Harari went to none other than the 1st team all-conference receiver Larry Ayres for a 14-yard gain and a first down. Shortly after that Johnny hit another one of his receivers, senior Preston Cavignac, who ran it 32 yards for the first touchdown of the night. It was downhill from here for the team from Temecula. Linfield's first drive was their most successful of the half, as they managed to get a first down. However, hard hits like the one senior Fletcher Kelsey had on Linfield's tailback plagued the Lions all night. Fletcher not only managed to knock off the kid's helmet, but he actually broke the helmet itself. On Parkers second drive, the first play went to senior fullback Zack Pavel. Zack wove his way through the line, and showed off his speed as he galloped for a 70-yard touchdown. Shortly afterward, junior defensive end Kit Barmeyer recovered a fumble forced by Larry Ayres and Joe Baini, and ran it back 44-yards for Parkers third score of the quarter. Before the quarter ended, Parker scored two more touchdowns. One on a 53-yard run by Jr. tailback Gino Gordon, and another on a 6-yard pass from Johnny Harari to Kit Barmeyer. This made the score 35-0 at the end of the first quarter.   Parker continued to trample on the Lions as Larry opened the second half with a 33-yard interception for a touchdown.

Defensive scores seemed to be the name of the game for the Lancers as Gino Gordon returned another interception for a 35-yard touchdown, and senior defensive back Michael Gonzales returned his interception for a 45-yard touchdown. The quarter ended with senior fullback Jason Blake scoring on a 1-yard run, as well as Larry Ayres scoring on a 10-yard interception. By the end of the half the score was 68-0. The second half was played primarily by Parkers J.V. team.

This was a great opportunity for them, and allowed them to gain some experience that they can take back down to their J.V. games. Jason Blake scored the last touchdown of the game by intercepting a pass for 20 yards. The Lions managed to score twice, making the final score 74-16.