Rickey Bussey Sp'75 on Turkey Day 2010
From March 2001 - Gangplank
In a season full of ups and downs, the 2010 football season came to a gloomy end as the Balboa Bucs committed 4 turnovers and loss to the Washington Eagles 36-6 in the annual Turkey Day Classic. All season long the team struggle with consistency and the 2010 playoffs summed this up. When they turned over the ball, they lost, when they didn't, they won. Plain and simple!
Coming off their best game of the season in the semifinals, the proud Bucs upset round robin champs Mission in the semifinals and advanced to their third Turkey Day appearance in seven years by not turning the ball over. Then, the following week in the biggest game of the year, they reverted to giving the ball away in crucial moments.
The fact that they made it to Turkey Day is a testament to the courage and dedication of this team as the Bucs entered the championship contest with a losing record of 5-7.
The game started out as a fierce back and forth battle for field position as the first quarter was scoreless. In the second quarter the Eagles got their running game going as they scored twice to take a 14-0 lead at halftime.
While this was happening, Washington's defense was slowly taking over the game as they held the high powered Balboa offense in check for most of the day. Balboa would match a season low 6 points and commit 4 turnovers on the day. This was a far cry from the regular season contest a month earlier in which the Eagles defeated Balboa in the last minutes 24-20.
The Eagles defense made some great adjustments by matching up their best athletes in the secondary against the Bucs arsenal of receivers. Then they took to pressuring All-City Quarterback Karati Apilakbanichakit. Karati finished the day going 12-20 for only 106 yards with two fumbles on sacks and an interception.
Also they took away the break away running of RB Greg Warren and the power running of AAA Player of the Year, Christian Pulusian.
As the third quarter started, the Bucs were still in the game but a loss fumble and a muffed kickoff return 3 minutes apart led to 2 more scores and a 29-0 lead and the rout was on.
The Bucs got on the scoreboard with 3 seconds left in the third quarter on a 2 yard pass from Apilakvanichakit to Adres Arellano. However, the Bucs fate was sealed when the Eagle immediately followed with a 12 play, 6 minute scoring drive that made it 36-6. Washing would total 359 total yards with most of it on the ground. The Eagles running game dominated!
Although he was disappointed with his teams overall play this day, Coach Al Carvajal was proud of the way his fourth seeded team made it to Turkey Day.
