During the first quarter of a 57-19 season-opening football victory over Richfield last Friday afternoon, a DeLaSalle assistant coach had a chat with safety Nathan Thomas as he was late running onto the field to defend an extra point attempt.
“First team defense,” the coach said as Thomas emerged from a crowd of his Islander teammates. “First team defense,” he repeated as the senior trotted to the sidelines.
Thomas, who also plays receiver, might have had problems on defense for that particular moment, but on offense he didn’t miss a beat, catching scoring passes of 32 and 23 yards from junior quarterback James Pfarr. Pfarr also connected with senior receiver Jamison Battle for a 10-yard touchdown for host DeLaSalle.
The rest of the highlights belonged to receiver/cornerback Julian Wright. The senior put the Islanders on the scoreboard first with a 77-yard punt return, and then added five more touchdowns – three receiving (32, 23 and 53 yards) and two interception returns (55 and 53 yards).
On a lighter note, it became apparent during the game that each time DeLaSalle scored, their Fall Sideline Cheer Team would perform jumping jacks according to the number of points on the scoreboard after every touchdown.
If the Islanders keep up this pace, the cheer team will continue to get their exercise in and then some.
All photos by Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald
Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald is a contributing columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.