another friday night like no other

The evening gathers, as do fans, at Ty Baffney Field. The lights come

on, signaling the dawn of a new season.

September 4
Photo by Jeff Horner

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September 4

Lightning strikes
Irish in home opener

By Ken Morgan

L
ightning struck three times Friday night at Ty
Baffney Field in the first 24 minutes of non-
conference football action.
La Salle made those three first-half scores stand
up as the Lightning avenged last season’s season-ending loss to
DeSales in the state Class 2B-11 playoffs with a 20-0 win.
“They are a very veteran group,” Irish coach Pat Graham said
of La Salle. “We just made too many mistakes on both sides of
the ball. We (only) have three returning starters (Pat Richard,
Tyler Wahl, and Pat Sharkey). We had a lot of new faces out
there, and you could tell. We just didn’t quite have our timing on
offense, and we got a little out of sync on defense.”
La Salle took the opening kickoff and marched 66 yards in
six plays, with 195 pound running back Tony Cacchiotti going
in from the 10 as the Lightning took a 6-0 lead with 8:41 left in
the first.
The Irish answered with a Tommy Gregg run for 10 yards, a
Michael Mathews 11-yard catch and a Pat Richard-to-Gregg
pass for 18 yards that highlighted the drive.
Following a Richard keeper on third-and-three from the
Lightning 14, the Irish had a first-and-goal at the La Salle 7.
Richard, out of the shotgun, took off on the next Irish snap,
but Cacchiotti ripped the ball loose, and Josh Bartlett fell on the
fumble at his own 5 to turn away the Irish threat.
Cacchiotti then ripped off a 19-yard run to start the
Lightning on a 95-yard, 15-play, seven-and-a-half-minute drive
that Kerry Duffy culminated with a 9-yard burst to paydirt. The
Lightning added Cacchiotti’s run for the two-point conversion
and led 14-0 with 9:56 left in the half.
“They like to pound it,” Graham said. “They’re disciplined,
TOMMY GREGG TURNS ONE
execute well and play hard. They earned the win.”
An interception by Dylan Sattler on the Lightning 30 ended
Wide receiver Tommy Gregg finds an open
the second Irish possession of the game. Following a Lightning
field and turns one of quarterback Pat
punt, a holding penalty derailed the third Irish possession even
Graham's passes into a big gain against La
with a 10-yard screen pass from Richard to Kyle Lindgren.
Salle.
Duffy scored his second TD on the ensuing La Salle
possession with a 19-yard run, and La Salle led 20-0 with 1:30
September 4
left in the half. Photo by Jeff Horner
The Lightning defense forced a three-and-out, and La Salle
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 was knocking on the door at the Irish 5 with only ticks left in
the half. Ben Konen ended the threat by breaking through to
sack Lightning quarterback Mike McGree back at the Irish 11
as the half ran out.
“Their offense pretty much kept us off the field and out of
any (offensive) rhythm,” Graham said of the Lightning’s 17-plus
minutes of first-half possession. “(On defense), we got them in
third-and-long, but we couldn’t stop them.”
The Lightning and Irish battled to a scoreless standstill in
the second half.
“We made some adjustments defensively and held them
scoreless in the second half,” Graham said. “Our defensive line
and linebackers came out (in the second half ) and were more
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physical, which was the reason we were able to keep them out of
One down, 10 to go
Junior running back Victor Mata gets past
one Lightning defender and only has 10 more
to dodge as he looks to gain more yardage.
September 4
Photo by Jeff Horner
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the end zone.”
On offense, Lindgren ran for 60 of his game-high 77 rushing
yards in the second half. The Irish offense, spearheaded by the
running of Richard and Lindgren out of the shotgun, marched
to the La Salle 13 to open the fourth.
Joe Sullivan picked off an Irish pass in the end zone to turn
that DeSales threat away.
In the closing seconds, DeSales again knocked on the door
by marching to the Lightning 18. With one second left, Richard
hit Gregg, but the Lightning defense ran him out of bounds at
the 10, and La Salle preserved the shutout.
“In the second half, we got into a rhythm and established the
running game,” Graham said. “We were able to do some things.
We’ve just got to finish.”
Irish 0
Lightning 20
at Walla Walla
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
La Salle 6 14 0 0 20
DeSales 0 0 0 0 0
La Salle — Cachiotti 10 run (kick failed).
La Salle — Duffy 9 run (Cacchiotti run).
La Salle — Duffy 19 run (kick failed).
La Salle DeSales
First downs 18 14
Rushes/yards 43-236 30-169
Passing yards 87 65
Passes (att-comp-int) 14-9-0 22-9-2
Punts 3-33 3-33
Fumbles-lost 2-1 3-1
Penalties-yards 4-29 4-47
Individual Statistics
RUSHING — La Salle: Duffy 13-62, Cacchiotti 6-67, Woo-
dard 5-5, Kuribayashi 8-52, McGree 9-36, Anderton 2-14;
DeSales: Gregg 3-19, Richard 11-66, Lindgren 14-77, Wales
2-7.
PASSING — La Salle: McGree 9-14-0 87 yards; DeSales:
Richard 9-22-2, 65 yards.
RECEIVING — La Salle: Sattler 1-6-0, Duffy 1-3-0, Sullivan
3-32-0, Cacchiotti 2-35, Anderton 2-11-0; DeSales: Rea 2-4-0,
Mathews 1-11-0, Gregg 5-40-0, Lindgren 1-10-0.
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 ONE-HAND STOP

La Salle got past the Irish, but on this first half play, a flying Dan
Solomon missed the interception but takes down Lightning receiver
Kerry Duffy with one hand.

September 4
Photo by Jeff Horner

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 September 10

Irish quarterback Pat

Richard leads the way

By Ken Morgan

D
eSales travels to Milton-Freewater Friday looking
for its first win of the 2009 football campaign.
The Irish dropped a 20-0 non-conference
decision to La Salle to open the season and will
look to rebound against the Mac-Hi Pioneers.
The Irish will turn to senior and four-year varsity member
Pat Richard (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) to help get them into the
win column.
“Pat is my (second) cousin, so I’ve known him since he was
a little kid,” Irish coach Pat Graham said. “It’s funny to see
him grow up and be here as a senior leader. It’s fun to see the
maturity and exciting to see him turn into the kind of player he
is.”
Richard has been a three-sport mainstay in the Irish athletic
program — football, basketball and baseball — during his high
school career, and he has developed an interest in physiology
and anatomy. After his high school athletic career ends, his goal
is to remain connected to the sports scene.
“I’ll probably pursue baseball at community college
(WWCC),” Richard said of his post high school plans. “I’ve
always been interested in biology and the study of the body.

RICHARD ON THE RUN

DeSales quarterback Pat Richard tucks the ball and runs

against the La Salle defense.

September 4
Photo by Jeff Horner

20 21

After two years of baseball, if that doesn’t continue, I’ll probably
go to Washington State University and do something in sports
medicine.”
In football, Richard was thrust into the quarterback role as a
freshman when varsity starter Kevin Baffney went down with an
injury. In 2007, with Baffney back at the controls, Richard went
back to a wide receiver position and helped the Irish capture
the 2007 Class 2B-11 state football crown. As a junior in 2008,
he moved back to quarterback and led the Irish into the state
playoffs.
“The highlight has to be winning the state championship,”
Richard said of his high school career. “Wide receiver is the
position I prefer to play, but quarterback needs to be played. I
like quarterback, but receiver is my position of choice.”
Offensively, everything flows through the quarterback, and
Richard is ready to take that responsibility as the Irish go for
win No. 1 Friday.
“He has really stepped forward to take the leadership and
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embrace his role as quarterback,” Graham said. “As he has
thrown himself into that (role), it has shown on the field. He’s
a great athlete, but for him to come this far as a quarterback is
what impresses me. He’s a competitor and the type of kid that’s
going to get after it no matter what position you put him at.”
Richard said, “Coach Graham, since he was a great
quarterback here, can relate to what I’m seeing on the field. He’s
got my confidence up and given me some more tools to work
with out on the field. My job is to spread the ball out to our
playmakers. I’ve got to make good decisions, control the ball and
not give the other team opportunities to score.”
Richard, who led the Irish defense in tackles against La Salle,
also quarterbacks the Irish defense from his safety spot.
“At safety, you have the best view of the field,” Richard said.
“So you have to move people around.”
The Irish had to fit in a lot of new faces, because they were
hit hard by graduation, but Richard sees the team coming
together.
“We have a lot of new faces, but a lot of them saw some
varsity action,” Richard said. “(Those who didn’t start) have
come along a lot further than I thought they would (by this
time), and the underclassmen have really stepped it up. It takes
a little more time on offense, because you have to do this when
(opponents) do that. On defense, you pretty much just have to
get to the ball. This coming week will be another challenge.”
Mac-Hi gained 320 yards with a pounding ground game
in its 29-18 loss to Tillamook last week. The Irish gave up 236
yards on the ground to La Salle.
“A lot of the things we had issues with last week, we’re
going to see the same with Mac-Hi,” Graham said. “It will be a
challenge for our front seven to stop their running game.”
Richard sees the same challenges and expects the offense to
R
Putting one up
Richard throws a pass against
La Salle in the first game
of the season for the Irish.
Richard was 9 of 22 in passing
with two interceptions.
September 4
Photo by Jeff Horner
do some things better.
“Mac-Hi is as physical as La Salle, if not more so,” Richard
said. “We have to play faster and more physical. On offense, we
have to improve on execution. We were in the red zone several
times and didn’t get a single point out of it. We have to finish
(drives).”
Richard could feel more than his share of pressure, given that
he is the quarterback, a four-year varsity player and a member
of a renowned DeSales athletic family. His dad and three uncles
— Todd, Brian and Jason — all played for the Irish, as did two
older brothers — Jason and Tim. Not to mention cousin Pat.
But so far, Pat Richard knows what it is all about.
“There is some bloodline expectation to do well,” he said.
“But mostly, I just try to have fun.”
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