Indians 5-1

This past Saturday we once again defended our home field, this time against the Nokia Ghosthunters. Nokia is the team that we played in the first week, while I was still in Hartford. We started the game off on the wrong foot, as the Ghosthunters returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. On the ensuing extra point I hurdled the center and blocked the PAT, I returned it a little ways but got caught so the score remained 6-0. Our offense immediately responded with our use of the wildcat offense. I stepped in at Quarterback, with the help of Nick Jones running effective sweeps, and great blocking all over the field, we marched down the field in just 5 plays. I capped the drive off with a 2 yard run for a touchdown.
Nokia, better known for their cell phones, responded by running the ball down our throats. Our defense simply couldn't deal with the onslaught, as Nokia methodically went down the field to score. Following a successful conversion the score was 13-7. The offense did not have a great amount of success for the rest of the half, but with just 30 seconds remaining Nesi Carpelan heaved the ball down field to Matt Shepherd, who made a great catch and run to put us up 14-13 going into halftime.
The team felt that we played one of the worst halves of football yet this season in this game, and we came out determined to play closer to our level of football. Defensively we switched to a 4-4 defense to stop Nokia's running attack. They never got into our red zone for the rest of the game. Our offense opened the half firing, and easily drove the ball deep into Nokia's red zone. Once there we called in the wildcat offense, and with some great blocking I had an easy time dashing 17 yards into the Nokia endzone to push the score to 21-7.
Defensively we continued to play strong, giving up minimal gains in the run game, knowing that the Ghosthunters did not possess a potent passing attack. In the fourth quarter our offense was on a good drive, and as we got into Ghosthunter territory we once again utilized the wildcat offense. A few plays into the drive I was running to the right hand side, as I jumped through a players arm tackle I landed on my left leg and tried to push off to my right. As I did this I felt my knee twist, and heard a loud pop come from my left knee. I immediately dropped the football and went down yelling and grabbing my injured knee.
The offense finished the drive with another touchdown catch by Matt Shepherd, and the Indians closed out with a 28-13 victory. I've visited with a doctor this week who drew blood out of my knee and explained that I either have damage to my Meniscus or ACL. One issue is that I cannot get an MRI done on my knee due to the metal plate that was inserted into the fibula of my left leg last november. My next scheduled visit is with a doctor on Tuesday, as well as a ultrasound test to try to see into my knee. I've been told that Finland shuts down during the month of July because everyone goes on vacation, it seems that is true of the medicine practice as well.
I put together a highlight reel predominantly of myself from this past game, it can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oePKp0Twg6w&feature=channel_video_title. I added Matt's long touchdown, and an interception by Jukka Lautamatti mostly for the celebrations that follow. My personal stat line was 7 rushes for 63 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 2 solo tackles along with 6 assisted.