Rams crush Cabrillo 50-13
At first game of season the Rams overpower the Seahawks 50-13

By Todd Levinson
Guardsman Sports Editor

Towards the end of preseason, leading up to their September 6 home season opener against Cabrillo, Assistant Coach Dan Hayes said the team looked good but that you can't really know until they get out on the field with the clock running.

Photo by Coleen Mackin The Vikings try to stop tailback Tim Brown (No.7).

The six time National Champion Rams led by returning sophomore quarterback Jason Swanson, sophomore tailback Tim Brown and a stifling Rams defense beat the Cabrillo Seahawks 50-13 on an unusually hot saturday at the normally foggy and windswept City College football stadium.

An hour before kickoff you could hear the Rams getting psyched in their locker room from the South Gym parking lot.

By the time they got on the field, with a small documentary crew that is filming their entire season, they were so riled up it took them until late in the first quarter to calm down and find their rhythm.

On the first play of the game, Antwon Guidry, who later scored two touchdowns (one on a 75 yard punt return), fumbled the kickoff return.

With three minutes left in the first, the Rams started an 80 yard touchdown drive fueled by Brown and a 30 yard reception by Sophomore Marcel Love which set up quarterback Jason Swanson for a one yard plunge into the end zone.

In the second quarter, the rams were unleashed with Brown scoring three touchdowns, and freshman receiver Rubin Jackson stepping into the end zone after catching a 30 yard pass at the two yard line.

Thanks to an offensive line, which boasts 6'7" 320 pound Cornelius Thomas, and 6"6" 330 pound Albert Toeina, Swanson said he felt little pressure on the pass rush. "I was back there eating chips and ice cream waiting for my receivers to get open," said Swanson.

The Rams fast defense was a constant problem for Cabrillo who had difficulty producing first downs.

In the same quarter, defensive end Isaac Watts sacked Seahawks quarterback Marty Sinnot for a 5 yard loss. Safety Bret Jones caught an interception which set the Rams up for one of four Tim Brown touchdowns.

Brown, who ran for 438 of 562 yards sitting out most of the 4th quarter, took a pounding from the Cabrillo defense.

When the 5'7" 180 pound receiver was asked how he withstands taking so many hits, Brown said, "God help me."

Up 50-13 in the fourth quarter, Rams freshman quarterback Joseph Ayoob got his first playing time of the season. Swanson had to show him how to use the offensive headset on the side lines.

Ayoob played well, hitting a Cabrillo defensive back hard with his shoulder when he ran up the middle.

Ayoob said playing in his first game was "kind of a rush."

Judging by the pre-season polls in Street & Smiths, which ranked the Rams fourth nationally, and JC-Gridwire, which ranked the Rams first, it was expected that the team had talent. Still, after what many felt was a disappointing season last year, no one knew for sure how well they would play.

By halftime, it was obvious they could be good, but if they want to get to the National Championships this season, the Rams know they will have to play close to perfection.

"We missed some coverage where they could have scored another touchdown," said Coach George Rush, "and we never punted."

 

Photo by Coleen Mackin Cabrillo defenders in hot pursuit of Sophomore Antwon Guidry.

Rams run over West Valley 61-3 At their second game of the season, on September 13, the Rams dominated the West Valley Vikings who had a 5-5 record last year. Former Senator Quentin Kopp was on the sidelines. In 1986 Kopp raised over $100,000 for a game at 3Com Park between the Rams and a British all-star team.

By Todd Levinson
Guardsman Sports Editor

The soccer team went 3-0 on a weekend road trip to the Hartnell Tournament in Salinas, defeating last year's tournament champions and beating two other strong competitors.

Photo by Lana Citowsky The Rams did not play a cohesive game at their home season opener against Yuba.

Three days later, at their first home game in Balboa Park Boxer Stadium, they gave a lackluster performance in a 0-0 draw against Yuba College.

"Everything we did well at the tournament," Lucarelli said, "We did the opposite against Yuba."

At the tournament, Lucarelli said the team "showed a lot of toughness and team chemistry" facing stiff competition.

"We had the bracket of death," Lucarelli said of the teams three games against last year's tournament winners: Allan Hancock College, Long Beach City College and Hartnell College teams.

The first day of the tournament, the Bulldogs, a team with a 19-1-3 record in their conference, couldn't score a goal against City, who beat them 1-0 in their first game.

Hancock has won three conference titles in the past four years.

The next day, the Rams beat the strong Long Beach City Vikings 2-1.

On the third day, they came back from a 1-0 deficit to win 4-3 in their last game against Hartnell.

Caesar Rivera, who played in all 3 games, switching between forward and midfielder, was the tournament MVP.

At the home against Yuba, three days after the tournament, both teams looked sloppy from the beginning and neither team took any good shots on goal in the first half.

"This is a wake up call," Coach Lucarelli said, "We can't just show up and expect to win."

City's halfbacks, especially Mike Jigalin, consistently kept Yuba from getting the ball past midfield, but the offense wasn't clicking and City got called with three offsides.

After half time, Lucarelli told his players to "play for the team, not for your friends in the stands."

There were some better shots on goal in the second half by both teams, but City still couldn't score even after Yuba was down a man who was red-carded after a slide tackle.

"We never had it together," Team Captain and forward Theo Divanis said.

Blame it on the fans

By Todd Levinson
Guardsman Sports Editor

Now that football season has started again, you're bound to hear more complaints that the sport is too violent.

But don't hate the players or the game. Hate the fans, not all the fans, just the macho, chest-beating, shirtless wonders that think going to a football game is their chance to act out all their adolescent tough guy fantasies.

The ones that start fights with people for wearing opposing team jerseys and raise domestic violence rates during football season.

If a mass of drunken armchair quarterbacks had never tried to rip down the goal post or started a riot after their team wins (or loses), then no one would complain that football is too violent.

As sad as it is to see quarterback Kurt Warner, suffering from multiple concussions, noticeably disoriented on the field, he knows, as do most NFL players that it is part of the job.

Even before the first superfan wore a Speedo to a 10 degree game, attention seeking spectators have had a lot of difficulty understanding the difference between the athletes, who are paid to play, and fans, who have paid to watch.

There are few people in this world that have the physical and mental toughness to play professional football.

On the other hand, any beer swilling, overweight loudmouth who wouldn't run a 50 yard dash if there was a pile of hotdogs and beer at the finish line, can shove their fat fist into a ticket window.

No one cares that you're starting tonight in Section E Row 10 Seat 12.

Athleticism, strength, drive, determination, toughness... these are all things that are not required to sit in a folding lawn chair in the parking lot and bark at people.

They are things required to play professionally and football players have good reason to act macho and cocky on the field. It's part of their job.

Unless your job is sticking your chest out and trying to pick fights with people at football games, there's no reason to act so tough.

Judo club builds bonds
Personal growth, friendship more important than winning

By Marlon Lumang
Guardsman Staff Writer

Photo by Lana Citowsky In Judo, women are some of the fiercest competitors.

On Thursday nights, loud thumps rattle a small corner room in the south gym. While students throw and flip each other onto the mats, Mitchell Palacio, sensei of the City College Judo Club since 1984, screams, "What part of this is no fun?"

"Training is hard," Palacio said, "It's got to be fun."

Judo, the second most popular sport in the world is a way of life for Palacio.

He started competing nationally when he was ten years old and placed at every level of national competition. He has also coached internationally.

In addition, he created a Palm Pilot program used to measure the effectiveness of attacks during competition and was the US Olympic Committee Sports Science Coordinator for Judo in 1989.

"The people who get knocked down the most, grow the most," Palacio said. Judo is just the "vehicle" for personal growth and becoming a better person.

"When you can set your ego aside and learn, you progress," Palacio said.

Palacio notes that some of the fiercest competitors in his classes are women because "they have no ego."

"There is no such thing as a weaker sex," Palacio said.

Judo was founded in 1882 by Dr. Igor Kan, President of the University of Education in Tokyo, and was derived from Jujitsu, a form of hand to hand combat.

Kan took the dangerous moves out of Jujitsu and created a competitive sport which became an Olympic event in 1964.

The basic technique in Judo revolves around throws and grapples and getting your opponents off balance by using your adversary's strengths to your own advantage.

At the end of each semester the club hosts a Bay Area tournament which is put on entirely by members of the club. It draws up to 400 people.

"The gym is wall to wall packed," Palacio said.

Keith Burton, who is in the advanced Judo class and has been taking Judo at City for three semesters, said, "Judo is more about having the courage to compete rather than winning."

The class draws students from all walks of life and 70 percent of the students who enroll have never trained at Judo before.

Social events are really important to the Judo club which Palacio said has marriages and even babies within its membership.

The club goes on rafting trips, has buffet dinners and bowling nights.

"City College is vast, people are isolated" Palacio said.

"Judo is like a melting pot."