Weekly football post #54.

Hi friend and fans. Let's get right down to business.

Fountain Valley High School stepped up in their penultimate non-league game over the weekend, and walked out the field with a 38-19 win against Long Beach Millikan High. With two double digit quarters, the Barons were high flying, and blew the lid off the season to improve to 4-0-0. Kyle Middlebrooks was once again the hero, rushing his brains out for 111 yards, including a fourth quarter rushing TD. It was QB Dominic Ragland tossing the pig for 142 yards, with KM also grabbing 37 yards of that through the air. The Barons seem to be gearing up for a huge season here in 2009, and their non-league work finishes up next week against Scripps Ranch before starting League play against Marina on October 16.

Can I say that this last Notre Dame game was the most exciting sporting even in the month of September? I believe that I just did. It was a party at Silky's for the night time match against Purdue, and the Irish really played to represent all of us Irish Catholics around the Nation. Walking into the locker room with a 17-7 halftime lead, most of us felt pretty confident. Sadly, the Boilermakers made a stunning comeback with 14 fourth quarter points that left the Irish marching down the field for an attempt with a thrilling finale. Jimmy Clausen came back on the field after succumbing to injury and led ND to an amazing finish. On fourth down, Clausen connected on a two yard TD pass to the second best #9 in Notre Dame history, Kyle Rudolph, to win the game with 24.8 seconds to play. The game finished with a 24-21 tally, and the Irish walked off the away turf with a 3-1 record. If only Weis could have managed the Michigan game better, I'd have to say we'd be in the top 15. Important things to take away from this game are 1) the injuries we've suffered (Clausen, Allen, Floyd, and Aldridge) are far more debilitating than the media is making them out to be, 2) Dayne Crist (5/10 for 45) was really able to show that he can lead this team with JC on the sideline, including making some really nice physical plays, and 3) Kyle Rudolph is the true #2 receiver on this team, not Golden Tate. All I can say is that when Clausen connected to Rudolph, we all jumped out of our seats and went completely crazy. I don't think I've ever seen Silky's go any more nuts over a sporting event. Beautiful. The Irish are now 3-1, as I stated, and go up against the upset specials from Washington next weekend before getting a bye week to prepare for the USC game on 10/17. The Huskies are 2-2, and are a very dangerous team.

I'm not interested in wasting much time on the 17-36 Rams loss to Green Bay. The Rams dropped to 0-3 on the year, continuing to be the worst team in the NFC West, and continuing to not show us very much positive. My Boys in Horns have now lost 30 of the last 35 since the start of the 2007 season, giving them the longest losing streak (13) actively running in the NFL. Pathetic. Kyle Boller got the majority of the work on the field, going 16/31 for 164 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT to take over for Marc Bulger's 3/4 23 yard game. Rumors are swirling that Bulger's rotator cuff is injured in his throwing arm, which could put him out for a while. Will Boller finally take the chance to take this team over and lead us to getting some wins? God, I hope so. The Rams probably won't have any luck next week, though, with the 49'ers welcoming them to SF. The Niners are 2-1 on the year, nearly 3-0, and should be able to put my Rams away pretty easily.

Finally, the BC Lions lost 18-27 to Calgary. Buck Pierce was in the pocket all game long, finishing 17/27 with 230 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT. Pine Bluff, AK native Martell Mallett (the same home town asTorii Hunter) was against the amazing rusher with 136 hash marks on the ground in the loss. At 5-7, the hopes to turn this season around are dwindling. Friday is a match against the Rough Riders...bring it Jon!

In soccer, it was Celtic grabbing a 2-0 win over St. Mirren in their latest SPL match. It wasn't a really perfect performance, but the Hoops fought through in their highlighter jerseys to get the big win. Paddy McCourt delivered with a huge goal in the 27th minute, dancing around about 5 bad guys before getting the ball into the twine. Maloney earned the 78th minute goal that put Celtic away for good, but St. Mirren never really had much of a chance against my boys in the match. It was Pollack Artur Boruc earning himself another clean sheet in the match, as the Bhoys got a really big 3 points to maintain their 4 points grasp over the Prottie Rangers in the SPL table. With a Thursday afternoon match against Rapid Vienna in the UEFA Europa League competition, before getting to Saturday's gigantic match against Rangers. You hear that Andrew? Bring it on!!!!

How about Newcastle? Man, what a different season being down in the Championship! The Barcodes beat up on Ipswich 4-0 in their latest match thanks to a Kevin Nolan hat trick (30, 32, and 51). 'Castle scored three goals within 4 minutes, with 2 Nolan goals and a Ryan Taylor netting in a free kick at the 34th minute. It was just insane how quickly the Mags put this game away. All of the sudden, there was nothing for Ipswich to do but pray for the 90th minute to come. How about Steve Harper earning the clean sheet as well? Who gets the game ball? Gotta give it to Nolan, my friends. What a game! Newcastle now sits at the summit of the Championship table with their 7-1-1 record and 22 points (2 points up on West Brom). How much longer do I have to go on being assured of a promotion? Am I really jumping the gun, just 9 games in? A mid week Championship match goes off Wednesday against Queens Park (3-1-5) before the weekend match against Bristol City (3-2-4) gets going. Toon Army rise up! Let's keep the good times rolling around St. James.

Chivas was rolling on to victory in their weekend match against New York, thanks to a 64th minute goal from Anaheim native and FIFA '10 cover boy Sacha Kljestan. Unfortunately, New York evened things in the 84th minute, forcing Chivas to split the game and go ahead with just one point. Kljestan had a chance to put the game back to the Red and White with a stoppage time penalty shot, but his low shot skipped off the pole and Chivas was denied. No! Zach Thorton really wishes that he could have the one that got passed him again, but really Kljestan is the one who was reeling after the game for his missed penalty. Are you kidding me, bro? Sacha failed to stick around for post game interviews. Chivas now sits at 11-9-5 (38 points), good enough for fourth in the West. Colorado is +1, LA is +3, and Houston is +5 up ahead of our boys from Carson. The Goats go against DC (8-7-12, 36 points) next weekend, as they continue to try and secure a spot in the MLS playoffs to get retribution for the last early playoffs exits. Come on boys.

In short: 1) Chivas de Guadalajara drew with UNAM 1-1 to go to 2-3-4 on the year. Still a pretty disappointing start for the Red & White. Next up is a Saturday match with Monterrey. 2) Sligo has their game this week tomorrow against #4 Cork City. A win would pull the Bit O' Red even with St. Patrick's for the #7 spot, and could potentially make it a lock for Sligo to stay away from relegation. Can it be true? Let's beat Cork! 3) Lazio drew Palermo 1-1 over the weekend to pull to 2-2-2 on the year, and set their sites on a UEFA Europa League match Thursday against Levski Sofia before returning to Serie A action Sunday against Florentina.

The Angels are up 11-0 on the Rangers in the sixth inning, just 9 outs away from clinching their third straight AL West Championship. I'm bubbling.