AT PARACLETE, PLAYOFFS MEAN PERFECT.Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer Rob Fockaert, Joey Rispaud and John McMurtry Professor John McMurtry, FRSC is a moral philosopher and ethicist who works at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. He is a strong advocate of monetary reform and vocal in the anti-globalization movement. don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. a thing about playoff failure. The trio of Paraclete High seniors, all in their third year of varsity competition, are a perfect 11-0 in the playoffs since 1997, earning two Southern Section championship rings and the possibility to win a third tonight when the Spirits meet Kilpatrick in the Division XII championship game at Antelope Valley College Antelope Valley College is a comprehensive community college located in Lancaster, California, USA. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1,945 square miles covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. . To the Spirits, the word defeat, when it comes to the postseason, is not in the vocabulary. ``If we lose, and I don't even want to hear the word lose. . . . It belongs to us. I think it was made for us,'' Rispaud said. ``I don't know how it feels to go home a loser. . . . We don't want to know how it feels to be in second place. My saying is `Second place is just a first loser. That's all that is,'' Fockaert said. ``I'm not going to ever complain about being in a championship game. But I want to go in there and I want to win it.'' ``You always want to go out a winner. It'd be devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. if we lose,'' added McMurtry. The Spirits are understandably confident, having won back-to-back section crowns and four straight league titles. But Bishop Amat-bred coach Steve Hagerty, who inherited a struggling Paraclete program in 1992, at times wondered if he could ever build a winner at this West Lancaster parochial school parochial school (pərō`kēəl), school supported by a religious body. In the United States such schools are maintained by a number of religious groups, including Lutherans, Seventh-day Adventists, Orthodox Jews, Muslims, and . ``I remember my fourth year (1996) saying, `Man, if we don't make the playoffs, I'm out of here,' '' Hagerty said. ``I didn't come here to be a head coach. When it actually got to the point where I got the job, I wasn't even convinced I was ready for it.'' Hagerty's ultimatum ultimatum (ŭl'tĭmā`təm), in international law, final, definitive terms submitted by one disputant nation to the other for immediate acceptance or rejection. was spared when the Spirits, a fourth-place team in the High Desert League, snuck snuck v. Usage Problem A past tense and a past participle of sneak. See Usage Note at sneak. into the playoffs as an at-large entry and made a surprise run to the semifinals. After falling in the quarterfinals in 1996, Paraclete scored a 28-6 upset win over defending champion defending champion n (SPORT) → defensor/a m/f del título defending champion n (Sport) → champion(ne) en titre Yucca Valley in the 1997 semifinals. With Fockaert starting at quarterback as a sophomore, the Spirits held off Banning 8-6 to capture the school's first title since 1967. ``I think the one thing that probably makes me happiest, is that I know when I first got here these kids didn't think they were very good football players,'' Hagerty said. ``It's become as of late, when I really think these guys feel they are confident. . . . We've convinced them somehow.'' Last year's second consecutive championship, culminating with a 25-14 win in the finals over tonight's opponent Kilpatrick, was less surprising with the Spirits playing as a top seed. There were similarly lofty expectations this season with four returning All-CIF players - nose guard Rispaud, linebacker Robert Watts Robert Douglas Watt, FRHSC (born 1945) was the first Chief Herald of Canada. He was appointed at the foundation of the Canadian Heraldic Authority, and was replaced by Claire Boudreau in 2007. Watt was born in Picton, Ontario in 1945. , offensive lineman Blake Gaskins gas·kin n. 1. The part of the hind leg of a horse or related animal between the stifle and the hock. 2. gaskins Obsolete Galligaskins. [Probably short for galligaskins.] and Division XII co-offensive MVP (Multimedia Video Processor) A high-speed DSP chip from Texas Instruments, introduced in 1994. Officially introduced as the TMS320C80, it combines RISC technology with the functionality of four DSPs on one chip. Michael Washington. In the opener, Paraclete defeated a Minneapolis DeLaSalle team that won its next 13 games to claim a Minnesota state title. And the Spirits survived a September skid that saw their record drop to 2-3 before reeling off eight consecutive wins entering tonight's game. ``People were doubting us again. You shouldn't doubt the champs. We're still the champions no matter what our record is until we give it away to someone,'' Rispaud said. Hagerty can measure his program's three-year run from the patches and decals on his current players' lettermen's jackets. ``They have so much stuff on them there's no room for anything else,'' Hagerty said. Added Rispaud: ``I have the All-CIF patch. The all-league patches. My girlfriend wears my jacket. And wherever she goes, people go `What's that mean? What's that mean?' She's like `I don't even know.' '' It means lots of success. HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION XII PARACLETE SPIRITS vs. KILPATRICK MUSTANGS At Antelope Valley College, tonight, 7:30 CAPTION(S): box; map BOX: High School football championship (see text) MAP: Antelope Valley College |
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