Football Play-offs

For the first time since 2009, Irvine High made it into the CIF finals for football.  We had tons of fun cheering on the Mighty Vaqueros.  The first round we played Calvary Chapel.  We won the coin toss and got to play at home.  We beat them pretty soundly and got really hyped for round two.  Round two was in Anaheim against Magnolia.  Nana and Granddad worked up a surprise with Amber and showed up as the game started.  Papa and Grandma were in town for Thanksgiving and they brought along Aunt Sue.  Laura, Kevin and the girls came and Daniel and Raelynn came again with Duane. Matt and Erin Brinkerhoff even showed up to cheer on Irvine and Justin. We won again!

Coach Ryan and his words of wisdom and encouragement.  We were all so hyped that I don't think we slept well for weeks :).  Justin was the only one who seemed calm and ready to play at any time.  We were continually amazed at how calm and in control he was through the weeks.  He was very focused and always ready to lead.

The third week of playoffs was back at Irvine High against Garden Grove. Christoffersons came back down for this game, Daniel, Jill, Raelynn, Jill and Jill's mom and Stepdad again. Duane and Daniel were awesome to come to so many games and to cheer for Justin and Ryan.  We lost to Garden Grove in the semi-final round.  Our defense couldn't stop them and our offense didn't really get things going until the second half. We had an great second half! Justin played awesome and the game was on Cox cable.  The commentators for the game went on and on about the sophomore Justin Miller.

We had a few traditions during the season.  Once Justin became the starting QB we had the offensive line and a few other guys over every Thursday night for dinner.  Friday morning the boys would polish their shoes and helmets while eating food provided by the parents. After school they had team dinner in the teachers lounge.  I went almost every week (along with other parents) to serve the boys and coaches dinner.  At almost every game I took a picture of Grace with her favorite cheerleader Ali.

Playoffs were so much fun.  The best part was watching Justin with so many family members to cheer him on.  We had our very own cheering section and got the people around us to cheer too.  Way to go Justin, Coach Ryan and the 2013 Vaqueros!