Austin's 2010



2010 was a big year for Austin. He learned some things about life, leadership, relationships, and responsibility through events planned and unforeseen. Sports dominated his thoughts, time, and energy, but he did a good job of balancing the rest of his life as well (Sports was only maybe 65% of his life - but could have been much more).



Tackle vs Layton



He started out the year with basketball, playing with the Northridge High sophomore team. The coaches placed a lot of emphasis on conditioning, so the team ran and ran and ran some more. He lost 20 pounds during basketball and by the end he was beginning to think that he was paying too high a price in strength and weight to consider playing basketball again. He ran track in the spring, competing in the 110 meter high hurdles and occasionally (when Coach Lund had him cornered) in the 300 meter intermediate hurdles.

Through both basketball and track his mind and his heart were really in his first love - football. Spring football gives the players and coaches an excuse to put the pads on and hit someone for the first time in six months. 7-on-7 football is played between late Spring into early Summer. This year Austin competed with the varsity players but played defense almost exclusively. At times it seems that Coach Thompson is trying to keep him a secret offensively.

In June, the Layton Hills Stake sponsors a "Camp Helaman" and Austin was old enough this year to participate. On the first day of the camp, one of his "zone leaders" got sick and had to go home, so they asked Austin to act as a zone leader. The adult leaders were very complimentary of the way he stepped up to take responsibility for his group of young men.

The captains of the football team participated in a leadership camp near North Fork Park in the Ogden Valley. Austin really enjoyed the opportunity to learn and grow with his fellow teammates while having a lot of fun challenging their minds and bodies with physical and leadership challenges. He felt that the camp helped to make their team stronger and led to a better than expected season.



Football season finally arrived and they started their season against Skyview up in Smithfield. It was the beginning of a really good season. They finished the season with an 8-2 record. They beat Alta in the quarterfinals, but lost to eventual Utah state 5-A champion Bingham in the second round. Here are their scores:



Northridge 34, Sky View 17

Northridge 27, Syracuse 12

Northridge 13, Layton 9

Northridge 30, Bonneville 7

Northridge 30, Viewmont 7

Davis 17, Northridge 14
Fremont 27, Northridge 21 (2OT)

Northridge 63, Roy 6

Northridge 44, Clearfield 7

Northridge 41,eber 13

5A FIRST ROUND

Northridge 21, Alta 14

5A QUARTERFINALS

Bingham 54, Northridge 13



His individual stats were:

Rushes   Yards Yards/Carry Touchdowns

26          169     6.50              2

Catches  Yards Yards/Catch Touchdowns

15          252     16.80            2

Defense

Tackles Interceptions  Fumbles Caused  Recovered

120       1                   2                          2

He received the following awards:

Team Defensive MVP                 1st Team All-Area

2nd Team All-State                     Standard Star of the Week

All-Region 1st Team

He was mostly injury-free, he had a great year and is really looking forward to next year. In January he learned that he's been invited to participate with 7-on-7 All-Star team from the state of Utah to compete in Las Vegas against teams from other states. Update on this: Austin was on-line to register for the competition and learned that it was played over Saturday and Sunday and so he elected to not participate because of the play on Sunday - how's that for balancing priorities?

In the fall he decided that he wasn't going to play basketball so he could focus more on football and academics. He's gained 20 pounds since the football season ended. He finished the second term with a cumulative GPA of 3.53. We'll see what the rest of 2011 brings.