Hook, line and sinker
Linebacker Jerry Matson
picked football up with
relative ease in high school
after a move from Alaska
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
If it's true that opportunity only
knocks once, it must have been
about eight years ago that it
came knocking at Jerry
Matson's door.
During eighth grade,
Matson's parents split
up, and the former
wrestler and basketball
player moved to
tamonas, wasn., a
suburb of Seattle, to live
with his father.
An opportunity arose
when the Alaska-raised
linebacker signed up
for football. He had
never played the sport
when he joined Kamiak
High's team, but it stuck
with him.
1
/ i
"When I moved
down from Alaska
to Seattle, there
was a talent gap
there," Matson
said. "The
sports I was
good at
before, like
basketball,
I wasn't as
good at
down in
the
lower
48. I was
a good
wrestler, but I
hadn't wrestled in a while, so
I started wrestling and foot
ball — sports 1 thought I ""
would succeed at, since
I wasn't 6-5 or any
thing." , .
The Knights made
the 4A state playoffs
for the first time in
school history
during 199S
Matson's sen
ior season.
That same
year, he led
his team, and the state, with 135
tackles and was named an all-state
linebacker by The Seattle Times.
"My high school program was
blessed because they had a surplus
of kids that had tremendous work
ethic," Matson said. "I'm hard
pressed to find any people that
concentrated. We won a league
that hadn't been won by any other
team in 20 years in my
senior year."
Kamiak lost in
the quarterfinals
that year to sec
ond-place fin
isher Kentwood.
The following
year, Matson's
first at Oregon, Kamiak lost in the
semifinals to a Johnny DuRocher
led squad from Bethel.
DuRocher is soon to be the fifth
person from the team added to a
football-filled house. Matson and
three teammates — Jared Siegel,
Jonathan Levine and Nick Steitz
— live there already, with each
adding their own talents and per
sonality quirks to the mix.
"Off the field, he's a pretty laid
back guy who knows how to have
a good time," Siegel said of
Matson. "He's just a guy's guy, just
real fun to be around and not very
good with the dishes."
"It works really great and every
one just contributes around the
house," Matson said. "Certainly
I've thought about having room
mates that weren't (on the team).
It's so much more convenient to
have someone on the same page
- to eat, sleep and work at the
same time, so it's just the
schedules coordinate so the
house isn't up at all times of
the night."
Similar schedules are
| one of the benefits of the
f all-football house that
Matson enjoys. It allows
the teammates to be ready
to go on game days and
for practice during the
season, and living under
the same roof increases
the bond they already
have from time togeth
er on the field.
"Just being on the
team and being in
the same class, he
became someone
that 1 could trust,"
Siegel said. "He's
just a great guy."
Matson's pretty
laid-back, too.
During the season,
when free time is
scarce, he enjoys
music and just
hanging out. The
friendships that
build between
teammates are one
of the things he enjoys
about football.
Turn to SINKER,
page 5B
Sun Bowl offers select seniors
chance to recall old memories
For the Oregon seniors, they
finish their careers in the
Sun Bowl, where their
careers began in 1999
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
For a few of the Oregon seniors, it's
dejavu.
At the end of their careers with the
Oregon football team, they are back
right where it all began.
Go back four years to 1999 when
Oregon played in the Sun Bowl in El
Paso, Texas. The Ducks had a come
from-behind victory in the closing min
utes to win, 24-20, over Minnesota.
Flash forward to the present and
Oregon returns to El Paso after being
invited to the Sun Bowl on Dec. 2. And
wouldn't you know it the Ducks again
play Minnesota.
"It is kind of weird because we might
end up playing Minnesota," senior
quarterback Jason Fife said Wednesday.
"It's pretty rare for you to be able to say
you started at one bowl and ended at
the same bowl."
Fife was on the sidelines four years
ago, and although he didn't play be
cause it was his redshirt year, he still re
members the experience
"It was great; I'd never been to a bowl
game before" he said. "These last cou
ple of days I keep thinking about what
we did. There's a lot of fun stuff that we
did as a team. It was good camaraderie
building experience."
Senior linebacker Kevin Mitchell
was also there. Because the 1999 sea
son was his redshirt year, he didn't
take the Field, either.
"It's nice for me," he said. "It does
n't really matter for me what game we
play in. Another game is another
game. Especially for the seniors, it's
the last game we get. If it does end up
being Minnesota again, then I guess it
comes full circle.
"We're going to El Paso and they
treated us nice there in the past.
We're looking for a good time and a
good game."
Mitchell is one of just five seniors
who were on the 1999 team including
Fife, wide receiver Sarnie Parker, offen
sive guard Joey Forster and defensive
end Quinn Dorsey.
Mitchell said he was excited about
returning to the Sun Bowl, but more
importantly, he just wants to contin
ue the Oregon tradition of winning
bowl games.
"In reality though, it's just time for us
guys to reward ourselves with the sea
son we've had and time to go have fun
and play another game," Mitchell said.
Oregon finished the regular season
with an 8-4 record and tied for third in
the Pacific-10 Conference with a 5-3
record. And that was a place that many
wouldn't have expected Oregon to end
up halfway through the season.
"To be a third place team after the
season we've had, it's going to be a
great experience," Parker said. "We're
going to go out there and have a good
time and hopefully we come out with
a win."
Parker is hoping that with the travel
distance and change of climates, he and
his teammates can stay focused on the
task at hand.
"We are going to be out there in a
warm environment," he said. "Hope
fully we can keep everybody's heads on
Turn to SENIORS, page 9B
Keep your dole or
LOSE YOUR LICENSE.
Under Oregon's new MIP law, drivers under 21
who fail to appear in court on an alcohol-related
offense will automatically lose their drivers license.
It's just one more reason why driving sober is the
way to go.
Drive Sober. The Way to Go.
Transportation Safety - ODOT
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