First off – Merry Christmas!
A big congrats to Darin Heideman! Not only was he 1st team All Conference, but he was also 2nd team All American. He and the rest of the Panthers came within a few minutes of winning the title, but couldn’t hang-on. However, Darin did himself, his family, and his school (UNI & St. Albert) very proud by not only being a great player, but by also being a true gentlemen on and off the field. Good luck at the NFL combine Darin!

Another former Falcon, Matt O’Connor is a junior at Wofford. Where the heck is Wofford? South Carolina. Who is Wofford? A good little school who has already played West Virginia, Purdue, East Carolina, Clemson, Miami, South Carolina, & plays at Notre Dame on Friday, Dec. 30th. Ol’ Matty boy is averaging 18 minutes, 4 points, & 3.5 rebounds a game. Not bad.

Speaking of former Falcons & Reivers: Congrats to Steve & Matt O’Neill! They will be honored with the Iowa Western 2006 Outstanding Alumni Award at the January 11th basketball game. They both do a lot in the community and are very deserving of the award. Stop down and tell them congratulations, & while you’re there, head over to the house and tell Maurie & Marie hello.

Did you know there are no Alumni in the St. Albert Hall of Fame? To me that says many things, one of which is the fact that so many people, regardless of where they came from in life, care about Catholic Education & St. Albert schools.

If you want a real life Council Bluffs encyclopedia – Put Maurie O’Neill, Matt O’Neill, & my mother, Candy, in a room together. They could talk for hours about so in so is so in so’s brother’s cousin who used to run the so in so down near the so in so, which really used to be the so in so. My head is spinning just thinking about it.

The wrestling squad is off to a solid start. You won’t see a ton of team victories in the paper, but that is because they simply don’t have the numbers to fill all the weights. Right now, McNitt looks tough at 103 & Fetter has won 10 in a row at 171. If you’ve never been to a match or tournament, I strongly encourage you to come to the St. Albert gym for a little while on January 7th to watch the St. Albert Falcon Invite. It really is very exciting & our boys are much improved over recent memory. Come out and support the Falcons.

As predicted, the girls would struggle early in the year. If you watched the TJ game though, it was a tight game down to the last 5 minutes. Atlantic and a few other games come to mind when the Saintes could have pulled the victory out of the bag. That comes with experience, which of course our Frosh & Soph laden team doesn’t have right now. They will soon, & the 2nd half of the season will be much better.

The Falcons are starting to find their groove. Not having that extra practice time early in the year hurts, but I don’t see anyone around the hill complaining. Coach Scott is getting a lot of guys playing time right now, seeing who can really play and who can’t, and finding out which guys play well together. Like the Saintes, the 2nd half of the year will be better for the Falcons, but they still have to get through Red Oak to get to State. Will I be right this year, or are we 1 year away?

My Bowl Predictions below (Favorites on the left):

Champs
Clemson -7.5 vs. Colorado: Colorado – when it looks this easy, it usually isn’t, take the Buffs

Insight
Arizona St. -11.5 vs. Rutgers: Arizona St. – could get hot and be a blowout

MPC Computers
Boise St. -.5 vs. Boston College: Boston College – BC controls the ground and squeaks it out

Alamo
Michigan -12.5 vs. Nebraska: Michigan – Meeshigan tacks one on late to cover

Emerald
Georgia Tech -8.5 vs. Utah: Georgia Tech – Utah not the same without Urban Meyer

Holiday
Oregon -3.5 vs. Oklahoma: Oregon – only loss was to USC & Sooners come from weak conference

Music City
Minnesota -3.5 vs. Virginia: Minnesota – Gophers run through the Cavaliers

Sun
UCLA -3.5 vs. Northwestern: UCLA – UCLA too talented in spite of what you saw in the USC game

Independence
South Carolina -4.5 vs. Missouri: South Carolina – look at the coaching - no contest

Peach
Miami -3.5 vs. LSU: LSU – LSU wins defensive juggernaut 3-2

Car Care
NC St. -6.5 vs. South Florida: South Florida - not just a party school anymore

Liberty
Fresno St. -6.5 vs. Tulsa: Fresno St. – they’ll get it back together

Houston
TCU -3.5 vs. Iowa St.: TCU – 10-1 for a reason + ISU can’t win big ones – catch Aaron Romano #45 on the sideline

Cotton
Texas Tech -2.5 vs. Alabama: Alabama – I’ll take defense over offense

Outback
Florida -2.5 vs. Iowa: Iowa – only cause I love the Hawks & Ferentz is dangerous with 1.5 months to prepare – catch Joel Gentile #22 on the sideline

Gator
Virginia Tech -7.5 vs. Louisville: Virginia Tech – Cardinal QB is out + VT defense is outstanding

Capital One
Auburn -10.5 vs. Wisconsin: Wisconsin – easy & cheesy to send Barry out in style & Camp Randall into a frenzy

Fiesta
Ohio St. -4.5 vs. Notre Dame: Notre Dame – my heart says ND, that’s why deep down I’m worried

Sugar
Georgia -8.5 vs. West Virginia: West Virginia – W. Virginia is much better with the new QB

Orange
Penn St. -8.5 vs. Florida St.: Penn St. – Jo Pa. outlasts Bobby Bo. in this game, then retires

Rose
USC -7.5 vs. Texas: USC - in a big time blowout – let the greatest All-Time Team comparisons ensue

Catch you around the 1st for my 2006 resolutions, predictions, & wish list!

Charlie