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2nd San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl :
Horned Frogs prevail as college bowl season kicks off
St. Augustine grad Brian Cortney boosts TCU to win

Updated Dec. 26, 2006
The second annual San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl had the distinction of kicking off the 2006-07 major college bowl schedule on Dec. 19 and, while no service academy team participated this year, the game between the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs and the Northern Illinois University Huskies hoped to build on the bowl game’s short history.

TCU won 37-7 in front of a crowd of 29,709.

“Who wouldn’t want to be in San Diego in December?” Northern Illinois head coach Joe Novak said. “It’s a great city with great weather, and it’s a great sports town.”

Northern Illinois, which competes in the Mid-America Conference, entered the game with a 7-5 record and also with the NCAA’s rushing leader, Garrett Wolfe, who had gained 1,900 yards to rank 11th all-time on the NCAA career rushing list.

But it was the Horned Frogs defense that ranked nationally in the top 10 in several categories that shut down Wolfe, holding him to just 28 yards ― well below his season average of 158 yards.

Meanwhile, TCU quarterback Jeff Ballard, who ranked fifth on Horned Frogs’ all-time career passing list with 3,946 yards, received the bowl game’s Most Valuable Offensive Player award after rushing for three touchdowns and passing for another. Ballard threw for 258 passing yards and scored on runs of 10, 1 and 6 yards. He tossed a six-yard scoring pass to tight end Brent Hecht.

TCU’s Lonta Hobbs rushed for 106 yards and one score. Chris Manfredini booted a 25-yard field goal to give the Texans a 16-0 halftime lead.

Horned Frogs defensive end Tommy Blake, who had two sacks in the game, earned recognition as the game’s Defensive MVP.

TCU, which finished 6-2 in Mountain West Conference play and ended the season 11-2 overall, dominated the game ― out-gaining the Huskies 456-60 in total offensive yards and 23 to five in first downs.

Among the victorious Horned Frogs was punter Bryan Cortney, a 2002 graduate of St. Augustine High School. Cortney had three punts in the contest for 98 yards, including two inside the NIU 20-yard line. He played for current Saints coach Jerry Ralph, reaching the CIF finals his junior year.

"That school is a blast," Cortney said in referenced to St. Augustine, which captured this year's San Deigo Section Division III championship title.

Current NFL Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson earned back-to-back MVP honors for the Horned Frogs in 1999-2000. He was present for the game, as was fellow Chargers running back Michael Turner, a NIU alumnus. Both had a friendly bet going, with the loser wearing the winner’s college jersey around the NFL team’s headquarters.

Besides the football game, this year’s Poinsettia Bowl also featured a smorgasbord of community awards. Santee’s Alyssa Pratt, a student at Carlton Oaks School, had the honor of serving as the honorary captain of TCU while representing the Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego. Also from Santee, Hayden Schilling received one of two most inspirational awards handed out to youth football players.

The second annual Parade of Wishes, presented by Viejas, kicked off the festivities. The on-field parade spotlighted the Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego and its mission statement of granting the wishes of children with life threatening medical conditions, thereby “enriching the human experience with hope, strength and joy.”

The foundation received $1 for every ticket sold at this year’s game and the donation on the part of the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl will be used to grant wishes to children who are battling life-threatening illnesses.

Viejas also presented a check for $5,000 to the Make-A-Wish organization.

The game pitting the second-place finisher in the Mountain West Conference (TCU) against an at-large opponent (NIU) might not have carried the luster of last year’s matchup between the Midshipmen and the Rams and may have seemed to drag on too long at times, but the health of the new bowl game seems assured, according to executive director Bruce Binkowski.

That’s especially good news from the community standpoint ― as giving back to the community is something the Poinsettia Bowl seems to have made its mission statement thus far.

Teen-age singers and performers from around the county participated in national anthem ceremonies while halftime ceremonies spotlighted youth football cheer squads from throughout the region.

The Kiwanis Clubs of San Diego made a donation of $10,000 through the SDSU Cirlce K Club's Kiwanis Doctors Program earmarked for Children’s Hospital.

The San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum also made a presentation honoring its prep football stars of the month for October and November. Among those spotlighted were four players honored as stars of the month during the 2006 season: Point Loma's Lester Arnold, St. Augustine's Chris Forcier, Castle Park's Boogie Blossom and Torrey Pines' Blake Vanderwiel.

While this year's attendance did not quite measure up to the 36,842 fans who attended the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl pitting Navy and Colorado State, Binkowski said the numbers were encouraging for the bowl game, still very much in its infancy.

“We had 36,000 fans the first year and all that was due to Navy,” Binkowski said. “This year our ticket sales (to the two schools) were pushing 40,000. We’ll be happy if we get 30,000 in the stadium.”

Binkowski said more emphasis will be placed on building up the bowl game's local ticket sales, as well as trying to attract another service academy team.