For the second year in a row, Mack wins Silver Bowl

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Photos by Silvia Cardona-Tapia and Ashley Stills

with stats and play-by-play  from MaxPreps and Oakland Tribune

by Silvia Cardona-Tapia

Despite a younger team (only 7 seniors) and a close first half (score tied at 13-13), the McClymonds Warriors  scored three touchdowns in the second half to win the Silver Bowl Friday over Skyline by 33-19.

This was the second consecutive Silver Bowl victory  to which quarterback Eddie Heard  led the Mack team. The team finished 9-2.

Senior running back Harold Halcomb III ran for 162 years and two touchdowns including the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter, according to news reports.

After that play, Skyline attempted a lateral, which was fumbled and recovered by Mack’s Jason Brooks for a touchdown, stretching the lead to 25-13. A similar play led to a  40-yard run and touchdown by Lovell Samuels, making the score 33-13. Coming off the field, the Warriors were all smiles. One said, “We got this game.”

But Skyline quarterback Jamal Mayo managed to run for a touchdown, his second in the game, to make the score 33-19. The game ended with another interception by Eddie Heard.

Several Mack grads who had played football rushed onto the field, including Denzale Johnson, now a freshman at the University of California at Berkeley. Johnson was part of last year’s squad  finished the season undefeated 12-0, with the only other school to do so, Skyline in 1997.

“Feels good to watch Mack win. That’s what we’re here for,” said Johnson.

“Skyline has a great program, they came prepared.  Now we are going to enjoy the victory, come February it’s back to the weight room, ” said Coach Curtis McCauley.

McClymonds has won four of the past six championship games and adds another Silver Bowl title to its collection of six, second behind Skyline, which holds 16 titles.

OccupyCal: A Mack Grad Protests and Speaks Out

copyright photo by SF Chronicle

Denzale Johnson, 2011 valedictorian, Mack football player and freshman at UC Berkeley,  was in a San Francisco Chronicle photo of a  demonstration on campus with OccupyCal. He comments:

“I want to educate my friends. I was there to protest an economic system that is corrupted and flawed. It’s a big issue: that 1 percent of the population is accumulating wealth, while 99 percent suffer.

“Tuition is going up 81 percent and it’ll be harder for my younger siblings to have access to a UC. The whole student body was out there. If we don’t step up, who will change the system?

“Mack helped me articulate my position, speak up for myself.”

“It wasn’t my first time [at a protest this year]. I stood out there in the affirmation protest against the Bake Sale [racist sale of cookies for reduced prices], lay out in black in front of Sproul Plaza, letting them know that they can’t walk over us.”

COLLECTED BY MACKSMACK STAFF

DeSean Jackson talks about Crenshaw, bullies and achievement

by Pamela Tapia

Nobody knew the “back story”: how McClymonds “won” an assembly with DeSean Jackson, Cal’s beloved star, now 24 and a wide receiver with the Philadelphia Eagles.

It was tweeted and Facebooked, announced and whispered and then, he was there.

Wearing jeans, a light blue Superman T-shirt, earrings, and a beaded necklace, Jackson dominated the room.

“He the man” said Shaquille Jackson, a freshman at Mack (no relation to DeSean).

The football star spoke from the heart, talking about his tough childhood living in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles. He mentioned the violence that he witnessed as a kid and remembered friends he lost to crime in that area. He also touched on the subject of poverty and making a promise to his family about “making it big.”

“My mother doesn’t work for anybody. She works for me now,” said Jackson.

Jackson turned to a more serious tone when he explained that bullying was one of the reasons why he got involved in football.

“Where the bullies at?” said Jackson, who is 5-foot-10.

Eddie Heard, standing 6 feet 4 inches tall and quarterback for the McClymonds football team, jokingly stood up as the crowd chanted his name.

“He’s the biggest bully here,” said Dalvin Guy, a sophomore.

Jackson snickered as Heard sat down. He regained the crowd’s attention by assuring the group that “bullying doesn’t pay the bills.”

Jackson explained the dangers of bullying and mentioned his meeting with a victim of bullying on the show “The View.” He described that the 13-year-old victim was bullied by a group of seven teenagers and one of the offenders filmed the entire assault.

Jackson introduced his brother Byron Jackson, former San Jose State University wide receiver, who spoke about achievements in both of their lives.

“Desire. Principle. Belief. Power. With these principles you can achieve what you want,” said Byron Jackson.

Byron Jackson then showed a film about DeSean Jackson’s football career. The film calmed down the excited students, and ended with an image of Jackson’s loss to the Green Bay Packers in the 2011 playoff game.

“Don’t let anybody tell you can’t do it,” said Jackson.

Mack students apply for Obama to speak at graduation

by Pamela Tapia

“Obama at graduation!”

That cry rang through the hallway. Enthusiasm. Excitement, Hope.

“That’s what we need to keep us motivated as young Black men,” said Josh Walters, a senior at McClymonds.

Last Friday, McClymonds students worked hard on deadline to submit their official application to the White House to have President Barack Obama speak at the graduation for the class  of 2011 on June 16.

Students were literally speechless and astonished when a group of students announced that they had applied for President Obama to speak at graduation.

There is no official count, but at least 464 other high schools across the nation have applied. No other Oakland high school is believed to have applied.

The essays included a section on how teachers prepare you in academics, why your school deserves to win and how McClymonds prepares students for college and careers.

Students focused on their involvement in the community, which is predominantly Black and low-income, especially its advocacy for environmental justice. The school was featured in Newsweek Magazine and recently won an award from the Environmental Protection Agency. Senior Terranisha Nathaniel won the Princeton Prize in Race Relations in 2010 and McClymonds sent its top debater to nationals last year.

In the essays, students also mentioned the school’s consistently winning basketball and football teams. It noted that it is the only high school in the country with two living Presidential Medal of Freedom winners, Bill Russell and Frank Robinson.

“We don’t have the same funding as other schools in the district because of our small size,” the students wrote. “Yet we are the movers and shakers.”

Miami Dade College in Florida has already announced that it will host President Obama as one of their 2011 graduation speakers. Miami Dade’s press release about snagging the nation’s top official doesn’t tell how they did it, but states it is the largest higher education facility in the U.S., with more than 180 countries represented in their student body

Confessions of a Powder Puff football player

by Anonymous

I’m no athlete.

I had only played football in PE. It was fun and exhilarating to have my adrenaline pumping and fly past other girls on the field.

When the head coach asked me to join one of the two “Powder Puff” teams at Mack, I was nervous: I wanted to play, but I’m not used to performing in front of others.

This was the first year we had Powder Puff football at Mack.

And I love it.

Our team is a hodgepodge of non-athletes. We’re not the fastest runners. We don’t have the strongest arms.

Picture this: it’s our first game and we might even have won, if …we hadn’t thrown an interception.

In the second game, we got some help from boys, all football and basketball players. Now that was a funny sight, watching the gazelles running with the rhinos. Too bad we don’t dress up in costume.

At a small school without the fanfare and schedule of events of big schools, Powder Puff is pure fun. It’s an alternative to homecoming. It brings school spirit.

Cougar, Vandal, Husky: Three Mack Athletes Recruited

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by Pamela Tapia

Excitement reigned at Mack today. “Celebratory” was how Cara Johnson, after school coordinator described the signing day festivities at Mack, complete with speeches by coaches and even NFL player Courtney Anderson.

Mack’s top three football prospects officially committed to college teams. It became official: Marcus Peters Jr., 18, the 6’1”, 185 pound cornerback and receiver, committed to the University of Washington Huskies, as he had announced earlier. Two other Mack players also committed to college teams. Offensive lineman Wendell Taiese signed with Washington State and Jeremiah Walters, who made first team of the Oakland Athletic League and had 70 tackles, four sacks and recovered four fumbles this year, will go the the University of Idaho Vandals as a linebacker.