Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Last Ember


Reading is FUNdamental


This week's book took me from Rome to Jerusalem and back again.

You've got Jews, Catholics and Muslims all battling for a historical/archaeological treasure that was lost 2,000 years ago but where?

If you like lots of Latin, religious history and even the Nazis sprinkled into a novel, then this might be just the book for you.

As usual, my Catholic Church takes a bit of a beating in this one.

We're used to it.

Monday, November 28, 2011

CFL Legends Luncheon Skirmish


Joe Kapp - Quarterback
University of California
British Columbia Lions 1961-66

Angelo Mosca - Defensive Tackle
University of Notre Dame
Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1958-59 and 1963-72

As a follow-up to my previous post about the Canadian Football League's 99th Grey Cup Game, you need to click on the website below for a bizarre sequence at the CFL's Legends Luncheon last Friday.

Joe Kapp, 73 years old, was the B.C. Lions' QB in the 1963 Grey Cup. Their opponents that year were the Hamilton Tiger-Cats led by Defensive Tackle Angelo Mosca.

Apparently Mosca, now 74 years old, had a questionable/late hit on Kapp's teammate Willie Fleming. Fleming, the Lions best running back, was knocked out of the game with a concussion by Mosca's hit. Many believed that that was the turning point of the game.

The Tiger-Cats went on to win the 1963 Grey Cup by a score of 21-10.

I guess that it is sometimes really hard to get over a loss, take a look at this video clip:


Grey Cup Finals


Amidst all of the great high school, college and NFL football games played over the long Thanksgiving Day weekend, you may have missed that on Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Canadian Football League's Championship game, the 99th Grey Cup, was being contested.


Now you may ask why I find this CFL game of interest so, let us flashback to Friday night, August 5, 2011 . . .

Grandpa and Kevin watching their
first football game together

The Tank was only two days old and an obscure regular season CFL game was on TV in Las Vegas, the British Columbia Lions (0-5) at the Saskatchewan Roughriders (1-4). Still, it was football and it is never too early to start young boy on the road to football mania.

We watched as the winless Lions pulled off a 24-11 victory to finally enter the win column after six games. No big deal you would think.

Now, lets fast forward to yesterday and the . . .

2011 CFL Championship Game

So who was playing? It was . . .

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (11-8)
CFL Eastern Division Champions
vs.

The British Columbia Lions (12-7)
CFL Western Division Champions

Yes indeed, after that miserable 0-5 start to their season, the B.C. Lions went 12-2 to earn a spot in the Grey Cup.

Unfortunately, they had lost both games this season to the Blue Bombers by scores of 25-20 in Week #5 and again in Week #7, 30-17.

Sunday would be a different day for the streaking Lions as they dominated Winnipeg in winning the Grey Cup by a final tally of 34-23.

Was it a coincidence that the Lions fortunes changed drastically after Tank saw them play on that Friday night, his first ever football game?

Gibbs does not believe in coincidence and neither do I.

It was the sixth Grey Cup Championship in B.C. Lions' history having previously won it all in 1964, 1985, 1994, 2000 and 2006.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Thanksgiving


As I have said in every blogpost about this most American of holidays, Thanksgiving is ALL about family, football and food . . . but not necessarily in that order.

As for family, it was bittersweet as it would mark our first Thanksgiving since both Bill and Florene Gardner passed away.

They were missed.

Of course, the joy of sharing little Kevin's first Thanksgiving was fun.

We also had a chuckle as we watched Vanessa waddling around with "a baby boy to be named later."

As I said, bittersweet but . . .

"THE DOCTOR WAS IN THE HOUSE!!!"

GOD THIS WAS GOOD!!!

My sister Linda has become one of America's great Thankgiving Day chefs, PERIOD!!!

This turkey was her best ever and, no, I have no idea where those two missing strips of bacon went.

Linda with her sous chef Michael

Everybody tends to crowd
into the kitchen on this day

The Tables were set . . .

. . . and the food was ready!

The food was incredible and I didn't overeat for once!

As for family, everyone took their turn in meeting the Tank for the first time.

With Great Granmother Chuny

With Uncle Mike watching
the Cowboys nose out the Dolphins

With our niece Lauren

This makes them???

Meeting my sister Marilyn and Aunt Katie

Thursday was over and we can't begin to say how much fun we all had.

Steve Swindle

Steve is a former player of ours from days together at Thousand Oaks H.S. in the early 1970's.

One of the nice things about this four day American holiday weekend is the chance to visit with friends. Steve stopped by our house to drop off an autographed copy of a new novel by Barnaby Conrad.

The book is titled "The Second Life of John Wilkes Booth" and I can't wait to read it after I finish my current tome.

It is truly a small world as Steve has come to know Mr. Conrad personally and as a youth I devoured Conrad's book "La Fiesta Brava."

This was Conrad's quintessential book about the controversial world of bullfighting.

For me, it was the mini-bible for a Spanish tradition that both my Grandfather Evaristo and Father Jorge loved. Their passion for bullfighting which was passed on to me, was fueled by Conrad's book and one of my goals for this summer is to witness a corrida in Madrid's Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas.

I have read La Fiesta Brava more than once.

After watching the Lions-Packers, Cowboys-Dolphins, Ravens-49ers and Texas-Texas A&M games on Thursday, we needed more football on Friday!

Let's see now, on Friday we were able to tune in to the LSU-Arkansas, Pitt-West Virginia, Colorado-Utah, Cal-Arizona State and Houston-Tulsa games. WOW!

Today, we had to say goodbye to Kevin as he headed down to Orange County as Jenn and Andy introduced him to even more family before heading home to Las Vegas.

But first, we went to Cronies Sports Grill for breakfast to enjoy their famous Breakfast Burrito. It was good as usual and we even ran into our good friend Debi Murphy and her son Ian.

More introductions.

With Michigan Fan Debi Murphy

Hey, it's Saturday, that means COLLEGE GAMEDAY!!!

First up was on the old TV for us today was Michigan-Ohio State followed by Oregon-Oregon State.

I am about to sign off before the Apple Cup game between Washington and Washington State. If I can still watch more football, it will be Notre Dame-Stanford and UCLA-USC after we beat the Cougars!

Meanwhile, in high school football this weekend . . .

2011 Western Division Playoffs

Quarter-Final Playoff Results:
Culver City 51 - Righetti 28
Santa Monica 29 - #4 seed Ventura 24
#3 seed Chaminade 31 - San Luis Obispo 27
#2 seed Arroyo Grande 49 - St. Francis 28

Semi-Final Games:
Friday, December 2nd
Santa Monica (11-1) Ocean League #1 at
Culver City (9-3) Ocean League Wild Card

#3 seed Chaminade (10-2) Mission League #2 at
#2 seed Arroyo Grande (11-1) PAC-7 League #1

Are you serious?
They are all related to me?
REALLY?


Great Granndma Chuny with Kevin

In a somewhat unrelated matter,
GO DAWGS!!!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Leopard


Reading is FUNdamental

Another Great Mystery

Jo Nesbø.

Note the dropping of the "Ø" in his surname in the English language edition of this excellent mystery yarn that takes us from Hong Kong to the Congo and finally to Oslo.

It is Detective Harry Hole of the Oslo Crime Squad at his finest and, unfortunately, darkest.

If you decide to get into Nesbø's Dectective Harry Hole series, then I advise you to read these excellent mystery novels in order.

I didn't.

Trying to read this series in sequential order does have a glitch, the first two books have still not been translated from Norwegian into English nor has the latest tome.

Here is the sequential order that you should be attempting:
1. The Bat Man - not available in the USA
2. The Cockroaches - not available in the USA
3. The Redbreast
4. Nemesis - I still have not been able to find this one at my local library
5. The Devil's Star
6. The Redeemer
7. The Snowman
8. The Leopard
9. Phantom - not available in the USA

I have finished The Redbreast, The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, The Snowman and The Leopard. Each one has been a fascinating tour of man's dark psyche.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

The Beach Bowl


2011 Beach Bowl

On Saturday night I joined Ryan Bolland at the Ventura College Sportsplex for the 2011 Beach Bowl sponsored by Joe Kapp Real Estate.

This was a Junior College football bowl game that brought the local J.C. season to a close. The game featured the host Ventura College Pirates (6-4) against the College of the Desert Roadrunners (6-4).

The Pirates were ranked #7 in Southern California while the Roadrunners were ranked #10.

COD, which is located in Palm Desert, featured an outstanding offense that averaged 39.1 points per game and 433.1 yards per game in the regular season.

VC would counter with a strong defense that allows only 86.1 yards rushing per game and 22.9 points per game.

It was my first time at VC's new Sportsplex which, as it turns out, is a very nice facility. I woofed down a delicious tri-tip sandwich and a Diet Coke and I was ready for some football!

VC QB Chase Smith outrunning
COD LB Michael Mehling

As fortune would have it, this turned into a low scoring affair. Both defenses played well with VC Defensive Line Coach Ted Lawrence's big boys applying lots of pressure to minimize the Roadrunners' offensive output. This group racked up 5 sacks on the night, incredible considering that COD had only allowed 8 sacks in the previous 10 games!

Former Rio Mesa H.S. player and coach Tom Lawrence is the Special Teams Coach for the Pirates. His players also played very well including blocking a punt to aid the VC cause.

The Pirates were able to keep COD off of the scoreboard for the last 27 minutes of the game on their way winning the Beach Bowl.

The final score of this entertaining, hard fought game was Ventura 17 - Desert 16.

2011 NCAA Division III Playoffs

Meanwhile, in the NCAA Division III football playoffs, a first round game in McMinnville, Oregon was played between #8 California Lutheran (8-1) and #5 Linfield (9-0).

This was the third straight season that these two West Coast powerhouses have met in the opening playoff contest with Linfield being victorious in 2009 and 2010. Back in September, in the Pacific Northwest, Linfield handed CLU their only loss of the 2011 season 24-14.

Unfortunately, the Kingsmen's luck did not change yesterday as the Wildcats eeked out another close win over CLU. The final score was Linfield 30 - CLU 27.

Linfield (10-0) will now play the state of Delaware's #7 ranked Wesley Wolverines (10-1). Wesley beat New York state's Hobart Statesmen (7-2) 35-28 in their first round match-up yesterday.

It came down to this

Here Linfield's Tyler Steele breaks the hearts of Kingsmen fans by blocking CLU's last second, 38 yard, game tying field goal attempt.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Playoff Friday


It was a clear, crisp Autumn Friday night, a perfect night for the first round of the 2011 C.I.F. Western Division football playoffs!

I had our son Michael with me and a C.I.F. pass in hand, good for two free entries into any and all playoff games. It would come in handy as it turned out.

After talking about which game to go see, we decided that the place to be was Ventura H.S.

On paper it looked like the best match-up as the host, #4 seeded, Channel League Champion Cougars were a perfect 10-0 and the San Gabriel Valley League's Wild Card Dominguez H.S. Dons were a solid 7-3 going into the contest.

Unfortunately for the Dons, you don't play games on paper.

Ventura RB Connor Armstrong

Funky facemask.

He has been torching teams all season long with his running abilities and Dominguez, who had a GREAT Grambling University style band by the way, would get lit up quickly as well.

In the first quarter Armstrong had TD runs of 76 and 47 yards. Those scores were sandwiched around a 72 yard TD strike from QB Rodney Stanley to WR Nick Rudolph.

The score was 21-0, when there was still 5 minutes left in the first quarter and I hadn't even opened up my bag of peanuts yet.

Dominguez looked totally helpless and the rout was on.

Brad Steward and Phil McCune

Brad is Ventura's Head Coach and Phil is his Defensive Coordinator, two of the good guys. They and the rest of the Cougar staff did a tremendous job preparing the team on this night.

Mike and I decided to do something that we had never done before, i.e., leave a game that was really over with, as I said, with 5 minutes left in the first quarter, to go watch another game that would hopefully be more competitive.

We opted to drive to the game at Camarillo H.S. where the Pacific View League Champion Scorpions (7-3) were hosting the PAC-7 League's Wild Card San Luis Obispo Tigers (7-3).

By the way, the final score at VHS was Ventura 41 - Dominguez 14.

Scorpion QB Travis Valdez under duress

When we arrived at Camarillo's stadium, it was halftime and San Luis Obispo was leading 20-7.

In the third period, the SLO offensive line simply dominated as the Tigers ran their option offense to perfection in scoring 3 TDs after returning the second half kickoff for a TD. The SLO defensive front showed no mercy as they harassed the Scorpions' QB.

SLO led 48-7 after three periods.

Camarillo's offense came alive in the fourth quarter, in part due to the Tigers clearing the bench. The final score was San Luis Obispo 54 - Camarillo 28.

The Pacific View League's other team in the playoffs, Channel Islands lost their game 28-20 to Santa Monica.

The 2011 season is over for the PVL, much too soon for the good of the league.

2011 Western Division Playoffs

First Round Playoff Game Results:
Culver City 21 - #1 seed Serra 14
Righetti 31 - Downey 24
Santa Monica 28 - Channel Islands 20
#4 seed Ventura 41 - Dominguez 14

#3 seed Chaminade 45 - Inglewood 15
San Luis Obispo 54 - Camarillo 28
St. Francis 45 - Paramount 28
#2 seed Arroyo Grande 41 - Dos Pueblos 6

Quarter-Final Playoff Games:
Friday, November 25th
Righetti (8-3) PAC-7 League #2 at
Culver City (8-3) Ocean League Wild Card

#4 Ventura (11-0) Channel League #1 at
Santa Monica (10-1) Ocean League #1

#3 Chaminade (9-2) Mission League #2 at
San Luis Obispo (8-3) PAC-7 League Wild Card

#2 Arroyo Grande (10-1) PAC-7 League #1 at
St. Francis (9-2) Mission League Wild Card

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Weekend at Tank's


We opted to make the five hour drive into the Nevada desert over the weekend via a one hour stop for a great breakfast at Emma Jean's Holland Burger Cafe in Victorville. The reason for the journey was not to visit Sin City's Strip but rather to visit the new North Las Vegas home of our son Andy, his bride Jenn and our grandson, Tank, a.k.a., Kevin.

We found their new home to be in a good neighborhood, near shopping and, above all, spacious and clean.

When we visit them, we rarely go near a casino, we like to spend all of our time visiting with our family, GOOD TIMES INDEED!

Tank and Grandma Laurie

Laurie has wanted this role for a long time, can't blame her, Kevin is so much fun to be with!

He is about 14 pounds now and I think he has broken the magic two foot barrier.

GO DAWGS!!!

The first order of business on Saturday was to watch as many college football games as possible. The main attraction for us was the 6-3 Washington Huskies at the 7-2 USC Trojans.

We were dressed in our Husky best as it would be our first Husky-Trojan game together albeit on TV. It was ugly from the get go, final score USC 40 - UW 17.

BEAT OREGON STATE!!!

Nap Time

Tank decided that the best way to get over the game was to take a nap.

Not a bad idea.

We started with Nebraska-Penn State at 9:00 a.m. and it all the way to the late night Hawaii at Nevada game in Reno. It was great to see former Rio Mesa Spartan QB Shane Austin leading the Hawaii attack. Shane threw for 232 yards and a TD in a 42-28 loss.

GO BROWNS!!!

NFL Sunday, yet another all day football affair starting with Scott Fujita's Cleveland Browns playing the Rams in St. Louis.

Tank was in Brown and Orange ready to roll but again our team tasted the bitter pill of defeat, Rams win 13-12.

A Happy Family

With the holidays upon us we will get to see them a lot more in the next few weeks.

YAHOO!!!

"Don't worry Grandpa, the Dawgs and the Browns will both win next week!"

The innocence of youth.

This Grandpa business is
AWESOME!!!

What has my life come to?

Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Season is Over


Scorpion RB Conrad Kotake with
Spartan TE Ben Quantock

This picture was taken after the Camarillo-Rio Mesa game of course and is a sign of the respect that the two rival football programs have for each other.

One thing I learned a long time ago in football is that you need to take care of business on the field and not let the fates and/or a committee decide your future.

Unfortunately, we didn't take care of business on the field and both the fates and a committee decided that our season and the high school careers of a great group of Seniors were indeed over.

First, the fates.

As we learned on Thursday night soon after our Camarillo game was over, the three way tie for second place in the Pacific View League was broken via a coin flip. The 7-3 Channel Islands Raiders won the flip that secured them the PVL's second and final guaranteed Western Division playoff spot. At the same time a similar coin flip in the San Gabriel Valley League to break up a three way logjam for first place saw two 5-5 teams, Paramount and Downey, win the #1 and #2 seeds respectively from their league thus placing 7-3 Dominguez into the pool of potential Wild Card schools. The potential Wild Card pool also swelled due to 5-5 Inglewood coming in second in the Ocean League with 7-3 Culver City thus being slotted into the battle for one of the four Wild Card bids.

Now for the committee.

As we saw it, seven teams were in the hunt for the four Wild Card spots. The clear cut leader was St. Francis with an 8-2 record. The other six teams (Culver City, Dominguez, Gahr, Rio Mesa, San Luis Obispo and St. Paul) all shared identical 7-3 records.

At 8:00 a.m. today the C.I.F. announced the list of Wild Cards. The words Rio Mesa did not appear on that list. In were Culver City, Dominguez, San Luis Obispo and St. Francis.

Understandable but still very heart breaking . . .

The 2011 C.I.F. Western Division playoffs will start this coming Friday and will continue each Friday through December 9th when a champion is crowned.

The playoff brackets are:

Culver City (7-3) Ocean League Wild Card at
Serra (8-2) Mission League #1

Downey (5-5) San Gabriel Valley League #2 at
Righetti (7-3) PAC-7 League #2

Channel Islands (7-3) Pacific View League #2 at
Santa Monica (9-1) Ocean League #1

Dominguez (7-3) San Gabriel Valley Wild Card at
Ventura (10-0) Channel League #1

Inglewood (5-5) Ocean Lerague #2 at
Chaminade (8-2) Mission League #2

San Luis Obispo (7-3) PAC-7 League Wild Card at
Camarillo (7-3) Pacific View League #1

St. Francis (8-2) Mission League Wild Card at
Paramount (5-5) San Gabriel Valley League #1

Dos Pueblos (3-7) Channel League #2 at
Arroyo Grande (9-1) PAC-7 League #1

NUTS.

Friday, November 11, 2011

The Big Game: Rio Mesa at Camarillo


THE BIG GAME
For the Title . . .
For the Bragging Rights.

The thoughts and colors listed above were printed on the cover of the souvenir game program and summed up yet another clash between

Rio Mesa Spartans
3-1 PVL, 7-2 Overall
at
Camarillo Scorpions
4-0 PVL, 6-3 Overall

This would be the 37th meeting between the two crosstown rivals and as usual a title and bragging rights were indeed on the line. The rivalry started in 1975 and the Scorpions led this hard fought series 19-17.

The great thing about this game annually is that it is not a bitter rivalry. Don't get me wrong, the bragging rights are an intense thing to deal with but the players and coaches respect each other and that usually leads to a cleanly played, intense game.

The 2011 edition would be no different and turned into a classic as the evening unfolded.

Let's set up the pre-game match-ups.

Even though the Scorpions already had at least a share of the 2011 Pacific View League championship in hand, Rio Mesa was ranked ahead of them in this week's C.I.F. Western Division poll. The Spartans were ranked 11th while the Scorpions were ranked 13th out of the 36 teams in the Western Division.

The two squads were experiencing offensive success with contrasting styles.

Camarillo's offense ranks #4 in the county averaging 37.6 points per game while Rio Mesa's offense ranks #12 in the county scoring at a rate of 28.3 points per contest.

On defense, the Spartans give up 21.0 points per game, good for the county's #11 spot while the Scorpion's defense checks in at #20 allowing 28.8 points per game.

The Spartans like to keep the clock running with their ground game. Jordan Nunnery entered the game as the #5 rusher in Ventura County (31 schools) with 1,044 yards on the season. Tanner Wrout was ranked #13 having run the ball for 683 yards. In contrast, Camarillo's leading rusher was Conrad Kotake with 595 yards.

The Scorpions love to pass the ball and have used two QBs this year due to injury. Their current QB who was hurt and missed many of the pre-season games is Travis Valdez, a Junior. Valdez is Ventura County's #1 passer, having completed 69.8% of his 162 passes for 1,999 yards and 29 TDs. Camarillo's other QB, Michael Marin, is a Sophomore who has completed 66.4% of his 152 passes for 1,071 yards and 9 TDs. Marin ranks #17 in the county passing statistics. Rio Mesa's QB is Trent Thornton who has played very well for us within the confines of our run oriented offensive scheme. Trent has completed 52.7 % of his passes for 707 yards and 6 TDs.

One of Camarillo's outstanding weapons is their Senior wide receiver Jake Maulhardt who is 6'7" tall and weighs in at a solid 215 lbs. He is the state of California's all-time leading pass catcher with 208 career grabs. In his stellar career, Maulhardt has 23 TD catches and 2,759 yards . . . WOW! This season he has 105 catches, 1,465 yards and 14 TDs. He also set another state record for most catches in a game earlier this year against Canyon H.S. when he caught 28 passes -- yes, TWENTY-EIGHT, passes! With our game and at least one playoff game left in the Camarillo season, Maulhardt only needs 18 more catches for the receiving Trifecta, i.e., the single season state record of 122 catches. An amazing player to say the very minimum.

The Scorpions have another standout receiver in Conrad Kotake who I already mentioned was their leading rusher. Kotake has hauled in 51 passes for 935 yards and 19TDs. This ranks him as the #2 receiver in the county behind only his teammate Jake Maulhardt. Kotake's 23 TDs and 140 total points scored ranks him #1 in the county while the Spartans' Jordan Nunnery is #6 with 96 points.

As for the stakes, they were simple. If Rio Mesa wins, then the two squads would be co-champs with the Spartans entering the playoffs next week as the league's #1 seed and Camarillo earning the #2 seed. If this happened and Channel Islands beat Hueneme then C.I., at 7-3, would be a viable candidate for a Wild Card berth in the C.I.F.'s Western Division playoffs.

If Camarillo won then things would get iffy at best for Rio Mesa. This scenario leaves the Scorpions as the PVL's #1 team and, coupled with expected Channel Islands and Oxnard wins, a coin flip for the league's #2 seed would be needed.

We did not want it to come down to a coin flip.

GAME TIME!

Jordan Nunnery is a WARRIOR!!!

As expected, he was magnificent on the night as he played his heart out, as did the rest of the Spartans. Part of the mantra for the week was to leave it all out on the field, and leave no stone unturned in our quest for a victory.

Jordan led the way with 26 carries for 145 yards and 2 rushing TDs. He also caught 3 passes for another 24 yards, returned a kickoff for 90 yards for a TD and was in on 2 tackles.

Conrad Kotake

While we were able to keep the Scorpions great receiver Jake Maulhardt under wraps most of the evening (4 catches for 51 yards), we were not able to stop Kotake. He came through with 145 yards rushing and made several key catches throughout the night.

At the end of the first quarter, Camarillo led 13-7.

Bizarre Play

In the second quarter, at the end of one of our runs, our back fumbled the ball as you see in this picture. As you can see, the pigskin is behind the Scorpion defenders and they have no idea that that precious ball is there for the taking!

Suddenly, out of nowhere . . .

Ben Quantock to the rescue!!!

Ben was in position to see the ball, scooped it up and raced 56 lonely yards by himself for a TD! The other 21 players on the field were still amassed back at the 44 yard line trying to figure out what just happened.

At the half, Rio Mesa led 27-20.

Corbin Corvey

Who? I didn't mention his game in the pre-game write-up but he was destined to become one of those unknown players who always tend to make a name for themselves in the BIG GAME. He made a spectacular 39 yard TD catch to go along with his other 6 catches and a total of 125 yards.

I should mention the great job that Spartan back-up fullback Matt Espinoza did in the second half replacing Tanner Wrout who was injured late in the first half and would not return to action. Matt blocked exceptionally well, caught a 15 yard pass and contributed 24 yards on the ground including a 5 yard TD run.

Trent Thornton for SIX!

Trent is our QB and is another "Program Guy." He has shown great mental and physical toughness over his four years at Rio Mesa and played lights out for RMHS on this night.

Here we see him on his only carry of the night, a 2 yard QB sneak. He came up big for the Spartans having the best night of his career in completing 11 of his 15 passes for 146 yards.

I'm very proud of Trent's effort and contributions on this night.

After three periods it was Rio Mesa 37-34.

Barnburner.

QB Travis Valdez

He played at the level that I expected and that would not be a good thing for the Spartans.

The fourth quarter would continue to be a scoring derby as Camarillo mounted a 99 yard TD drive after a great Ben Quantock "Coffin Corner" punt. That score gave the Scorpions a 48-44 lead with 1:24 left in the game.

Trent Thornton led us us smoothly and efficiently down the field as the clock ran down to two seconds with the ball on the Camarillo 5 yard line.

The game was on the line on this one last play of a wild game. What more could you ask for?

Unfortunately for us, the Scorpions stopped us short of the end zone and the win and Pacific View League title were both theirs.

Final score, Camarillo 48 - Rio Mesa 44.

I was proud of both teams. It was another, great, hard fought, intense, clean game between two squads with lots of mutual respect.

As for the rest of our season, the fates were not kind to us this year. Channel Islands and Oxnard both won there games creating a three-way tie for second place. Channel Islands won the coin flip and thus won the league's second automatic bid into the playoffs.

That leaves us having to apply for one of the playoffs four Wild Card bids and hoping that the selection committee picks us from a group of seven Wild Card possible squads, one at 8-2 on the season and the other six of us all at 7-3. We'll find out on Sunday if we made the cut.

Week #10 Results: BOLD = RM Opponents
Pacific View League Games:
Camarillo 48 - Rio Mesa 44
Oxnard 56 - Pacifica 55
Channel Islands 44 - Hueneme 0

Channel League Games:
Dos Pueblos 28 - San Marcos 0
Santa Barbara 35 - Buena 7
BYE: Ventura

Jordan Nunnery is a WARRIOR!!!

Did I mention this earlier?

I would really like to have the opportunity to coach this group of young men one more time. We'll see on Sunday when the play-off brackets are announced.

For more on the Camarillo game, click on this link to the Ventura County Star's post game article and their video of the game:

2011 C.I.F.-Southern Section
Western Division Playoffs

The regular season is now over and the C.I.F.-S.S. Playoffs pairings will be announced this Sunday, as I said, with the playoffs set to start next Friday.

The Pacific View League, as well as the Channel League, will send teams to the C.I.F.-S.S. Western Division Playoffs.

The Western Division is made up of six leagues with a total of 36 schools.

The top two teams in each league get automatic bids into the playoffs. After these 12 teams earn their playoff bids, the C.I.F.-S.S. will then select four Wild Card teams to round out the 16 team bracket. The playoff is a single elimination, four week affair.

The final standings in the six Western Division leagues are as follows. Where a two way tie exists, head-to-head competition is the first tie breaker. If there is a three way tie, a coin flip is used to break the log jam if no clear winner comes out of the head-to-head scenario.

Teams in bold black are in the playoffs by virtue of earning one of the league's two guaranteed spots. The seven teams in bold red are in contention for one of the four Wild Card berths in the playoffs.

Pacific View League Standings:
Camarillo 5-0 PVL, 7-3
Channel Islands 3-1, 7-3
Oxnard 3-2, 5-5
Rio Mesa 3-2, 7-3
Pacifica 1-4, 3-7
Hueneme 0-5, 2-8

Channel League Standings:
Ventura 4-0 CL, 10-0 overall
Dos Pueblos 3-1, 3-7
Santa Barbara 2-2, 5-5
Buena 1-3, 2-8
San Marcos 0-4, 1-9

Mission League Standings:
Serra 5-0 ML, 8-2 overall
Chaminade 4-1, 8-2
St. Francis 3-2, 8-2
St. Paul 2-3, 7-3
Harvard-Westlake 1-4, 5-5
Cathedral 0-5, 3-7

Ocean League Standings:
Santa Monica 5-0 OL, 9-1 overall
Inglewood 4-1, 5-5
Culver City 3-2, 7-3
Beverly Hills 1-4, 2-8
Hawthorne 1-4, 5-5
Morningside 1-4, 4-6

PAC-7 League Standings:
Arroyo Grande 6-0 PL, 9-1 overall
Righetti 4-2, 7-3
San Luis Obispo 4-2, 7-3
Atascadero 3-3, 6-4
Pioneer Valley 2-4, 5-5
Paso Robles 2-4, 3-7
St. Joseph 0-6, 3-7

San Gabriel Valley League Standings:
Paramount 4-1 SGVL, 5-5 overall
Downey 4-1, 5-5
Dominguez 4-1, 7-3
Gahr 2-3, 7-3
Warren 1-4, 1-8-1
Lynwood 0-5, 2-8