On Friday, our Newbury Park JV Panthers opened the 2014 football season at home against the Birmingham H.S. Patriots from the Los Angeles City Section of the C.I.F.
Our new George Hurley Field
looked GREAT!
Which Panther would earn
The Game Hammer?
Mike and I were still going over
things right before the Kickoff
"HERE COME THE PANTHERS!"
OL/DL Alex Urias earned the honor of carrying out the team's sledgehammer via his hard work beginning back in Spring practices through our Summer workouts and the last three weeks of our Fall camp.
It was . . .
HAMMER TIME!!!
Stalking the sidelines at the
start of my 49th season of coaching
We won the coin toss and opted to defer our choice to the Second Half. We would thus start the 2014 season kicking off and playing defense.
Dario Longhetto
FIRST QUARTER:
Dario boomed the season's first kickoff into the end zone. He would do this again on two more occasions during the contest.
DEFENSE!
Birmingham Ball: Great start for the Defense with our first Three and Out of the campaign. Our Punt Block team came hard and forced a poor punt that only netted Patriots 12 yards.
Newbury Park Ball: Given great field position, the Panthers ripped off an 18 yard run by Kalani Sanchez but a fumble on the next play turned the ball back over to Birmingham at their 14 yard line.
Nick Cellona on the tackle
Daniel "Frenchy" McCoy in pursuit
Birmingham Ball: After a Helmet Hit penalty aided the Patriots' drive, they were forced to punt again. Again our Punt Block team rose to the occasion and forced a nine yard Birmingham punt.
Pressuring a Patriot punt
QB Tyler Hwang
He had a great game, completing 11 of his 17 passes for 256 yards, 3 TDs, 0 Interceptions.
TD!!!
Newbury Park Ball: It took only four plays to put the ball into the end zone as Tyler Hwang hit Ryan Matlock with a 25 yard TD strike. The PAT was good, Panthers 7 - Patriots 0.
PAT Dario Longhetto
He would make all four of his PAT attempts.
#19 Tanner Coolidge
Kickoff Team Demon
Broken Up Pass by Andrew Noble
Andrew played extremely well in all three phases of the game against the Patriots.
#22 Kaiden Raduziner in
Hot Pursuit
Birmingham Ball: Three and Out #2 for the Panther Defense. The Punt Block team was at it again as the memory of the pressure on the Birmingham punter's first two punts lingered and forced him to drop the snap. DE Nathan Zager would recover the punter's fumble 12 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
Punt Block Team
recovering the punter's fumble
Eight Punt Blockers in Action
I'm not sure what four of them are doing on this fumble.
TD Nick Cellona
Newbury Park Ball: It did not take long as Nick Cellona followed a wall of blockers on the first play and found pay-dirt 12 yards later. Dario Longhetto split the uprights again, the Panthers now lead 14-0.
SWARM!
Takedown
Birmingham Ball: The Patriots ran off three plays as the First Quarter came to close with the score still Newbury Park 14 - Birmingham 0.
SECOND QUARTER:
Still Birmingham Ball: The Second Quarter began with Birmingham continuing their drive. On the third play of the new quarter, Austin Matney forced a fumble that Nick Cellona recovered.
Andrew Noble
"To the HOUSE!"
Newbury Park Ball: It only took two plays for Tyler Hwang to hit Andrew Noble with a 55 yard bomb of a TD pass. Longhetto was perfect again on his third PAT attempt,
Panthers 21 - Patriots 0.
DEFENSE!
Birmingham Ball: After giving Birmingham a first down via penalty, the Panthers got their third turnover of the game when Nick Cellona recovered his second fumble of the day.
Nick Cellona's second Fumble Recovery
1-on-1 with Andrew Noble
No thanks.
Kaiden Raduziner scoring the first
TD of his football career
Kaiden is such a talented, hard working athlete, that it was hard to believe that he had never scored a TD before. Predictably, he was pumped!
Newbury Park Ball: It only took three plays before Tyler Hwang found Kaiden Raduziner for a 19 yard TD play. Back-up kicker Cole Thompson made his first PAT attempt of the day. Newbury Park 28 - Birmingham 0.
Kick Off Team
Spencer Thompson #81, Tristan Montes #52, Tanner Coolidge #19 and Mike Estandian #29 all did well today covering kicks.
Andrew Noble Interception
Birmingham Ball: On their first play, the Patriots threw an interception that Andrew Noble gladly accepted.
Newbury Park Ball: An eight play drive ended with a missed Field Goal.
Birmingham Ball: The Patriots had their best drive of the First Half as they reeled off nine plays. The Second Quarter ended with the Patriots at mid-field.
Half Time score: Panthers 28 - Patriots 0
THIRD QUARTER:
Newbury Park Ball: The Panthers started where they left off by covering 74 yards in eight plays with Kalani Sanchez covering the last yard for a TD. Cole Thompson made the PAT, Newbury Park 35 - Birmingham 0.
Up by 35 points in the Second Half, the "Mercy Rule" was put into effect and the rest of the game would be played with a running clock. We were at the 8:08 mark of the Third Quarter when the "Mercy Rule" was invoked.
One of Andrew Noble's
3 Broken Up Passes
Birmingham Ball: The Patriots went for it on Fourth Down at their own 34 yard line. Why? Their Fourth Down pass was double covered and broken up by Ryan Matlock and Andrew Noble.
Panther Game Socks
Nick Cellona
Fashionista
Alex Urias
Pad Under Pad
Kalani Sanchez
6 carries, 46 yards, 1 TD
Sanchez Again
Good Effort by a Flying Patriot
on this PAT
Newbury Park Ball: It took five plays for Newbury Park to score one last time as Nick Cellona carried the ball in from a yard out on the last play of the Third Quarter. Longhetto kicked his last PAT of the day, Panthers 42 - Patriots 0.
Nick Cellona
5 carries, 17 yards, 2 TDs
Back-up Defenders Playing HARD!
FOURTH QUARTER:
Before the start of this final stanza, we had cleared the bench. Getting a chance to see our hard working Scout Team players get some playing time was rewarding as a coach.
Birmingham Ball: Birmingham saved their best for last as they put together an 85 yard scoring drive that ended with a 27 yard TD run by their QB. Their PAT was good, N.P. still led 42-7.
While some coaches get manic when they lose a shutout at the end of a game, I am OK with it as I believe that shutouts are Fascist. At the end of the day, all of our kids got into the game for some significant playing time and Birmingham earned a bit of dignity at the end of what was a long afternoon for them.
Mike Estandian attempting to block
the Patriot PAT
Newbury Park Ball: The clock ran out as Mike Estandian carried the ball on the only play of this drive.
FINAL SCORE:
Newbury Park (1-0) 42 - Birmingham (0-1) 7
Post-Game Talk to a bunch of
Happy Panthers
Final team statistics for the day:
NPHS Offense: 32 plays, 333 yards, 10.4 yards/play, 1 turnover, 42 points
BHS Offense: 40 plays, 77 yards, 1.9 yards/play, 4 turnovers, 7 points
Our Special Teams played very, very well today.
While Birmingham was obviously not a good team on this occasion, we dominated them as we hoped we should. We still have a lot to work to do before we can be considered a good team. Nine NPHS penalties for 100 yards is just not acceptable!
Son Michael with Grandson Jacob
The Game Hammer went to
Andrew Noble
On Offense, Andrew had four catches for 136 yards and a TD.
Defensively, he made two tackles including one behind the line of scrimmage for a two yard loss, broke up three passes and intercepted a pass.
He also returned a punt for six yards and two kickoffs for 24 yards.
Easy choice for the Game Hammer after this game.
Next Game: Newbury Park (1-0) vs. Saugus (1-0) at College of the Canyons, Friday, September 5, 4:00 p.m.
Newbury Park Family Tradition
Ryan Hurley, Mason Williamson
and George Hurley
Ryan does a great job coaching our JV linemen. He played at NPHS when his Father, George, was the Head Coach.
Mason is Ryan's nephew and George's grandson. He plays on the Varsity's defensive line and intercepted a screen pass in their 42-14 win Friday night.
George was the long-time Varsity Head Coach of the Panthers. George was enshrined in the Ventura County Sports Hall-of-Fame due to his illustrious coaching career. He is now retired but still coaches the NPHS Freshman football team. The Freshmen team beat Birmingham 26-6 on Thursday afternoon.
