The Venice Game

Newbury Park Panthers (2-2)
at
Venice Gondoliers (0-3)

Venice has an old-school grass field

LOVE their Gondolier mascot!

LOVE their Gondolier motto!

After a disheartening two week stretch, the Panthers made the long bus ride to Venice for a game with the Los Angeles City Section Gondoliers. We were flying a bit blind as their JV coaches refused to trade videos with us.

At the start of our season, our coaching staff believed that the offensive strength of our team would be our three running backs. Due to injuries, none of those three running backs would suit up for this game. These three key players were joined by three other wounded teammates on the sidelines at Venice H.S. Thus, we only suited out 26 players for the contest against the Gondoliers.

It was a beautiful afternoon for an
American football game

The Pacific Ocean's cool breezes made for comfortable conditions.

Laurie and Mike

Captains Out
#9 Ruben Soria, #24 TJ Davis,
#77 Daniel Weinstein and #68 Nick Krause

Ruben Soria returning
the opening kickoff

Andres Chavarria's first game back
after getting injured in our season opener

TJ Davis in his first start ever as a RB

Normally a WR for the Panthers, TJ filled in admirably in our depleted RB situation.

TJ would score two TDs on the day

QB Sneak + Wedge Blocking =
FIRST DOWN!!!

Venice did a good job
on the ground . . .

. . . and then they passed --
interception by Ian Albaeck

The end of TJ's 80 yard TD scamper

Three yards and a . . .

Ruben Soria scrambling for a big gain

RUN TO THE BALL!!!

Ian Albaeck and Joey DeVera
breaking up a Gondolier pass

One of Ian Albaeck's game high
seven receptions

At the end of the First Half, the Panthers led 14-6 but we were still our own worst enemy.

Johnny Atilano's huge interception
that he returned 20 yards

More ground and pound by TJ

Soria and Davis breaking up
a Venice pass play

TJ is loose again

I liked the way Laurie framed this
TJ Davis TD run in the Fourth Quarter

Kartik Shenoy's TD saving tackle at
the one yard line

On the next play, Matt Stein tackled
the Venice QB for a game ending
14 yard loss

FINAL SCORE
NEWBURY PARK (3-2) 28
VENICE (0-4) 6

Cameron Brown was the

Venice Game Hammer Award Winner

Cameron had two great kickoff tackles, one at the Venice 15 yard line and the other at the Venice 10 yard line. He had a team high total of 12 tackles in the game and had some great hits throughout the contest as well.

Next up for the 3-2 Panthers is another non-league home game on Friday, October 2 vs. the 0-5 Simi Valley Pioneers.

This could be a "Trap Game" for us if we were to lose our focus and not respect our opponents.

Reading Is FUNdamental

Another fun, quick, delicious read in Andrea Camilleri's Sicilian mystery series featuring the interesting Detective Montalbano.

Many years ago Mike D'Antuono gave me a Jack Reacher, action packed novel to read. Since that first book, I have read several more and have yet to be disappointed.