Ventura County Star Week 1 Game of the Week Preparations

Tuesday, August 29, 2017:

With Week Zero of the 2017 high school football season behind us, it was time to start preparing for Friday's Week One podcast of the Westlake Warriors (1-0) at Thousand Oaks Lancers (0-1) game.

Today I was headed to Thousand Oaks H.S. to interview Lancers Head Coach Mike Leibin and to watch a little of their practice on a SIZZLING afternoon.

But first . . .

I stopped by the

California Lutheran University

football facility

The CLU campus is only about a mile from the Thousand Oaks H.S. campus and I was early for my interview.

The Kinsmen are a solid DIII program, part of the eight college Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Besides Cal Lutheran, the SCIAC includes teams from Chapman, Claremont-Mudd, La Verne, Occidental, Pomona-Pitzer, Redlands and Whittier

 Pass Rush Drill as I entered the field

The same drill in action

Offensive Line Drill

It was a spirited practice that I observed during my 20 minutes at CLU.

They open their season on September 9th at home vs. Pacific Lutheran University at 7:00 p.m.

I'll be there for that one to be sure.

On to . . .

Thousand Oaks H.S.

Lots of memories here as I started my teaching/coaching career at TOHS in 1970 as a JV and then Varsity assistant coach until leaving in 1978 to become Westlake H.S.'s first Head Coach in 1978.

 Defensive fit drill

Lots of fundamentals at this practice as Coach Leibin felt that the Lancers were lacking in the basics of blocking and tackling in their 14-42 loss to Ventura last Friday night.

Hope springs eternal in Lancer land despite only having seven Sophomores total in the program thus forcing them to shockingly drop their JV football team for the 2017 campaign.

News from Mexico . . .

The composite schedule for the

2017 season for the country's

private school circuit

This weekend's slate of games

I'll be interested to watch the podcast of the CU Pumas at UDLAP Aztecas game at 11:00 a.m. Pacific this Saturday morning.

Our Europe Warriors dropped a 32-35 exhibition game to the Pumas on August 12th and the Aztecas were the amazing program that we visited for three days the week after our Pumas game.

We also got to see the Aztecas play the IPN Burros Blancos in a scrimmage. They did not disappoint.

It should be an interesting contest.

On Wednesday, I will visit the Westlake H.S. campus to gain some insights into the current state of Warriors' football for Friday night's podcast.