Saturday, January 11, 2025
And so it begins after just one full practice on Thursday and a walk-through in only helmets last night, another season of EuroBall coaching!
Of course, the Gijón Mariners team has been practicing for the past three months in preparation for today's contest.
The Mariners will again be part
of the LNFA's top division, Serie A
Serie A is made up of the ten best
teams in Spain
Serie A is further broken down into two conferences, West and East.
Each team plays eight conference games with no cross conference games until the playoffs.
The top two teams in each conference make it to the two game playoff system.
The Mariners are in the Western Conference with Las Rozas Black Demons, Osos Rivas, Zaragoza Hurricanes and Coslada Camioneros.
The West is a tough conference with the Black Demons and the Osos Rivas having played each other in the National Championship Game each of the last three seasons.
Furthermore, the Black Demons have played in the last five National Championship Games, winning the game in 2023 and 2024.
The Eastern Conference teams in 2025 are the Badalona Dracs, L'Hospitalet Pioners, Mallorca Voltors, Barcelona Pagesos and Terrassa Reds.
Week 1 slate of Serie A Games
The two traditional Western Conference powers, the Osos and Black Demons face each other in Game 1.
The Western Conference bye this week belongs to the Zaragoza Hurricanes.
The Mallorca Voltors have a bye in Eastern Conference play this weekend.
As for our game . . .
The Colada Camioneros
from the greater Madrid area
at
The Gijón Mariners
The Pride of the Spanish Costa Verde
In the 2024 season, the Camioneros swept the series beating the Mariners in Gijón, 34-20, and taking the return match in Coslada, 31-20, a few weeks later.
The entrance to our Las Mestas
Stadium complex
And I do mean complex as there are also Gijón's soccer stadium, a track stadium and a huge indoor gym near our field.
In the Summer, Las Mestas is used for international horse jumping competitions, thus these statues at the entrance.
A pristine natural grass field
surrounded by a velodrome track
California?
Sharp looking helmet with an
old, game worn face mask
After setting up the field and
grandstand, we ate lunch as a team
Afterwards, we took a team walk of about 400 meters to the "Triangle."
This is the Triangle
Our Head Coach, Nacho Valdéz, wanted our team to be reminded of the Mariners' roots. This was the site of the Mariners first practice field back in 2001.
There is obvious construction/grading work going but I think it would have been a better story if Nacho had said that this was exactly the way the field was set up a quarter of a century ago.
Mariners faithful were hard at work
setting up the ticket booth, souvenir
shop and concessions areas
abating and the Sun started to shine
The Mariners warm-ups begin
Playing catch before a game is
always a fun thing
Our uniforms have a certain
NASCAR flare with our sponsorship
ads both front and . . .
. . . back
Chibiski
Gastronomia Mexicana
A Polish named cantina serving Mexican food.
Hmmmm . . .
LET THE SEASON BEGIN!
The First Quarter:
A good Gijón Kickoff Return was followed by a beautiful 55 yard TD pass. The PAT attempt turned into a Fire call that was successful and the Mariners led 8-0.
Our first Defensive series was a good one and forced a Coslada punt.
The Mariners hit on another big pass play of over 40 yards but our WR fumbled the ball away when tackled.
The Camioneros converted this turnover into TD on a 15 yard run and made their PAT but the Mariners still led 8-7.
The Second Quarter:
Our Offense had trouble on our next drive and had to Punt.
The Defense came up with a solid series but one thing was becoming abundantly clear, I had done a poor job of teaching the all important skill of arm wrapping when tackling in my one practice with the team.
Our Offense went Three & Out, Punt.
Coslada scored on a 10 yard run, their PAT turned into a Fire call but we stopped them. Coslada now led for the first time 13-8.
Our Offense went Three & Out, Punt.
We gave up a 25 yard TD run that was set up by more missed tackles, the PAT was no good. The Camioneros extended their lead to 19-8.
A 55 yard pass set up a Mariners' 23 yard Field Goal just before the Halftime Intermission.
At the break it was Coslada 19 - Gijón 11.
Despite our somewhat ragged play, we were in but a one score game.
The question was how would we come out mentally after the break.
This Coslada RB was tough
to bring down to say the least
The Third Quarter:
I was excited when our Defense started out the third stanza with a Three & Out, Punt.
The Offense had a good drive that ended with a two yard TD run, our two two-point PAT attempts, there was a Coslada penalty on the first one, were both no good. The Camioneros lead had been cut to just two points, 19-17.
A good start by both the Offense and the Defense but the ensuing Kickoff was returned deep into the Mariners end of the field.
On a Third Down play where the Coslada RB was hit by two Mariners defenders for what should have been a two yard loss, our poor tackling technique turned into a 12 yard TD scamper. The PAT attempt was no good, Coslada on top 25-17.
The Fourth Quarter:
A magnificent Gijón receiver's catch quickly followed by a huge Coslada hit gave the Mariners great field position deep in Coslada's end of the field. Unfortunately, back-to-back QB sacks ended a great scoring opportunity for the Mariners.
Our Defense had another Three and Out, Punt. YAHOO!
Our Offense stalled out again.
Our Defense responded with another awesome series forcing a quick Coslada punt!
We threw a Pick-Six, that was followed by a successful two-point PAT, Coslada led 33-17.
We threw another interception.
Coslada took a knee and the season opener had slipped out of our hands.
We had our chances to be sure
Defensively, I liked our effort, hustle and mental toughness. Our biggest issue was tackling which is a correctible problem.
Fortunately, we have a bye next week to give us lots of time to improve our fundamentals.
In other LNFA Serie A season opening games today . . .
Las Rozas Black Demons edged
the Osos Rivas in the other
Western Conference game today
In the Eastern Conference, the
Badalona Dracs had no problem
with the L'Hospitalet Pioners
It was time to debrief so I joined Team President Kiké Prado Alonso and a few other Mariners alumni at a local sorts bar that sponsors the club.
We parked next to this reminder
of my favorite Defensive end back
in California
Our small group had fun!
As is the custom, many of our new friends go simply by one name, which often is a nickname.
L. to R.: Muixi (our Head Referee today), Flaggo, standing is the bar's owner whose name I did not catch, the American guy, Kiké and Eduardo who was last year's Offensive Line Coach.
Looking at Muixi is like looking
in a mirror
Muixi is one of the good guys, I thought that he did a good job today as the white hat.
Kiké needed to shop at the market before we went home.
Good looking crabs for sale
Interesting label
Funny
In Italy today, the Varese Skorpions
won the U18 National Championship!
The Skorpions (7-1) beat the Ferrara Aquile (6-2), 28-21.
The Los Angeles Rams (10-7) take on the
Minnesota Vikings (14-3) on Sunday
This will be an NFL Wild Card playoff game wisely moved to the Arizona Cardinals stadium due to the wildfires still raging in the Los Angeles area surrounding SoFi Stadium.
I'm looking forward to the
upcoming coaching challenge!
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