Last Game of the 2021 Spring High School Football Season in Southern California

Wed. - Sat., April 28 - May 1, 2021 

This was the final weekend of games in this unique spring experiment of playing high school football because of the pandemic.

I was joined by son Micheal as we opted to join our friends Paul and Joanne Sabolic to watch their son Jason's game on Friday night.

Jason is the first year Head Coach of the El Camino Real H.S. program who was burdened with both getting the job at the last minute and dealing with all of the pandemic's issues. 

The Cleveland Cavaliers

were 3-0 coming into the game

The El Camino Real Conquistadors

were 0-5 at Kickoff time

GRUMPY OLD MEN?

With Paul for the mandatory

pre-game meal, this time at

Maria's Kitchen about a mile from

the El Camino Real campus

Not in the photo were our dinner mates Michael, Joanne and the Sabolic's daughter Nicole and her husband Nick.

We had a lot of lively, friendly bantering to accompany our fine Italian meal.

My lasagna was first rate!

On to the game . . .

It was my first ever visit to

El Camino Real's nice stadium

Cleveland on Offense in white

We had seen El Camino Real, a.k.a., Elco, play in their first game at Agoura H.S. back in mid-March and, frankly, they looked terrible.

One of the things I try to evaluate in watching teams is their improvement. In the final analysis, that is really what coaching is all about, making the team get a little better day-by-day.

The Elco program is in need of beefier players and an infusion of team speed beyond a doubt but I did see some positives for their program.

In that long ago Agoura game, the Conquistadors were overwhelmed quickly and showed few signs of life in absorbing a 56-6 loss.

Last night Elco showed us some good things.

First, instead of giving up quick and easy scores early on, they made the Cavaliers move methodically and slowly in gaining a First Quarter lead of only 6-0.

Elco continued to play tough in getting some big yardage plays out of their TE receiving the ball and one of their running backs getting to the edge of the Cleveland defense.

Cleveland did pop a one play TD scoring "drive" just before Halftime,. A 35 yard run, for a 13-0 Cavalier lead at the intermission.

The Third Quarter was all Cleveland's as they scored 20 unanswered points to lead 33-0.

Both teams subbed heavily in the Fourth Quarter as Cleveland put another nine points on the scoreboard to win by a final tally of 42-0.

Granted, the final score was not good for Elco but I still felt that they had fought hard throughout against a better team.

Hopefully for the Conquistadors, a Summer of 7-on-7, agility drills, conditioning and lots of sweat in the weight room will create better outcomes in the Fall.

News from the net . . .

Italy at night from space

I miss our friends and the Italian lifestyle daily.

So TRUE!

As further proof, I was watching and old mystery movie that was set in New York City and involved foreign intrigue.

The hero and his assistant/love interest needed to find a suspect labeled only as a "European."

The love interest said she had no idea how to find him.

Our hero responded, "You look for an American at places of work, you find a European at dining spots."

Agreed.