Mon. - Sun., October 25-31, 2021
This was one busy week and I LOVED it!
On Wednesday, I headed over to Westlake H.S. to meet with their Wide Receiver Coach Zay Woods, a former University of Washington WR, who wants to get back on the field as a player for some lucky team in Europe.
I found Zay to be a person of great interest with both a lot to offer and a fascinating backstory, who I think would be a great catch for a EuroBall squad.
The view of the Westlake Warriors
practice from the top of the stadium
And so it began . . .
It was a spirited workout
On Thursday, I headed to beautiful downtown El Rio to watch the Rio Mesa H.S. Spartans Frosh team take on their counterparts, the Frosh Dons from Santa Barbara H.S.
Strawberry fields and the
Topa Topa Mountains make a great
setting for John Reardon Field at
Elmont Michaelson Stadium
Just a nice place to watch a game
Rio Mesa in black was backed
up near their own end zone
But not for long as the Spartans closed out their season with a solid 40-20 victory.
At the Half, I visited the Spartan's highly praised snack bar and who should I find there but Linda Zilisch.
I first met Linda back in 1989 when I first started teaching and coaching at Rio Mesa. Back then she was already the hard working backbone of the uber-active booster club at the school.
Now, here she was 32 years later still content to work in the snack bar for her alma mater in relative anonymity to most of the community. To those of us who do know her, she is a RMHS rock star for all that she has done and continues to do for the thousands of students who have gone through the school over the many years.
I, for one, am grateful for all she does and I believe that Linda is . . .
The Noblest Spartan of Them All!
Friday was another GREAT day for American football so we headed down to Orange County to watch our college roommates Loren and Sandy Brucker's grandson Jack play in a Soph/Frosh game.
But first . . .
We stopped in Venice for a quick
lunch at Baby Blues BBQ
We were definitely NOT disappointed.
Orange County S/F football at its finest!
Beckman Patriots at
Northwood Timberwolves
Jack's Timberwolves rode a dominating Second Half performance to a 30-20 victory.
Jack played a good game at LB to close out his first season of tackle football.
Post-game pic of the Brucker Boys
Loren, Jack and Jack's Dad Ryan
Jack donned his uniform for
this photo that included the ladies
Jack's grandmother Sandy is between Jack and Laurie.
After the game that was played in Irvine, the four mature folks needed another dose of sustenance, so we headed back towards Loren and Sandy's home in Newport Beach to . . .
This VENERABLE, FANTASTIC
spot for amazing seafood
A fine way to end a good day with great friends!
Saturday, as usual started with two of our grandkids' soccer games.
Mary was ready to cheer
during Jacob's game
Jacob in goal on an
overcast morning
Trying to make a play
In the Second Half, Jacob
was out of goal and running a lot
COMPETE!
After the game, Mary had a
Halloween themed cupcake
with orange icing of course
Son Michael was once again
the referee for Mary's game
Mary on a breakaway
Happy soccer players
Jacob took this photo
Watching both grandkids play
every Saturday is fun
I just wish we could get out to Las Vegas more often to see some of Kevin's games.
Michael taking charge
The Green Incredible She-Hulk
Saturday night we had tickets to the Fresno State Bulldogs (6-2) vs. San Diego State Aztecs (7-0) game courtesy of a long-time friend and Mountain-West Conference Referee, Cat Conti.
Strangely, the game was being played
in Carson not in San Diego
For decades the Aztecs played their home games in San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium. Yes, I know they changed the name of the stadium but I believe that once you dedicate a stadium to someone, that's it!
The "Murph" was torn down in 2020 to make way for a new, more compact football friendly stadium set to open for the 2022 campaign.
During the two years of construction, the Aztecs have played their "home" games in Carson's Dignity Health Sports Park with a seating capacity of 27,000 fans. Carson is located about about 115 miles north of the SDSU campus.
The two and a half hour drive in serious SoCal traffic from San Diego State's campus to Carson is a definite problem when it comes to selling tickets to the Aztecs' games.
Interesting but it was not a
night for ices, Italian or otherwise
Cat Conti is a veteran
Mountain-West Conference Referee
Laurie and I have known Cat since she was a waitress at Cronies Sports Grill in Camarillo back in the early 1990s.
At one point, Cat wanted to play tackle football for a start up SoCal Women's football league and asked me to train her for the tryouts.
We spent about a month in training before the league folded before even starting.
Still, Cat wanted to do something with the great game of American football, but what?
Then one day I saw a small article of interest in our local newspaper, the Ventura County Star. It seemed that our local Officials Association was having a meeting to start preparation for the upcoming season and was inviting any and all newcomers to the meeting.
I cut the article out of the paper, got into my car and drove to Cronies. I handed the article to Cat and, as they say . . .
. . . the rest is history!
Before the game we had a photo op with Cat while Laurie was watching all of our belongings in our seats. Jacob and Michael came fully dressed in support of Cat who had given us our four tickets.
Over the years, Cat has risen in the refereeing ranks from first working high school Frosh and JV games, then Varsity high school contests to DIII college games and now working as a highly respected DI college official.
Interesting stadium
Fresno State in white
Shenanigans, this one is
always with the shenanigans
Jacob had a great time with
Cat's son, Cooper
Cooper and Cat at Halftime
A really good game but
such a sparse crowd
The 7-0 Aztecs just could
not get untracked
Michael's fellow Newbury Park H.S.
teacher Rich Bradley was at
the game
He took the photo of Jacob, Michael and myself with Cat on the field.
It was a BIG Mountain-West
Conference upset as Fresno State
improved to 7-2 while SDSU dropped to 7-1
More significantly, Fresno State is now 4-1 atop the Mountain-West's West Division with San Diego State in second place at 3-1 in Conference play.
If it comes down to it being a tie at the end of the regular season, Fresno State now owns the tie-breaker to move on to the Conference Championship Game.
Utah State (6-2, 4-1 MW) is the current leader of the Conference's Mountain Division.
In EuroBall news . . .
The European Championship
Game was played in Malmö, Sweden
on Sunday
This game was originally scheduled to be played in 2020 but Covid-19 got into the way.
A DOMINATING performance
by the Italian squad
Yes, Italy is our new
EUROPEAN CHAMPION!
And then there was this from the Europe Warriors . . .
The Warriors' Senior Men's team
will play the Brazilian National
Team next March 27th in São Paulo
The game will be the crowning event of a weeklong celebration in São Paulo to welcome back American football after the pandemic's havoc on our beloved sport in Brazil.
On a personal note . . .
The Voltors have a new
Analytics Coach
Long time friend and Mallorca Head Coach Jesús Sánchez called me on Friday and offered me a job as his long distance Analytics Coach for his DI Spanish team next Spring.
In 2020, I helped Spanish DII L'Hospitalet Pioners HC Bart Iaccarino as his club's Analytics Coach. Bart has resigned his post with the Pioners to devote all of his time to his European League of Football Barcelona Dragons team.
Simply put, I was out of work so the answer to Jesús was a resounding "SI!"
Speaking of analytics . . .
The two local high school's, Buena and El Camino Real, both played their final games of the regular season Friday night and are now both headed to their respective playoffs although by vastly different paths.
2021 Pacific View League Champions
7-3 overall, 5-0 PVL
The Bulldogs won their final regular season game 38-0 over Lompoc's Cabrillo H.S.
Buena will now play in the C.I.F.-Southern Section's Division VIII as the #2 seeded team in this 16 team playoff bracket.
They will host the #15 seeded, 5-5 Paraclete Spirits, coming off of a 61-0 drubbing by powerhouse Sierra Canyon H.S., in a first round game this coming Friday.
Buena's path of winning games to get into post-season play is the norm.
Then there is the C.I.F.-Los Angeles City Section's much different concept of playoff play . . .
El Camino Real H.S. is a
C.I.F.-Los Angeles City Section school
In the Los Angeles City playoffs, the best eight teams are placed in the Open Division. The next best 16 schools are then put into the DI playoff bracket.
Which brings us to El Camino Real and the 2021 Los Angeles City DII playoffs.
Believe it or not, based on CalPreps Power Rankings, El Camino Real's 2-7 record earned them the #1 seed in the Los Angeles City Section's DII playoffs!
Elco will host a 16th seeded Chavez H.S. Eagles squad that is 4-5 this season and lost their final regular season game 50-0 to an 8-2 Arleta H.S. Mustangs team that won the East Valley League's Championship and is the 12th seed in the Los Angeles City Section's DI playoffs.
Eight of the 16 teams in these DII playoffs have losing records.
If that wasn't weak enough for you, the Los Angeles City Section also has a lower and even weaker playoff bracket known as DIII.
The Los Angeles City Section's 2021 DIII playoff bracket has only four teams with winning records, a combined 21-10 for those four clubs.
The four top seeded teams in DIII have a combined record of 10-27 including the #4 seed's 0-9 record.
Hopefully, everyone gets a trophy at the end of the season.
On a much happier note, Sunday was Halloween!
Who are these two
mischievous souls?
SURPRISE!
It was Jacob and Mary!
Kevin looked awesome
in Las Vegas!
Laurie made Boo Berry Muffins
Laurie set out her usual incredible
spread for us to feed on before
trick or treating with the kids
As if this concoction wasn't
scary enough . . .
. . . this worm was floating
in the Bone Juice!
We were then off to roam the neighborhood with the kids to see if they could corner the Camarillo sugar market single-handily.
Jacob was happy with
his Halloween haul . . .
. . . and so was Mary!
A GREAT week to be sure, but what joy will this week bring?
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