Sun.-Fri., November 7-12, 2021
People remember the games in November . . .
. . . but some never forget October
This mostly American football post first heads to the wonderful world of EuroBall with news of two big signings by Italy's defending 2021 DII National Championship Modena Vipers that were of great interest to me.
The Vipers have yet to declare if they will stay in DII for the 2022 campaign or elevate their game to the DI level.
A fine Offensive Guard
Giulio is a true character who played for us in both 2008 and 2009 with the DI Catania Elephants.
One of Italy's legendary WRs
Gregorio is another dedicated, hard working veteran that was an Elephant during my two season coaching in Sicily.
WR Filippo Petrillo
is a Varese Skorpion
The relatively new NFL Academy is located in London and attempts to recruit the cream of the crop of Europe's U18 players.
Athletes that commit to the NFL Academy are immersed into an academic environment that includes rigorous, daily American football related workouts that are more in line with a typical American high school environment than the more relaxed European model.
The obvious goal is to greatly accelerate the players' development as athletes and, from all reports, it is working.
Last year, WR Andrea Volonnino was the first Varese Skorpion to attend the NFL Academy and now Filippo Petrillo is the second. Both of them are great, young WRs with tremendous futures on the gridiron.
On Tuesday, I had the urge to go to a practice, so I headed to . . .
. . . Buena H.S. who was preparing for
a C.I.F. D8 Quarter-Final Playoff Game
Pad level?
Better pad level on the right,
not so much on the left
Let the fight for the ball begin!
On Wednesday night, we convened
at Topper's Pizza for one final
get-together of the Scorpions
soccer team
Grandson Jacob is wearing a blue t-shirt and is in the top row, third from the left.
On Friday, both of the teams that I have been tracking through an ever expanding set of analytical game video breakdowns, El Camino Real H.S. and Buena H.S., played Quarter-Final Playoff games.
Our usual "Friday Night Lights" group consisting of son Michael, grandson Jacob and myself, headed to the El Camino Real H.S. campus for a 4:15 p.m. kickoff.
The Jefferson Democrats
C.I.F.-Los Angeles City Section
D2 Playoffs #9 Seed
7 wins - 4 losses
at
The El Camino Real Royals
C.I.F.-Los Angeles City Section
D2 Playoffs #1 Seed
3 wins - 7 losses
The Democrats kicked off to
start the game . . .
. . . and the Royals got a HUGE
return to get things going
I LOVE a well executed WR Screen
After starting the season at 0-5 against a difficult non-league schedule, the Royals have shown a lot of grit in continuing to fight and playing better football in the past seven games.
Often, the most difficult journeys lead to the most rewarding destinations . . .
On Friday, they actually looked like a complete team for the first time this year. The Royals rolled to a 21-0 lead at Halftime and lead 35-0 late in the Third Quarter at which point both schools agreed to finish the contest with a Mercy Rule inspired running clock.
It was good to see the Royals back up and JV players that were brought up for the playoffs play after the running clock took over the game.
I was equally glad to see Jefferson score a TD late in the game to go home with a bit of dignity in what turned out to be a 35-6 El Camino Real victory.
Shutouts are Fascist!
Next Friday the Royals, now 4-7 on the season, will play in a C.I.F.-Los Angeles City Section D2 Semi-Final game against . . .
The Westchester Comets
C.I.F.-Los Angeles City Section
D2 Playoffs #4 Seed
4 wins - 7 losses
Westchester beat the #12 seeded Hawkins Hawks (6-5) 49-12 on Friday.
The other Semi-Final game will see the #2 seeded Fairfax Lions (5-5) and the #3 seeded Hamilton Yankees (8-3).
On Friday, Fairfax defeated the #7 seeded Maywood CES Wolfpack (8-4), 30-14. At the same time, Hamilton routed the #6 seeded Verdugo Hills Dons (7-5), 48-16.
As for my other Analytics squad and their Quarter-Final game . . .
The Buena Bulldogs
C.I.F.-Southern Section
D8 Playoffs
8 wins - 3 losses
at
The El Dorado Hawks
C.I.F.-Southern Section
D8 Playoffs
8 wins - 3 losses
This game was being played in far off, exotic Placentia in the heart of Orange County. There was no way for us to make the trip there with the chaos that is Friday night traffic on the 405 Freeway so I had to rely on the Ventura County Star's twitter updates which were positive.
The Bulldogs won a hard fought game, 24-20, thanks to late game Kicking Game heroics that included a great edge rush forcing an El Dorado PAT attempt to sail wide left badly and then kicking a 22 yard Field Goal to seal the deal.
Now the Bulldogs are on to the C.I.F.-Southern Section D8 Semi-Finals versus . . .
The Silverado Hawks
7 wins - 5 losses
The Hawks was impressive in their Quarter-Final playoff game romp on Friday over the Elsinore Tigers (8-4), 56-21.
The other D8 Semi-Final game will feature Highland Bulldogs (10-2) vs. the Serrano Diamondbacks (9-3).
In Friday nights Quarter-Final games, Highland beat the California Condors (7-5), 44-12, while Serrano doubled the Ramona Rams (10-2), 44-12.
Finally, on Saturday's college slate . . .
Arizona State Sun Devils (6-3)
at
Washington Huskies (4-5)
This week, the Huskies fired their Offensive Coordinator John Donovan on Sunday and then suspended Head Coach Jimmy Lake for one game, the Arizona State game, without pay due to a sideline incident during the Oregon game last Saturday.
This could be an interesting game on a few levels as the Huskies still need to win two of their final three contests to become bowl eligible.
Another good week in SoCal.
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