A Fun Friday

Friday, September 12, 2025

What a fun day this turned out to be!

It all started with Mary

We were all excited for her when it was announced that she had won the election today at her elementary school for the position of Student Council Sergeant-at-Arms.

WAY TO GO, MARY!

 

I drove down to La Cañada-Flintridge for lunch today with two dear friends.

I shared a lot of laughs with these

two cherished reprobates today

Besides being good friends, Paul Sabolić and Michael D'Antuono are two of the three steadfast readers of this blog.

Back in Lyon, France, Julien Urgenti is the third one.

After our fabulous lunch, I headed back to Ventura County to attend a high school football doubleheader of sorts.

About two weeks ago, our son Michael asked the simple question, "Have you attended a game at every high school venue in Ventura County?"

After a little research, I came up with the answer, "No, I had never attended an 8-man football game at Villanova Prep in Ojai."

It was time to change that.

Valley Oaks CES Vanguards

2 Wins - 1 Loss

at

Villanova Prep Wildcats

0 Wins - 0 Losses

The game kicked off at 4:30 p.m. as Villanova Prep has no lights.

I thought that this being the home team Wildcats' first game of the season, while it was the Vanguards fourth game, would be a key factor.

It was.

As the Wildcats left the field . . .

. . . they passed the Vanguards

heading to the field chanting,

"WE ARE THE VANGUARDS!"

A mini-confrontation occurred as the Wildcats stopped dead in their tracks and started yelling back in unison, "WE ARE THE WILDCATS!"

Private school chippiness that could have led to a Miami-Notre Dame pre-game brawl.

Emphasis on could have.

Villanova Prep's rustic stadium

The stands would be packed

by game time

My view of the opening Kickoff

Villanova Prep on on Offense

A HUGE hole for this Wildcat

to run through

The hefty Vanguards RB ran

like a bowling ball

The Wildcats Defense was under duress

Valley Oaks pounding the rock . . .

. . . and going over the top

The Wildcats almost blocked this Punt

8-man scrum

Both schools relied primarily on their running game with sporadic success when passing.

I felt that the Vanguards' game day experience having three games under their belt while Villanova Prep was engaged in their season opener was the big difference today.

FINAL SCORE

Valley Oaks CES (3-1) - 46

Villanova Prep (0-1) - 20

The Sun was setting on the field at

Villanova Prep

There was still more football being played tonight in the Ojai Valley.

I decided to follow the referee crew from Villanova Prep to Nordhoff H.S. to view 11-man football game scheduled to Kickoff at 7:00 p.m.

It would be the 13th football game that I've attended this season.

The drive from private school Villanova Prep to public school Nordhoff H.S. takes but five minutes.

Desert Chapel H.S. Eagles

0 Wins - 1 Loss

at

Nordhoff H.S. Rangers

2 Wins - 1 Loss

Nordhoff is another great,

rustic setting for a game

But wait, across the way should be the Rangers' home stands erected years ago atop a large dirt hillside.

Where did the stands and the hillside go?

I asked a Nordhoff official about it and her response was a simple one.

Apparently, over the many years gophers had dug a massive amount of tunnels throughout the Nordhoff campus. Over the last two years, heavy rains flooded those tunnels and caused the entire hillside to collapse into itself thus destroying the home stands and its press box.

The smaller visiting stands have now been expanded to house all of the games spectators.

The Nordhoff stands tonight

Well, they are the Rangers after all

Desert Chapel only had 17 players

The Eagles aired it out often

and not well

A successful Rangers' PAT

The only thing that the Rangers did wrong in the First Quarter was having their first PAT of the game boink off of the upright. 

The Eagles kept passing to little avail

A nice sunset took my mind off

of the massacre in front of me

END OF THE FIRST QUARTER

Nordhoff - 34

Desert Chapel - 0

Between the drive to La Cañada-Flintridge and then back to Ojai plus sitting in the Sun at Villanova Prep, it had been a long day. I made the conscious decision to leave Nordhoff's impending rout and head home. If that first PAT kick had made it through the goal posts, the Mercy Rule would now be in effect.

Another Rangers' PAT

Before I could leave the stadium, a Rangers DB scored on a 25 yard pick-six to start the Second Quarter. The score was now Rangers 41 - Eagles 0, the Mercy Rule was in full effect.

I found out at home much later the final tally.

FINAL SCORE

Nordhoff (3-1) - 47

Desert Chapel (0-2) - 13

As many of you know, I believe that shutouts are fascist. Nice to see Desert Chapel go home to Palm Springs with a little dignity while Nordhoff notched an easy win.

While the Nordhoff game was going on, down at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena . . .

Mountain West Conference

New Mexico (1-1) was taking on

BIG-10 Conference UCLA (0-2)

The Bruins are nowhere near as fierce as this poster would suggest. New Mexico (2-1) spanked UCLA (0-3), 35-10.

The Bruins are in for a long year, I'm afraid.

Arizona State's tribute to 9/11

was a good one

Rams in Tennessee on Sunday

I hope that the Rams are

MUCH MORE fierce than UCLA

was in their pre-game poster

On to Jacob's Camarillo Stingers' Blue team Pop Warner game on Saturday at West Ranch H.S. against the Santa Clarita Wildcats Navy squad.