Saturday, September 6, 2025
Sometimes you taste the wine, sometimes you must stomp the grapes . . .
Tonight, our beloved Camarillo Stingers Blue team would not be sipping on the fruits of their labor.
Gold Coast Youth Football League
Senior Black National Conference
Week #2 Game
Santa Clarita Wildcats Gold (0-1)
at
Camarillo Stingers Blue (0-1)
The only thing alike between these two clubs was their record.
I quickly surmised during the pregame warmups that the Wildcats had many extremely athletic and sizable players.
Still, it was a BEAUTIFUL night
for American Football!
The 23 Stingers Blue players
taking the field
Coach Kelly with his Offensive Linemen
Captains Out!
#99 Grandson Jacob was one
of the Stingers' Captains tonight
The opening kickoff . . .
. . . was returned deep into
Camarillo territory
The Wildcats Offense was dialed in
Defensive pursuit was a Stingers MUST!
Tackles were being made but only
after solid Santa Clarita gains
#94 is a LARGE fellow
Secondary support to make plays
vs. the run is not a good sign
Good open field tackle
Wildcat loose in the secondary again
#23 saved a TD on this play . . .
. . . but the Wildcats scored
a few plays later
The Stingers got to work on their Kickoff
Return game often in the First Quarter
#99 may be the culprit on the nice
"Dying Cockroach" block on the left
G - O - N - E,
GONE!
Pressuring the QB
Ball is away . . .
. . . turn . . .
. . . run . . .
. . . and . . .
. . . PURSUE!
I'm not liking this Goal Line Defensive
alignment by the Stingers . . .
. . . but the Wildcats LOVED it!
Yet another . . .
. . . Stingers Kickoff Return
About to get . . .
. . . FIERCE!
Back to rushing the QB vs. a
healthy sized Wildcat
All of these Kickoff Returns are
not a good sign
Stingers on Pass Protection . . .
. . . held up well on this play
Stinger QB under duress this time
Wildcats returning an interception
Keep battling Defense!
Two-point PAT Defense again . . .
. . . this time stopping the Wildcats
short of the Goal Line
Remember, at this level nobody kicks their PATs so this is not a case of trying to run up the score.
How many Kickoff Returns does
this make in the First Quarter?
Despite the score, the effort was
still positive against an extremely
good Wildcats team
Stingers' Screen Pass worked . . .
. . . quite . . .
. . . WELL!
It worked once, call that Screen
Pass again, it's not illegal to do that
This Camarillo Offensive lineman
was still working hard
The score at the end of the First Quarter
was not good for our Stingers
During the first two drives of the game, a total of four Stingers were knocked out of the game due to the Wildcats physical, clean, hard hitting style of play. This left the Stingers with but 18 players available and forced some to play completely out of position, especially on Special Teams.
When the Wildcats built their lead to 36 points with about two minutes left in the First Quarter, the running clock Mercy Rule automatically kicked in for the rest of the contest.
The War in the Trenches continued
When the Pass Protection finally
broke down . . .
. . . the Stingers' QB used his legs . . .
. . . for a solid gain
Never stop fighting!
Ready to . . .
. . . rush past this big tackle
Uh-oh, a Wildcat is loose again
At this point a loud Wildcats coach could easily be heard screaming, "Don't score, DON'T SCORE!"
Thus the Wildcat ball carrier veered
left into the Stingers pursuit . . .
. . . and was brought down inside
the Stingers' 20 yard line
The Wildcats then took a knee on
their next four plays with about
five minutes left in the game
The reason for this is that, under GCYFL rules, if a team gets up by 40 ore more points, then the Head Coach needs to write a report of how this was allowed to happen and faces possible suspension for his actions.
Nice catch by this Stinger
Jacob at WR making sure with the
referee that he is on the line
It's a pass to . . .
. . . Jacob makes the catch and . . .
. . . gains about six yards!
The Offensive Line did not give up
Jacob long snapping on . . .
. . . a good Stingers punt . . .
. . . that was returned a long ways
The two normal Gunners on the Stingers Punt team were among the four injured Camarillo players. The replacements had no real clear vision of outside force leverage that is so crucial to these two key positions.
Back to Defense again
Pressuring the QB again . . .
. . . with solid arm wrap to
end the First Half
The score had not changed since
the Mercy Rule took over
During the Halftime break, two of the injured Stingers were transported by ambulance to the local hospital for further evaluation and assistance.
The coaches from both teams gathered at midfield for a long discussion during the intermission. Both staffs agreed that due to the competitive imbalance of the game and the risk of more injuries to the dwindling Camarillo roster, the game would not proceed any further.
A tough but probably wise decision.
SENIOR BLACK CONFERENCE
WEEK #2 RESULTS
Santa Clarita Wildcats Gold (1-1) - 36
Camarillo Stingers Blue (0-2) - 0
Calabasas Rams Black (2-0) - 34
Santa Clarita Wildcats Navy (1-1) - 0
Oxnard Panthers (1-1) - 30
Simi Valley Bulldogs Black (1-1) - 12
El Rio Spartans (1-1) - 44
North Valley Golden Bears (1-1) - 6
Newbury Park Steelers Black (2-0) - 43
Saugus Spartans Navy (0-2) - 0
SENIOR BLACK CONFERENCE
STANDINGS
1 Tie: Calabasas Rams Black 2-0
Newbury Park Steelers Black 2-0
3 Tie: El Rio Spartans 1-1
Oxnard Panthers 1-1
North Valley Golden Bears 1-1
Santa Clarita Wildcats Gold 1-1
Santa Clarita Wildcats Navy 1-1
Simi Valley Bulldogs Black 1-1
9 Tie: Camarillo Stingers Blue 0-2
Saugus Spartans Navy 0-2
SENIOR BLACK CONFERENCE
WEEK #3 SCHEDULE
Saturday, September 13, 2025
Camarillo Stingers Blue (0-2) at
Santa Clarita Wildcats Navy (1-1)
Newbury Park Steelers Black (2-0) at
Simi Valley Bulldogs Black (1-1)
Calabasas Rams Black (2-0) at
Saugus Spartans Navy (0-2)
El Rio Spartans (1-1) at
Santa Clarita Wildcats Gold (1-1)
Oxnard Panthers (1-1) at
North Valley Golden Bears (1-1)
While the stingers were playing, so were the Washington Huskies against the Cal-Davis Aggies.
No Mercy Rule in college football
and they played all four quarters
Next up for the Huskies after a bye week is the Apple Cup Game on September 20th in Pullman against the Washington State Cougars who are currently in possession of the Cup that signifies football supremacy in the state of Washington.
More information from the IFAF European Youth Flag Football Championships held in Innsbruck, Austria.
In the U17 Boys Division
Spain smashed Israel to become . . .
. . . the European Champions!
I could not find a good graphic but, in the U15 Mixed division of the IFAF tournament, Germany beat Slovenia, 51-42, in the title game.
Reading Is FUNdamental!
French Classics Edition
It was time for me to peruse one
of French literatures swashbuckling
best reads
Or so I thought . . .
The 1939 cinematic adaptation
of the book
As a youth I saw this movie on TV many, many times enjoying every minute of this action packed thriller with Louis Hayward playing the dual role lead to perfection.
Thus, when I saw a copy of the Alexandre Dumas tome sitting on the shelf at the Camarillo Public Library I quickly grabbed it and set off to enjoy a detailed look at life in the 1600s French Royal Court with the Musketeers.
This was the second French classic that I had read. My first came while living in Lyon, France in 2013 when I delved into Victor Hugo's Les Misérable written in 1862. In found his love of Paris to translate into long tangent to the main plot diversions to drum up more Parisian Chamber of Tourism interest in the French capital.
This Alexandre Dumas book took similar circuitous, long winded sidetracks as well.
When this book was first published it was called Le Vicomte de Bragelonne, not The Man in the Iron Mask. The reason for this is that the famed Musketeer D'Artagnan was the Viscount of Bragelonne.
A much more accurate name for this book would have been The Last of the Musketeers as the man in the iron mask was a minor part of the story. It was the final book in Dumas' two part Musketeers novels published in 1844 (The Three Musketeers) and this one in 1850.
Had I known that going in, I would have been well satisfied but instead I kept trying to figure when Dumas would get back to the man in that darn iron mask. He never did.
C'EST LA GUERRE!
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