A Quite Week Highlighted by a Great Bow-Edison Book Club Meeting

Sun.-Weds., Sept. 13-16, 2026

We'll start this post with a new school photo.

Jacob Contreras

Freshman

Camarillo H.S. Class of 2030

On to football news . . .

Glorious Husky Stadium

Apple Cup Game

September 6, 2026

I mention this because our good friend from Lyon, France, Julien Urgenti, will be joining me at this venue in November for the Penn State game. The day after that, we'll be watching the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks take on the Arizona Cardinals.

It should be quite the American football weekend for Julien who was our General Manager with the French DIII Bron-Villeurbane Falcons in 2013 when we won the National Championship.

We may add a Washington state high school playoff game on Friday night to complete the trifecta of pigskin weekend.

I wonder if O'Dea H.S. will be in the playoffs and at home that weekend.

The underperforming Huskies (2-0)

host Eastern Washington (1-2)

in their final non-conference game

I hope that they are now fully awakened and ready to ramp everything about their play up a notch as BIG-10 play starts the following weekend.

BIG-10 Minnesota

is currently 1-1 on the season

The Golden Gophers host the Mid-American Conference Akron Zips (1-1) this coming Saturday.

Renewal of an old high school rivalry this week . . .

These two schools have but a chain

link fence separating them

La Cañada H.S. Spartans (4-0)

at

St. Francis H.S. Golden Knights (1-2)

When I attended St. Francis H.S. years ago, La Cañada H.S. opened my Junior year without any Seniors.

In those days these two potentially intense rivals played each other the first game of the season.

In 1963, the highly favored beat the Senior-less Spartans 46-7, to no one's surprise.

The 1964 game was totally different and looked forward to with great anticipation and hoopla by both schools and the community as well.

The two teams, that would both win league championships that year, clashed at a jam packed La Cañada H.S. stadium. In a hard hitting game, highly competitive game, the Golden Knights prevailed, 26-0.

Now after years of not playing

each other, they are back at it again!

I, for one, am happy about that.

Another nice piece of internet

PR work by the Golden Knights

That's exactly how we rolled

back in the 1960s

Luca Pinto

still playing after all these years

I first met Luca in 2018 when I was coaching the Varese Skorpions in Italy.

Luca was going to coach our Defensive Line that season after playing his last season in Italy due to the Italian Federation's Forced Player Retirement Age Rule.

Under this edict, all players must end their careers at the age of 45.

Undaunted, Luca, while still coaching with us, played across the nearby Swiss border with the Lugano Rebels as Switzerland had no similar age restrictions.

We had pre-season scrimmage in 2018 with the Rebels in Lugano. Luca would play a series at Defensive Tackle with the Rebels and then coach our Defensive Linemen the next series.

EuroBall can be surreal at times.

From out of nowhere this week, I was bombarded with traditional, old Spain travel posters.

I LOVE Spain. This was tempting.

I've seen the Running of the Bulls

Unforgetable.

Spain's fine answer to

Nestle's Nesquik chocolate powder

Sevilla was BEAUTIFUL

when we visited years ago

Holy Week Processions in

Murcia were incredible

Our time in Asturias did

include some occasional alcohol

This festival was marvelous

I never say no to Spanish

olive oil

One of Spain's out-of-the-way

treasures, a day trip from Madrid

This was good to know

I'm not sure at all what "The blue stripes represent the old divisions of Cuba" refers to though.

I combined these posters of Spain and Cuba for a reason.

Cal State Northridge is hosting a

Spain & Cuba concert soon

Anybody out there want to join us?

Well, DUH!

Reading Is FUNdamental!

This 1915 small tome is a perfect

example of Kafka's combination of

realism and fantasy writing style

Franz Kafka was born in Prague, a city that we will be visiting in December. In our previous visits to the Czech Republic's capital city, we have found tributes to Kafka all over the city including the Kafka Café, a personal favorite for a coffee and a pastry in serene surroundings.

I thought that reading one of Kafka's highly praised works would be a good idea before hitting the Christmas Markets in his home town in just a couple of months.

Since we are on the topic of reading, I must mention that on Wednesday night I attended the third meeting of the season of our Bow-Edison Book Club to review an outstanding Vietnam War book, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien.

The discussion of this book was rousing, thoughtful, lively and insightful.

The best thing about joining a book club is the opportunity to read books that one normally would not.

Expanding your mind's boundaries can be most rewarding.

The Thousand Oaks High School 1976 Class Reunion

Saturday, September 12, 2026

There would be two main events today, we'll start with the latter one that was simply all-around positive and fun.

Thousand Oaks H.S.'s Class of 1976

was holding their 50 Year Reunion

The organizers of this reunion, led by former Lancers football and track star, Steve Swindle, opted to also include the classes of 1975 and 1977 to join them for another night of revelry and tall tale telling.

Steve Swindle and Laurie

Long before I ever arrived on the EuroBall scene, Steve, while serving as part of the U.S. Army, had played two seasons of American football while stationed in Germany.

Another "Small World" bonding moment.

Laurie and I both wish to thank him again for inviting us to this fun shindig.

A few of our former TOHS students . . .

. . . seemed to have somehow

aged over the years

There was a good turnout at Cisco's

Mexican Restaurant for the festivities

Group Photo Time

With the one and only Tom Halub

Seeing Jim Nocero after all

of these years was a treat

A humbling statement from one

of America's early, great coaches

Between the TOHS football reunion on Thursday and tonight's gathering, I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of former athletes a half century after the fact.

I was overwhelmed by how many of these old Lancers, of their own volition, took the time to tell me what an impact our coaching staff had had in shaping and guiding their adult lives in a positive direction.

Their comments, which I will share with all of the Lancers coaches from back in the day, certainly made me feel like a successful coach under Amos Alonzo Stagg's stated parameters for excellence.

Before tonight's reunion, Michael and Jacob came over to our home to watch the PAC-12's Utah State Aggies (0-1) take on the BIG-10's Washington Huskies (1-0) at Husky Stadium.

In their opening game, the Aggies lost to the FCS, Big Sky Conference's Idaho State Bengals, 29-17, at home.

The Huskies won their Apple Cup opener at home last week over the PAC-12's Washington State Cougars, 24-10.

The Huskies game into the game as 28.5 point favorites.

For the second straight game, the Huskies looked salty on Defense, solid in their Special Teams play and somewhat suspect on Offense.

Winning the game WAS the goal but . . .

Two points. We only beat them by TWO POINTS?

This win was anything but satisfying unless you took Utah State and the points at your local Indian Casino sports book.

Our friend Michael D'Antuono, was at the game and related this story afterwards, "I was standing at a urinal at end of game and 6 or 7 year old with his Dad says to him 'We are not very good are we, Dad?' I think that says it all."

I have to agree at this juncture of the season with this youthful savant purveyor of collegiate football talent.

The 2-0 Huskies dropped about four

spots in the CFP poll after the

lackluster victory

Moving on . . .

Up next for the Huskies is a third consecutive home game, this time vs. an FCS, Big Sky Conference team, the Eastern Washington University Eagles (1-2).

The Eagles have, in order, lost to Northern Arizona, 34-27, beat Northern Iowa, 34-24, and lost to South Dakota, 41-23.

I liked Eastern Washington a lot more before they changed their mascot to the Eagles from their old, longstanding moniker, the Eastern Washington State College Savages.

P.C. strikes again!

"Savages" sounded GREAT,

but the actual logo, not so much!

St. Francis Golden Knights vs. Bishop Diego Cardinals at Santa Barbara City College's La Playa Stadium

Friday, 9/11, 2026

It's now been a quarter century since that terrible day.

Still we remember as we should always.

On a much happier note

I received a message from John Zant, my old teammate on the St. Francis H.S. Golden Knights team (12-1) that won the 1963 C.I.F.-Southern Section "AAA" Championship.

Our alma mater was playing a game in Santa Barbara today, would we be interested in joining him and his wife, Kathleen, for a pre-game meal and the game.

I was all in but Laurie was still recovering from her emergency assignment as the Camarillo H.S. Frosh Team Photographer yesterday.

I was excited to see John who had spent his adult life as an excellent sports journalist for Santa Barbara newspapers.

Let's take a look at our combatants . . .

The Golden Knights were representing

the Angelus League

2026 Results

0 Wins - 2 Losses

Lost to Alta Loma 21-7

Lost to Crespi 26-21

vs.

The Cardinals are members of

the Marmonte League

2026 Results

2 Wins - 1 Loss

Beat Paso Robles 37-24

Beat West Ranch 42-13

Lost to Lancaster 50-34

Since the game was being played at Santa Barbara City College's La Playa Stadium, John suggested that we meet for needed sustenance at the Shoreline Cafe across the street from the stadium at a table literally on the beach's sand.

Kathleen was a delightful

dining partner

After nearly two hours eating and having lively chats, it was near game time.

 

On to La Playa Stadium

It was a BEAUTIFUL night for

American football!

End of the First Quarter

St. Francis led 7-0

Halftime Score

St. Francis was now in front, 21-7

The Golden Knights looked nothing like an 0-2 club. Their speed an explosiveness was outstanding.

The Cardinals were making mistakes and never showed any sense of urgency.

St. Francis Coaching Staff meeting

at halftime before addressing the team

In 1963, our St. Francis Coaching Staff was made up of but four men.

End of the Third Quarter

St. Francis cruising, 35-7

With John Zant who still wears his

C.I.F. Championship jacket stylishly

I still have mine but I only weighed 170 lbs. playing Center when I received it 63 years ago.

It's a little tight now.

As for John, he was both an explosive WB for us who made a living off of our "Wingback Counter Trap at Nine" play and was the fastest Golden Knight on our Track and Field team as well. 

No Contest

Speed KILLS!

St. Francis (1-2) - 42

Bishop Diego (2-2) - 7

It was great spending the evening with John and Kathleen, we need to do it again soon but with Laurie in tow.

During the game, I received two concerning text messages.

From Michael at the

Ventura-Camarillo game

Is that Jacob?

Was he involved in some sort of high school patriotic hijinks?

Had he joined a Native American war party?

We'll need to interview a few suspects soon to get to the bottom of this episode.

From Michael D'Antuono

The Pasadena H.S. Bulldogs were a powerhouse during my playing and coaching career. I saw on-line that their school enrollment is now only about 1,200 students.

Between their declining enrollment and athletes transferring to other institutions, the Bulldogs simply did not have enough players to play at the Varsity level when health and safety questions came into play.

Now Pasadena's Muir H.S. is the only one of the Rose City's three public high school still playing Varsity football.

Muir and Pasadena used to also compete with Blair H.S. back in the day.

Where is high school football headed?

Finishing on a high note . . .

Granddaughter Mary's official

school photograph was GREAT!