The Venice Game

Newbury Park Panthers (2-2)
at
Venice Gondoliers (0-3)

Venice has an old-school grass field

LOVE their Gondolier mascot!

LOVE their Gondolier motto!

After a disheartening two week stretch, the Panthers made the long bus ride to Venice for a game with the Los Angeles City Section Gondoliers. We were flying a bit blind as their JV coaches refused to trade videos with us.

At the start of our season, our coaching staff believed that the offensive strength of our team would be our three running backs. Due to injuries, none of those three running backs would suit up for this game. These three key players were joined by three other wounded teammates on the sidelines at Venice H.S. Thus, we only suited out 26 players for the contest against the Gondoliers.

It was a beautiful afternoon for an
American football game

The Pacific Ocean's cool breezes made for comfortable conditions.

Laurie and Mike

Captains Out
#9 Ruben Soria, #24 TJ Davis,
#77 Daniel Weinstein and #68 Nick Krause

Ruben Soria returning
the opening kickoff

Andres Chavarria's first game back
after getting injured in our season opener

TJ Davis in his first start ever as a RB

Normally a WR for the Panthers, TJ filled in admirably in our depleted RB situation.

TJ would score two TDs on the day

QB Sneak + Wedge Blocking =
FIRST DOWN!!!

Venice did a good job
on the ground . . .

. . . and then they passed --
interception by Ian Albaeck

The end of TJ's 80 yard TD scamper

Three yards and a . . .

Ruben Soria scrambling for a big gain

RUN TO THE BALL!!!

Ian Albaeck and Joey DeVera
breaking up a Gondolier pass

One of Ian Albaeck's game high
seven receptions

At the end of the First Half, the Panthers led 14-6 but we were still our own worst enemy.

Johnny Atilano's huge interception
that he returned 20 yards

More ground and pound by TJ

Soria and Davis breaking up
a Venice pass play

TJ is loose again

I liked the way Laurie framed this
TJ Davis TD run in the Fourth Quarter

Kartik Shenoy's TD saving tackle at
the one yard line

On the next play, Matt Stein tackled
the Venice QB for a game ending
14 yard loss

FINAL SCORE
NEWBURY PARK (3-2) 28
VENICE (0-4) 6

Cameron Brown was the

Venice Game Hammer Award Winner

Cameron had two great kickoff tackles, one at the Venice 15 yard line and the other at the Venice 10 yard line. He had a team high total of 12 tackles in the game and had some great hits throughout the contest as well.

Next up for the 3-2 Panthers is another non-league home game on Friday, October 2 vs. the 0-5 Simi Valley Pioneers.

This could be a "Trap Game" for us if we were to lose our focus and not respect our opponents.

Reading Is FUNdamental

Another fun, quick, delicious read in Andrea Camilleri's Sicilian mystery series featuring the interesting Detective Montalbano.

Many years ago Mike D'Antuono gave me a Jack Reacher, action packed novel to read. Since that first book, I have read several more and have yet to be disappointed.

The Dos Pueblos Game

Dos Pueblos Chargers (2-0)

at

Newbury Park Panthers (2-1)

The Panthers enjoyed a solid week of practice with a much more focused group of players after last week's 49-25 drubbing at the hands of the Agoura Chargers.

Here come the Panthers!

First NP offensive play of the game,

Ruben Soria to . . .

. . . a wide open Ian Albaeck

for a 51 yard TD, NP up 7-0 early

 The Defense played well early

forcing Three & Outs on the Chargers'

first three possessions of the game

 Ruben Soria returned an Interception . . .

. . . 42 yards

And that is when the wheels came off the wagon for the second straight week.

In the next 7:30 of game time, from the 3:36 mark of the First quarter until there was 8:06 left in the Second Quarter, we would suffer through two lost fumbles, two pick-six interceptions and gave up an 81 yard TD pass on a 3rd and 18 play. We were now down 7-26.

But we would hold fast despite the adversity.

The Defense continued to play hard

And our receivers, like Logan Popok,
kept attacking the ball

Broken Up Pass

At the half . . .

We were still down only 7-26 despite a total of five First Half turnovers.

Our courage would quickly be tested again as Dos Pueblos recovered the Second Half kickoff on a perfectly placed pooch kick.

Defense responds as Ian Albaeck
intercepted a Chargers' pass!

Cole Peterson rushing during our
Second Half opening 16 play TD drive

Ian Albaeck had a GREAT day!

He had 12 receptions for 172 yards and a TD to go with his three tackles, an interception and a broken up pass. 

TJ Davis diving for every yard possible

An Ian Albaeck catch . . .

. . . and another

Logan Popok again . . .

. . . and again

Logan had four catches for 32 yards, three tackles, broke up a pass and returned two Kickoffs for 22 yards.

Ian Albaeck is our "Go to Guy"

Chargers CB played with a club

Mike Contreras giving words of wisdom
after our second straight defeat

The final score was DP (3-0) 26 - NP (2-2) 16. We had a total of eight turnovers in the game that were the obvious difference in the two teams on this day.

On the plus side, we all felt that our boys fought hard to the end despite the obstacles.

Up next is another non-league game against a Los Angeles City Section squad next Friday, September 25, at Venice H.S. The Gondoliers' JV team is 0-3 on the campaign.

Reading Is FUNdamental

This was a the fifth book that I have read in Andrea Camilleri's wonderful Detective Montalbano series set in a fictional town in Sicily.

Camilleri has written another page turner that is equal parts crime solving, Sicilian cuisine and Sicilian culture. Can't wait to get started on his next book that awaits me at the Camarillo Public Library.

Agoura JV Game and the Pierce College Season Opener

Week Three of the 2015 high school season would turn out to be a rough one for the NPHS Panther JVs. 

Newbury Park Panthers (2-0)

at

Agoura Chargers (1-1)

Ruben Soria returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for a Panthers TD. Travis Golds added the PAT and NPHS led 7-0.

It would all go downhill from there . . .

The Agoura QB had an outstanding game

Fernando Takacs played great again

but may be lost for the season

due to a knee injury

Fernando will be greatly missed

if his season is indeed over

 QB Ruben Soria was harassed all game

 Clearing the bench

Even though we closed the gap to 28-25 with 3:39 left in the third quarter, it never felt like we were in the game. From that point, the Chargers put the game away by scoring the contest's last three TDs to win going away by a final score of 49-25.

It was the worst drubbing that we have had in our three seasons at NPHS.

We MUST rebound this coming Friday at home against a 2-0 Dos Pueblos Chargers team.

On Saturday night, I was joined by Laurie, Mike and Jacob as we drove into the beautiful San Fernando Valley to see a Junior College game of special interest.

College of the Desert Roadrunners (0-1)

at

Pierce College Brahmas (0-0) 

This would be the first football game the young Jacob had ever attended.

It was also the first game as Pierce's Head Coach for family friend Jason Sabolic.

I attended the University of Washington with Jason's father, Paul. Jason has been a hard working assistant at Pierce for several seasons and we wanted to be there to support him and his parents on his big night.

Besides Paul and his wife Joanne, we were also joined by Mike and Susan D'Antuono at the game. It was a regular UW Alumni gathering.

The Brahmas started slowly with their sloppy play putting them into a 0-10 first quarter deficit. I chalked most of this to it being Pierce's first game of the season while COD had one game under their belt.

After settling down, the Brahmas scored the next 30 points to win going away 30-10.

Jason Sabolic addressing

the victorious Brahmas

Congratulations Jason on win #1!

But, I don't know how many more of these games Paul's heart can take.