Another Ten Days Mostly Devoted to American Football

 

Sat.-Mon., November 13-22, 2021

Lots to cover since our last post and it is almost all American football related.

This is the time of year in the USA to give thanks for all of our blessings. If you follow this blog regularly, then you know that helping the growth of American football in Europe has become a passion for me.

I give thanks to the many high school football coaches in the Ventura County and Los Angeles County areas who, over the years, have donated all sorts of football gear and field equipment to send overseas. This has greatly reduced the start-up costs for so many struggling EuroBall clubs in a wide variety of countries.

Here are some of the things that schools donated in the past few weeks.

A donated helmet is the

GOLD STANDARD!

Having two donated at once was incredible. 

Jerseys and Pants

WOW!

One of our local schools donated about 200 sets of game jerseys and game pants. They will make excellent practice gear for more than a few EuroBall teams.

Although, they are of such good quality that we may see a club switching their team colors to use them as game uniforms as has happened with on of our donations of jerseys a few years ago.

Mary wanted to try on

a blue jersey

So, Jacob had to don

a white one

Loving siblings

The Ibi Industriales in the

Alicante region of Spain is

a big winner this week

They are the recipients of the two helmets and 120 of the jerseys, 60 blue and 60 white, as their club adds their first tackle team to their already extensive flag football program.

Add in the 20 shoulder pads that we have previously shipped to Ibi and you have a good start to their tackle team project.

Meanwhile, back on the gridiron for the two high schools that I help via Analytics breakdowns of their game videos . . .

C.I.F.-Los Angeles City Section

Division II Playoff Semi-Finals

The Westchester Comets

#4 D-II Playoff Seed

4 Wins - 7 Losses

at

The El Camino Real Royals

#1 D-II Playoff Seed

4 Wins - 7 Losses

Obviously the records are not glossy for these two Semi-Finalists but the competition was really good.

BIG tackle for loss by

the blue clad Royals

The kickoff was at 4:15 p.m. as the Los Angeles Unified School Districts bus drivers union are still embroiled in some sort of labor dispute and refuse to drive their busses to night time athletic events.

ECR pressuring the Comets' QB

Michael bought Jacob

a Royals football t-shirt

Elco's Offensive Line surging

as the Sun goes down

Under the lights at last!

After dominating the first 36 minutes of play in building up a 27-0 lead, El Camino Real had to withstand a furious Westchester Fourth Quarter comeback attempt.

The Comets scored three unanswered TDs but the Royals defense stopped two 2-point PAT attempts and were aided by a botched snap on the other Westchester PAT try.

Final Score

El Camino Real (5-7) 27

Westchester (4-8) 18

The Royals will now play in the C.I.F.-Los Angeles City Section Division II Championship game at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 27th at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, a virtual home game for the Royals.

Their opponents will be . . .

The Hamilton Yankees

#3 D-II Playoff Seed

9 Wins - 3 Losses

In their Semi-Final game, the Yankees beat the #2 seeded Fairfax Lions (5-6), 21-13.

As for my other team's game which we could not attend due to a combination of time and distance . . .

C.I.F.-Southern Section

Division VIII Playoff Semi-Finals

Buena Bulldogs

9 Wins - 3 Losses

Pacific View League Champions

at

Silverado Hawks

7 Wins - 5 Losses

Desert Sky League Champions

Both of these teams had interesting non-league seasons.

Buena was only 2-3 entering PVL play and had lost two of those games by a point each to Oak Park (5-5) and Rio Mesa (7-4). To add more spice to their record, the Bulldogs have also won two games this campaign by a single point against Agoura (7-3) and cross-town rival Ventura (7-5).

Silverado started out their 2021 season with five straight losses before hitting their stride. They were now on a seven game winning streak playing at home which was problematic for Buena.

The bus ride from Ventura to Victorville, where Silverado is located, is about 135 miles/220 kilometers long and takes about three hours each way. Advantage Hawks.

Silverado's third TD with only 1:32 left in the First Half gave them a commanding 20-0 lead as the intermission approached.

That is when Buena finally woke up and scored both a TD and a 2-point PAT with 30.3 seconds left in the Second Quarter to cut the Hawks lead to 20-8.

The Second Half was all about the Bulldogs as they outscored Silverado 22-6 to win an extremely memorable Semi-Final game.

Final Score

Buena (10-3) 30

Silverado (7-6) 26

Buena H.S. opened in the Fall of 1961

Despite their rich American football history over the last 60 years, this is the first time that the Bulldogs have reached the C.I.F. Finals.

Congratulations to Buena Head Coach Ryan Bolland and all of the Bulldogs!

As for the Bulldogs opponents this coming Saturday, November 27th at 7:00 p.m. at Buena High School's stadium . . .

Third Place in the Mojave River League

10 Wins - 3 Losses

In their Semi-Final game, the Diamondbacks beat the Highland Bulldogs (10-3), 18-13. It was the second time that Serrano has beaten Highland this season having also won their first meeting, a non-league affair, 21-12 back in early September.

So what we have is the opportunity for a Finals Doubleheader this Saturday, the El Camino Real game at 3:00 p.m. in Woodland Hills followed by the Buena game at 7:00 p.m.

GAMES ON!

I still needed another in person football fix on Saturday, so I heeaded down to Canoga Park to watch a C.I.F.-Southern Section Division II 8-Man Football Semi-Final.

It was a chance to watch the game with good coaching friend Bill Corliss from Visalia as we both wanted to support another mutual coaching buddy, Charlie Casale, who is the Offensive Coordinator for Coast Union H.S.

The match-up in this Semi-Finals . . .

The Coast Union Broncos

Coast Valley League Champions

#3 D-II Playoff Seed

9 Wins - 2 Losses

at

The Faith Baptist Contenders

Third Place in the Mt. Pinos League

#2 D-II Playoff Seed

8 Wins - 2 Losses

WHOA!

They are more than just Contenders

This impressive banner on the Faith Baptist press box tells of the school's previous eight C.I.F. Championship teams and yet another ten clubs that made it to the Finals.

A grand total of 18 trips to the finals since 1984 sure sounds like an 8-man dynasty to me.

From the opening kickoff,

the Contenders were knocking

Broncos ass over teakettle

Broncos wide receiver screen

to #56 with #18 and #8 blocking?

In a throwback to my high school playing days, 8-man football apparently has no rules as to eligible numbers.

Contenders and Broncos

being knocked around

Contenders Smothering

Kickoff Action

Actually, smothering is the perfect word for the Contenders' dominant performance on this day.

After scoring easily on every First Quarter offensive possession plus a defensive scoop and score, Faith Baptist was up 38-0 and was way too physical for the Broncos. Safety was a definite concern.

Unlike Inglewood H.S. in their recent, infamous 106-0 victory over Morningside H.S., the Faith Baptist coach gladly agreed to start the Mercy Rule running clock at the start of the Second Quarter.

At Halftime, Faith Baptist led Coast Union 54-0. The Contenders' starters would not see the field the rest of the game.

Final Score

Faith Baptist (9-2) 62

Coast Union (9-3) 6

One of my first thoughts in watching the Faith Baptist machine at work was how strong is the Mt. Pinos for the Contenders to finish in third place and who were the two teams that beat them?

As it turns out, Faith Baptist's two losses were both in Mt. Pinos League play to Thacher (44-20) and to Cate (42-34).

These two league losses were to the top two seeds in the C.I.F.-Southern Sections Division I 8-Man Football Playoffs.

Thacher (8-1), the D-I #1 seed, was upset in the D-I Semi-Finals last week, 43-34 by Grace Brethren.

This weekend Cate (9-1), seeded #2, won the D-I 8-Man Championship by outscoring Grace Brethren (8-4), 50-30 in the Finals.

More like Juggernauts!

To continue the saga of how strong the Mt. Pinos League is, it must be noted that the road to the D-II Finals for Faith Baptist has been, shall we say, easy.

The Contenders' three playoff wins have all been walkovers in thrashing United Christian Academy 54-0, Lancaster Baptist 60-0 and now Coast Union 62-6. That's an average of 58.7 points per game in the playoffs!

Next Saturday, #2 seeded Faith Baptist (9-2) will hit the road to play the #1 seeded California School for the Deaf Cubs (12-0) in Riverside for the D-II title.

Since the Cubs have averaged an astounding 72 points/game in their three game playoff run, expect a fan friendly contest for the crown.

And then there are our beloved,

woeful Washington Huskies

The Huskies (4-7) lost both a game and any chance for bowl eligibility by losing to the Colorado Buffaloes (4-7), 20-17 Saturday.

The UW's final game and chance for glory will come in this Friday's Apple Cup game against the Washington State Cougars (6-5) in Seattle. A strange game this time as both schools have fired their Head Coaches in mid-season and are led by interim HCs.

Finally, on Monday, after finishing my three days of Analytics game video breakdowns for El Camino Real and Buena, I headed over to Buena to watch their first day of Championship Week practices.

Scout offense simulating the

Serrano Diamondbacks attack

Nice looking sweats on

this WR in motion

Pass Routes vs. Air

It was a good, spirited workout just as on would hope to see with a title in sight.

May all of you reading this blog

enjoy a Thanksgiving Weekend

full of Friends, Food and Football!

Not One But TWO Teams Going to the Playoff Semi-Finals!

 

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.

Another Washington Huskies Loss Ruins an Otherwise Tranquil Week

Mon.-Sat., November 1-6, 2021 

Let's start this post with a look at college football's DI landscape . . .

The first official college football

playoff poll was announced

on Tuesday night

Let the arguing begin as to who the four best teams are for this year's playoffs.

The only thing that is certain is that even if Alabama were to lose their last three regular season games they will still be in the playoffs dropping down to the #3 spot at worst.

Seeing the 7-1 Oregon Ducks ranked #4 in this initial poll reminded me . . .

Our beloved 4-4 Washington Huskies

played them on Saturday

The Huskies hung around for most of the game despite their continuing pedantic offensive issues. At the Half, Oregon led 10-9 but then extended their lead to 17-9 by the end of the Third Quarter.

The Final Score was the #4 ranked Oregon Ducks (8-1) 26 - the unranked Washington Huskies (4-5) 16.

It really wasn't that close.

Oregon out rushed the Huskies 329 yards to 55 yards and had the overall yardage advantage 427 to 166.

The Huskies Defense outscored the Huskies Offense based on the Defense's Pick-Six interception and a Safety.

So now the question is how to become bowl game eligible with the necessary six victory minimum?

The task at hand for the Dawgs is to find a way to win two of these final three contests vs. Arizona State (6-3), at Colorado (3-6) or vs. Washington State (5-4) in the Apple Cup Game.

If we pull this off, then perhaps we'll be off to Louisiana for a spot in the 2021 Poulan Weed Eater Bowl!

Maybe I should focus on Husky

hockey more the rest of this Fall

A local high school generously

donated all of these 35 shoulder pads

to the EuroBall cause

A new team in Spain's Alicante area, the Ibi Industriales, will soon be receiving them to help get their program make the transition from a flag football only club to adding their first tackle team.

The Industriales' Rafa Manzano, a former Murcia Cobras player/coach and good friend, had contacted me on Monday about his new club's varied equipment needs.

Two days later, VOILÀ!

It's not nearly close to all of what they needs but it's a start.

Laurie and I had a

movie and a dinner date

This was a Wes Anderson directed film whose previews led on to believe that it was made in a style similar to another of his pictures that we both loved, The Grand Budapest Hotel.

While many of the same actors were in both movies and the styles were indeed similar, The French Dispatch paled in comparison though it did have its moments of enjoyment.

Our post-movie dinner at the Freda's Pizzeria/Topa Topa Brewing Co./Rori's Artisanal Ice Creamery complex in Old Town Camarillo was great as always.

On to this week's edition of Friday Night Lights . . .

We had a chance for a rare twi-night doubleheader this weekend thanks to some kind of labor dispute between the Los Angeles Unified School District and their bus driver's union.

The bottom line is that, until the dispute is resolved, the bus drivers would not ply their craft in the evenings. Thus all of this week's C.I.F.-L.A. City Section playoff games were kicking off at 4:00 p.m.

I was headed to a Division 2 playoff game to watch one of the two schools that I've been helping by doing analytic breakdowns of their game videos.

The game featured . . .

The Cesar Chavez H.S. Eagles

4 wins - 5 losses

#16 seed in the D2 playoffs

at

The El Camino Real H.S. Royals

2 wins - 7 losses

#1 seed in the D2 playoffs

In the C.I.F.-Los Angeles City Section there are four playoff divisions for 11-man football plus one more bracket for schools playing eight-man football.

Based on the CalPreps Power Rankings, the City's eight best teams are placed in the Open Division. Then the next best 16 schools are bracketed into the D1 playoffs.

Schools ranked 25-40 go into D2 and, finally, the 41st-56th ranked teams go into the D3 playoffs.

That is how the 25th ranked overall Royals, who I have been helping, wound up as the #1 seed in D2.

It must be noted that in the D3 City playoffs the #4 seeded Narbonne H.S. Gauchos entered the playoffs with a glossy 0-9 record as the Power Rankings 44th best club in Los Angeles. 

It was a contrast in styles to be sure

Chavez brought a now rarely seen, two back-one tight end power running attack to the contest. They only threw a few passes in the game but when they did, they were really bad.

The Eagles relied on long, time consuming drives but that strategy came with a price as though they were big and physical, they were lacking in breakaway speed.

As a result, any negative yardage plays or penalties disrupted their odds of scoring greatly.

Elk Camino Real was running the much more common spread offense with a good blend of running and passing with enough speed to create issues for the Eagles.

In a solid performance, the Royals defended their #1 seed status with a convincing 27-6 victory.

The Jefferson H.S. Democrats

will be ECR's Quarter-Final opponent

In a mild upset, the #9 seeded Democrats (7-4) beat the #8 seeded Fremont H.S. Pathfinders (5-5) 24-20 in their opening game of the D2 playoffs.

This Quarter-Final game will again be played at 4:00 p.m. next Friday at El Camino Real H.S.

Unless the bus driver's dispute gets resolved this week.

After the ECR game in Woodland Hills, I was off to pick up son Michael in Camarillo to go watch the other squad that I've been helping with analytics in their first round C.I.F.-Southern Section D8 playoff game in Ventura, the Buena H.S. Bulldogs.

The combatants in this one were . . .

The Paraclete H.S. Spirits

5 wins - 5 losses

#15 seed in the D8 playoffs

at

The Buena H.S. Bulldogs

2021 Pacific View League Champions

7 wins - 3 losses

#2 seed in the D8 playoffs

The Spirits were HUGE compared to the Bulldogs, that was obvious in watching the two teams warming up.

The real issue was whether we would be able to actually see the game as a fog bank had already enveloped the stadium.

See what I mean

As usual, we were on Buena's sideline for this game but we were missing young Jacob because he was not feeling 100% (who does at this point of the season) and he had a soccer playoff game at 8:00 a.m. the next morning.

The Paraclete RB #24 was a BEAST

The result of an amazing effort

by the Buena punt team

The Bulldogs' punter was aiming for the famed Coffin Corner where is ball hit at about the five yard line and went directly and quickly in a straight line towards the end zone.

A Buena player sprinting at top speed dove and with his left hand slapped the pigskin out of bounds at the one yard line.

It was an amazing play by a dedicated special teams player!

The fog was not getting any better

Big catch to set up Buena's

final TD of the game

I wonder if the Paraclete QB

has any idea where his intended

receiver actually is on this play?

Buena rode their 14 explosive plays that each gained 10+ yards to a solid win, 31-13.

Those 14 plays gained a total of 302 yards, a 21.6 yard/play average.

Now the 8-3 Bulldogs will travel to Orange County for their Quarter-Final game against . . .

The El Dorado H.S. Hawks

2021 North Hills League Tri-Champions

8 wins - 3 losses

#7 seed in the D8 playoffs

The Hawks won their opening round game over the #10 seeded Orange Vista H.S. Coyotes (6-5) by a score of 28-21.

Saturday means but one thing . . . SOCCER!

Granddaughter Mary's soccer season ended last week, no playoffs at her age.

Grandson Jacob's Scorpions club had a Semi-Final playoff game on an overcast morning against the Blue Eagles.

Jacob started the game in Goal

That only lasted until the end of

the First Quarter with the score

1-0 in the Scorpions favor

On the attack

Here comes the defense

Battling

Race to the ball

It was the most competitive game of the season and both teams played extremely well.

At the end of regulation play it was Scorpions 1 - Blue Eagles 1.

After two, five minute overtime periods it was still 1-1.

Time for the exciting Penalty Kick Shootout to decide things once and for all.

The Blue Eagles moved on to the Finals by winning Shootout 4-1.

Only one thing to do now to deal with the pain . . .

Have some cupcakes!

Mary scored a delicious cupcake too!

GREAT season Jacob!

We had a wonderful time watching both kids play this Fall.

Another week of excitement looms this coming week, I can just feel it!