Game #3 of the Pop Warner Season: Camarillo Stingers at Ventura Packers

Saturday, September 7, 2024

It was a BEAUTIFUL day for American football!

Don't you agree?

We assembled at Buena H.S. in Ventura for Jacob's third game of his 2024 Camarillo Stingers Pop Warner season.

The temperatures were still in the mid-80° range with a nice ocean breeze at the 4:00 p.m. kickoff.

With only 17 players suited for the Stingers, the heat could be an issue as the game wore on.

Camarillo Junior Blue squad was 2-0

The Packers White team was 0-1

Grandson Jacob, #99, with his

teammates before the game

Stingers getting ready to march

Parading in front of our seating location

Jacob getting coached up during

pre-game warm-ups

He would play the entire game at Defensive End with a smattering of snaps at Wide Receiver.

Jacob was one of the four Stingers'

Captains for today's game

The Coin Flip

All that was left was for the Packers

to run through their helmet tunnel

Now we could finally . . .

. . . kickoff the game

The Stingers Kickoff Coverage was

SUPERB!

The Packers started the game with

a good gain on a QB Sneak

Camarillo Defense running to the ball

Pressuring the Ventura QB

This first Offensive play by Camarillo

was a TD run off of the left side

Ahead 8-0, the Stingers Kickoff

Coverage was at it again

The Defense did not let up either

Jacob closing in on a tackle

Battle of the Big Boys in THE PIT

Nice Camarillo block on the

Ventura defender

The Camarillo ground game was

in high gear this afternoon

Defense swarming this Packer RB

A nice Stingers waist-high tackle

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

Thank goodness that Jacob did 

NOT block this Packer in the back

End of the First Quarter

Camarillo - 16

Ventura - 0

Camarillo was on the Goal Line

to start the Second Quarter

 

Pad-Under-Pad

usually wins the play

Ventura trying to run the ball off-tackle

This play was stopped for a minimal gain

Hustle - Hit - Have Heart

Good pass coverage by this Stingers CB

Camarillo continued having great

success running to the left . . .

. . . again and again

See the pass . . .

. . . catch the pass . . .

. . . turn up-field . . .

. . . and score a TD!

Darn easy when you do what the coaches teach you all week.

Goodness, a run to the right!

Going right worked quite nicely

The Stingers led 30-0 with 7:14 left in the Second Quarter in large part due to Ventura's refusal to punt on Fourth Down though deep in their own territory on several possessions.

Leading by 30 points, Mercy Rules were then activated that included a running clock, no more kickoffs and Ventura being allowed to pick any five Stingers players they wanted that would have to sit out the rest of the contest.

The immediate effect was Camarillo only having nine players on the field for the first play of the Packers next Offensive series, a nifty 60-yard Ventura TD scamper.

The health concern for Stingers fans was that with the removal of the five players, Camarillo only had 12 players left to play the final 27:14 of the game in the heat.

Additionally, some Stingers would be forced to play out of position.

Hopefully, the running clock would mitigate our squad's concerns.

Halftime

Camarillo - 30

Ventura - 6

The hand-to-hand combat continued

The Camarillo Defense still battling

Pressuring the Ventura QB again

Jacob coming off the edge

Going Vertical

Pursuing . . .

. . . closing in . . .

. . . Jacob finishing the tackle

Same tackle as seen from the

other side of the field

Is Jacob giving the "Horns Down"

sign in support of any one playing

the Texas Longhorns?

End of the Third Quarter

Camarillo - 30

Ventura - 6

The running clock part of the Mercy Rules was working to perfection.

Another solid Stingers tackle

Defense is all about Arm Wrap . . .

. . . and Team Pursuit

We really need this Big Man

to find the ball on Defense

Hurrying the Packers QB

Close to a Roughing the Passer

penalty but not quite

Solid run game blocking

Is that Ventura CB going down?

Another QB Pressure

GREAT  Dying Cockroach/Pancake

block by this hefty Stinger

It was all over quickly

FINAL SCORE

Camarillo (3-0) - 30

Ventura (0-2) - 6

Another solid win by the Stingers doing what a good team should do to a weaker opponent, dominate and not play down to their adversary's level.

Up next for Camarillo is another road game, this time at Channel Islands H.S. at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 14th. The opponent will be the Oxnard Knights (0-1) going into their game today vs. Santa Barbara Saints Black team (0-2).

No scores have been posted as yet on the Gold Coast Youth Football League's website from any of today's seven Junior American Conference games.

All in all . . .

GREAT JOB STINGERS!

An Extremely HOT Week in Southern California

Mon.-Fri., Sept. 2-6, 2024

Hot enough for you?

That was really not an issue this week as all of Southern California was suffering from an OPPRESSIVE heat wave.

Here in beautiful Camarillo, California the average daily temperature historically is 73°F/22.8°C.

After a tough weather week, on Friday we peaked at 106°F/41.1°C in Camarillo.

Can you say CLIMATE CHANGE?

Regardless of the heat, life simply continued.

Barely.

Jacob and his Stingers mates

practiced four times this week

with LOTS of water breaks

Our son Michael teaches Economics at Newbury Park H.S.

Apparently, on Wednesday, his class started discussing the growing costs of a college education. Therefore he contacted me to see if I could shed any light on what those costs were "back in the day."

I dug out my 1967-1969

University of Washington

all-purpose Bulletin

In it, I found the cost of both

In-State student tuition per Quarter . . .

. . . and Out-of-State quarterly

tuition as well

I loved the tuition break for "Ex-Service Personnel of World Wars I and II."

As for my analysis about the ever increasing tuition/earnings gap, here is what I found.

Since I was from California, I would have had to pay the Out-of-State tuition that was then $275 per Quarter which meant tuition of $825 per academic year. In other words, four years of tuition at the UW in the late 1960s would have cost an Out-of-State student a total of $3,300.

My first teaching just a month after my UW graduation was at Washington H.S. in the Los Angeles Unified School District. My salary for that job on Step 1, Column 1 of the LAUSD pay scale was $7,200 for a year.

If one divides the four year tuition cost by the first year teacher salary ($3,300 ÷ $7,200) you get an answer of 45.8%. That means that I could have covered the entire cost of college with slightly less than one semester of first year teaching salary.

Now, let's look at the same Out-of-State scenario today.

Four years of Out-of-State tuition at the UW today is slightly more now at $162,960.

Step 1, Column 1 on the LAUSD pay scale is currently $66,313.

It would now take two and one half years of teaching in the LAUSD to cover the cost of four years of UW Out-of-State tuition.

A growing crisis for students, parents and grandparents.

This Tuition Gap is definitely a growing concern in America.

On a much happier note, thanks to the generous donations of a local high school, we were able to ship two more boxes of good quality, used football equipment to new teams in need in the ever growing EuroBall scene.

This club is located in Valencia, Spain

The box that we shipped them on Friday

contained 8 helmets and 17 jerseys

About two weeks ago, we shipped the Ricers three additional boxes that contained 12 helmets, 70 jerseys and 106 pants to aide the long dormant Ricers come back to life in 2025.

I had sent a message to one of our coaching contacts in Poland to see if anyone there needed football gear.

By the next day, I was in contact with the General Manager of a new Polish team about to play their first season in 2025.

My newest friend in Poland

Jakub was ecstatic for any and all help that we could give him in getting this new project, the Tarnów Hunters, off the ground.

Fear the Spear

INDEED!

 

We were able to ship the Hunters

26 jerseys and 79 pants

It was a good feeling to help both of these new clubs this week.

Friday Night Lights

Saugus Centurions (1-1) at

Camarillo Scorpions (0-2)

It was Camarillo's first home game of the 2024 season.

The First Quarter was fast and furious

At the end of the first chucker, it was tied at 14 all.

The Second and Third Quarters

belonged to the Scorpions

Camarillo led 35-17 at the Half and 49-17 at the end of the Third Quarter.

It was a BEAUTIFUL night for

American football!

Final Score

Camarillo (1-2) 56 - Saugus (1-2) 24

Looking ahead to more of the weekend's action . . .

Finland's Maple League Championship

Game is being played on Sunday

We will be rooting for Coach Michael Wood's Helsinki Roosters to bring home the Gold.

The Final Four of the ELF

Playoffs will be contested

on Saturday and Sunday too

The new look Los Angeles Rams

start the NFL season in Detroit

on Sunday

I still like the Rams old look

I 100% agree on all

three statements

The wonderful sports that

we all grew up with years ago

Our eighth grade teacher at St. Phillip the Apostle School in Pasadena, California, Sister Mary Thomas Sadistic, was an absolute all-pro at this fine sport while supervising our playground at lunch.

STAY COOL MY FRIENDS!