University of La Verne and the End of the High School Football Season

My quest to enable new EuroBall players continued today with a 90 minute drive to the University of La Verne to meet with five of their Seniors who are interested in prolonging their playing careers overseas.

But first, I encountered an interesting EuroBall reversal.

Rich Worsell, University of La Verne

Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach

It was interesting to meet Rich because I found his EuroBall experience to be quite unique.

The 2011 season was his first at La Verne after coaching the previous seven seasons at three mid-western colleges (Illinois College, Milliken College and Lakeland College).

The interesting part of Rich's story is that he was born and raised in England. He is a 2003 graduate of the U.K.'s Aberystwyth University. While in England he served as his Alma Mater's Head Football Coach for three seasons. In an effort to learn more about the game, he was also the Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator of the Sussex Thunder and the Offensive Line Coach of the Great Britain Bulldogs.

Rich is a very nice guy who is following his dream.

Also, ATTENTION all EuroBall teams or European all-star teams. Rich is trying to find one of you to come to California the week of September 1, 2012 to scrimmage the University of La Verne Leopards. They are a Division III team located about an hour's drive east of the Los Angeles Airport. They will be able to provide you with housing in the campus dorms during your stay.

Great opportunity!

La Verne Leopard Seniors

A very attentive group of young men who showed some great interest and are all highly recommended by their college coaches.

On the far left is Arsian Erdinc proudly displaying a certificate stating that he was named to the 2011 All-SCIAC Second Team as a DB.

Second from the left is QB Thomas Arguello who has been in contact with me for about the last ten days. Thomas is scheduled to sign a contract this weekend to play in France's top division for the Nice Dolphins.

I hope that they all make the exciting move to EuroBall.

C.I.F. Playoffs

The playoffs ended in the C.I.F. Southern Section last weekend. In our Western Division, Arroyo Grande (13-1) defeated Culver City (10-4) by a score of 42-14 on Friday night.

The following Sunday, the Commisioners from the ten individual C.I.F. Sections met to decide which teams would get to play one more game in the California State Bowl games this Friday and Saturday at the Home Depot Center in in Carson, CA.

These Bowls are a North vs. South affair with each Bowl trying to match up the best two teams based on a combination of school size and competitive level. To be considered for a Bowl invitation a team must have won their Section Championship, no easy task in and of itself.

The North is made up of the following six Sections that represent a total of 590 schools: Central Coast, North Coast, Northern, Oakland, Sac-Joaquin and San Francisco.

The South is made up of the following four Sections that represent 920 schools: Central, Los Angeles, San Diego and Southern.

The Bowl match-ups, with the Northern team named first, are:

Open Division

Concord De La Salle (12-1) vs. Westlake (14-0)

Division I

San Jose Bellarmine (12-1) vs. Santa Margarita (12-2)

Division II

Loomis Del Oro (13-1) vs. La Mesa Helix (12-1)

Division III

Moraga Campolindo (14-0) vs. Fresno Washington (13-0)

Division IV

Le Grand (12-0) vs. Sierra Canyon (14-0)

Reading is FUNdamental

The Knights Templar? That was enough for me!

Another great read.

Cal Lutheran, Cornell, Newbury Park and National Geographic

Another week comes to a close but I do have a lot of football doings to report.

California Lutheran University

Head Coach Ben McEnroe

and some of his Seniors

Today was the first day of my annual post-season EuroBall recruiting tour of Southern California college Seniors. As usual, I started at nearby Cal Lu only 20 minutes from our home.

I was able to talk with six of CLU's outstanding players who have been part of three consecutive SCIAC championship teams.

We met for about 90 minutes and Coach McEnroe indicated that all six would be great fits for any team in Europe.

Part of my talk to each of the schools that I visit deals with the favorable level of competition in Europe. Coach McEnroe was quick to note today that in the 50 year history Cal Lu football, the Kingsmen's all-time career rushing leader was Fredrik Nanhed with 2,938 career rushing yards. He played for Cal Lu in 1995-96 and 1998. He was a player who came straight to CLU from Sweden.

You could look it up!

I'll be meeting on Sunday with the University of La Verne's QB Thomas Arguello and coach Brent Baier to talk over an offer Thomas has received from a team in France.

I really do enjoy helping players land jobs in EuroBall.

GO BIG RED!!!

Tanner Wrout, Rio Mesa's outstanding FB/LB, took a recruiting trip to Cornell University over the past weekend.

He fell in love with the Ivy League college and has decided to attend Cornell's Ithaca, New York campus in the Fall as he continues his football playing career.

What an awesome opportunity for a fine young man. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Mike Contreras with

Hayden Extrom, the NPHS JV

Defensive Player of the Year

Laurie and I joined Vanessa and our "grandson to be named later" on Tuesday night for Mike's J.V. football awards dinner at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center. It was a very nice affair and I was proud of how Mike presented himself professionally to the assembled players and their parents.

The cake was good too!

Finally, the December, 2011 edition of National Geographic arrived at our house today.

Included in each edition is an "Are You a Geo-Genius?" quiz.

See if you can answer this month's Question #3:

"Palermo and Catania are cities on which Italian island?"

Alamo Bowl Bid, Football Awards and more . . .

On Sunday, the College Bowl Game matchups were announced. The Dawgs are bowling again!!!

Washington Huskies (7-5)

PAC-12

vs.

Baylor Bears (9-3)

Big XII

Thursday, December 29, 2011

8:00 p.m.

The good news is that we will be spending a few days in beautiful San Antonio, Texas, joined by sons Andy and Mike to see the Huskies play in a bowl game for the second straight season. We have never been to the "Cradle of Texas Liberty" but the famed Alamo and the fun Riverwalk should be fun side trips during our time there.

Historically, Baylor leads the series 3-1, but the last game was in Waco in 1965.

Baylor QB Robert Griffin III

RG3, as he is now known, and his fellow Baylor Bears are indeed the bad news. For the second year in a row, the Dawgs are matched up against a very strong Big XII opponent.

Griffin is one of the five finalists making the trip to New York City this Saturday for the Heisman Trophy presentation. Many experts say that he has passed Stanford's QB Andrew Luck and is now the front runner for this prestigious award emblematic of the best college football player in the land.

The critical matchup is the Baylor offense which averages a whopping 571.3 yards per game in scoring at a 43.5 point a game clip vs. the Huskies rather porous defense that gives up 426.3 yards and 33.3 points per contest.

Rio Mesa Football Awards Night

Co-MVPs

Tanner Wrout and Jordan Nunnery

Well deserved.

A rare picture of Santa Claus at his day job

Multi-Media Updates

I found this DVD at the Camarillo Library.

In it, a camera crew aboard a helicopter flies all over the island giving one a bird's eye view of the Jewel of the Mediterranean.

Wonderful memories indeed!

Reading is FUNdamental

The concept was simple enough, what if John Wilkes Booth had some how escaped from that burning barn after assassinating President Lincoln in 1965 and made his way out West?

The seed for this 2010 novel was planted in 1947 when author Barnaby Conrad was serving as the personal secretary in Santa Barbara, California to Nobel Prize in Literature winner Sinclair Lewis.

It was the veteran writer Lewis who had the idea for the book but he wanted Conrad, who now lives in nearby Carpinteria, to write it.

Conrad has been a prolific writer in his own right having penned 25 books before finally completing this entertaining historical novel. It only took 63 years to get it written and published but it was worth the wait. I liked it.

Granada Hills Semi-Final Playoff Game

On Friday, after getting rear-ended (I'm okay) in the early afternoon, I picked up our son Mike at Newbury Park H.S.

After the usual light meal at El Tepeyac in East L.A., we were off to the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles. Why you say?

Los Angeles City Division II Semi-Finals

#3 seed Granada Hills Highlanders (7-5)

Fourth Place West Valley League

at

#2 seed John Marshall Barristers (10-2)

Northern League Champions

Modern Day Hi-Tech Spirit Sign

Tweet your pride? Really?

Punting is such a lonely affair

Marshall was proud of their new Field Turf playing surface and all weather track. They do not have lights at their stadium so in order to host this game on campus, they rented three sets of portable mega-lights for the occasion.

What budget crunch?

The Barrister

No, the Marshall mascot is not a coffee making specialist.

A barrister is a lawyer. A barrista is the person who makes your skinny, non-fat, double cap, soy, pumpkin latte -- no whip.

John Marshall was the 4th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from 1801 to 1835. Thus the Barristers moniker.

Why the one hour drive to see this particular playoff game? The simple answer is friendship.

Paul Sabolic taking on the Granada Hills

offensive line single handedly!!!

I first met Paul on the football practice field at the University of Washington in 1967. A fellow offensive lineman, he has always been one of the good guys.

He is listed in the program as the Assistant Head Coach for the Highlanders and spent the game up in the booth spotting for the team.

We would spend the game roaming the Granada Hills sideline while talking football with Paul's son Jason who is a coach at Pierce College.

Nick Boutros, Granada Hills WR

Chunky.

The Highlander Offensive Line

They were impressive from the get-go! Big, strong and physical, they paved the way for work horse running back Brian Sanchez who had 38 carries for 225 yards and 4 TDs.

They also did a nice job in pass protection, a Sabolic specialty, as their QB Joshua Szin completed 16 of his 23 passes for 262 yards and a TD.

Great Line Get-Off

If you do this well, it can lead to a . . .

. . . PANCAKE BLOCK!!!

After one period, it was a 7-7 tie.

Marshall's DE Michael Ahumada #2

He is listed at 5'-7" and 175 lbs.

I think that was being very generous.

Ahumada was scrappy and kept coming back for more play after play after play even though he was, at times, being abused by the Granada Hills line.

Granada Hills knocking on the door

A great first half with lots of action saw Marshall leading at the intermission 20-13.

I had the pleasure of talking to Paul's wife Joanne during the halftime festivities. A lot is going on with both of our families as it turns out.

Barrister Kickoff Return Wedge

Unfortunately for this group, Granada Hills has an unidentified player who will certainly be the First Team All-State Wedge Breaker.

Ouch!

Barristers turn to score

At the end of the three quarters, it was Marshall in control 34-19.

That's when it got interesting.

Granada Hills put on a furious comeback to tie the score at 34-34 with 1:10 left in the game.

Overtime?

Marshall's RB Walter Moctezuma

The Barristers' offense came back to life led by the slashing running style of Moctezuma who had 19 carries for 175 yards and 3 TDs.

With only 20 seconds left in the game, Marshall kicked a 42 yard Field Goal to win the contest 37-34.

WHAT A BALL GAME!!!

#2 seed Marshall (10-2) will now meet #1 seed South East (12-1) this coming Friday for the L.A. City Division II crown at East Los Angeles College.

Meanwhile, in the C.I.F. Southern Section . . .

2011 Western Division Playoffs

Semi-Final Playoff Results:

Culver City 37 - Santa Monica 0

#2 seed Arroyo Grande 45 - #3 seed Chaminade 36

Championship Game:

Friday, December 9th

Culver City (10-3) Ocean League Wild Card at

#2 seed Arroyo Grande (12-1) PAC-7 League #1

Thun Tiger Pride

We bought a new couch on Saturday but this huge sign for sale at the furniture store may be an omen of good things to come in Switzerland.

Laurie said, "No."

The Last Ember

Reading is FUNdamental

This week's book took me from Rome to Jerusalem and back again.

You've got Jews, Catholics and Muslims all battling for a historical/archaeological treasure that was lost 2,000 years ago but where?

If you like lots of Latin, religious history and even the Nazis sprinkled into a novel, then this might be just the book for you.

As usual, my Catholic Church takes a bit of a beating in this one.

We're used to it.

CFL Legends Luncheon Skirmish

Joe Kapp - Quarterback

University of California

British Columbia Lions 1961-66

Angelo Mosca - Defensive Tackle

University of Notre Dame

Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1958-59 and 1963-72

As a follow-up to my previous post about the Canadian Football League's 99th Grey Cup Game, you need to click on the website below for a bizarre sequence at the CFL's Legends Luncheon last Friday.

Joe Kapp, 73 years old, was the B.C. Lions' QB in the 1963 Grey Cup. Their opponents that year were the Hamilton Tiger-Cats led by Defensive Tackle Angelo Mosca.

Apparently Mosca, now 74 years old, had a questionable/late hit on Kapp's teammate Willie Fleming. Fleming, the Lions best running back, was knocked out of the game with a concussion by Mosca's hit. Many believed that that was the turning point of the game.

The Tiger-Cats went on to win the 1963 Grey Cup by a score of 21-10.

I guess that it is sometimes really hard to get over a loss, take a look at this video clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kThLSiykiHY

Grey Cup Finals

Amidst all of the great high school, college and NFL football games played over the long Thanksgiving Day weekend, you may have missed that on Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Canadian Football League's Championship game, the 99th Grey Cup, was being contested.

Now you may ask why I find this CFL game of interest so, let us flashback to Friday night, August 5, 2011 . . .

Grandpa and Kevin watching their

first football game together

The Tank was only two days old and an obscure regular season CFL game was on TV in Las Vegas, the British Columbia Lions (0-5) at the Saskatchewan Roughriders (1-4). Still, it was football and it is never too early to start young boy on the road to football mania.

We watched as the winless Lions pulled off a 24-11 victory to finally enter the win column after six games. No big deal you would think.

Now, lets fast forward to yesterday and the . . .

2011 CFL Championship Game

So who was playing? It was . . .

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (11-8)

CFL Eastern Division Champions

vs.

The British Columbia Lions (12-7)

CFL Western Division Champions

Yes indeed, after that miserable 0-5 start to their season, the B.C. Lions went 12-2 to earn a spot in the Grey Cup.

Unfortunately, they had lost both games this season to the Blue Bombers by scores of 25-20 in Week #5 and again in Week #7, 30-17.

Sunday would be a different day for the streaking Lions as they dominated Winnipeg in winning the Grey Cup by a final tally of 34-23.

Was it a coincidence that the Lions fortunes changed drastically after Tank saw them play on that Friday night, his first ever football game?

Gibbs does not believe in coincidence and neither do I.

It was the sixth Grey Cup Championship in B.C. Lions' history having previously won it all in 1964, 1985, 1994, 2000 and 2006.

Thanksgiving

As I have said in every blogpost about this most American of holidays, Thanksgiving is ALL about family, football and food . . . but not necessarily in that order.

As for family, it was bittersweet as it would mark our first Thanksgiving since both Bill and Florene Gardner passed away.

They were missed.

Of course, the joy of sharing little Kevin's first Thanksgiving was fun.

We also had a chuckle as we watched Vanessa waddling around with "a baby boy to be named later."

As I said, bittersweet but . . .

"THE DOCTOR WAS IN THE HOUSE!!!"

GOD THIS WAS GOOD!!!

My sister Linda has become one of America's great Thankgiving Day chefs, PERIOD!!!

This turkey was her best ever and, no, I have no idea where those two missing strips of bacon went.

Linda with her sous chef Michael

Everybody tends to crowd

into the kitchen on this day

The Tables were set . . .

. . . and the food was ready!

The food was incredible and I didn't overeat for once!

As for family, everyone took their turn in meeting the Tank for the first time.

With Great Granmother Chuny

With Uncle Mike watching

the Cowboys nose out the Dolphins

With our niece Lauren

This makes them???

Meeting my sister Marilyn and Aunt Katie

Thursday was over and we can't begin to say how much fun we all had.

Steve Swindle

Steve is a former player of ours from days together at Thousand Oaks H.S. in the early 1970's.

One of the nice things about this four day American holiday weekend is the chance to visit with friends. Steve stopped by our house to drop off an autographed copy of a new novel by Barnaby Conrad.

The book is titled "The Second Life of John Wilkes Booth" and I can't wait to read it after I finish my current tome.

It is truly a small world as Steve has come to know Mr. Conrad personally and as a youth I devoured Conrad's book "La Fiesta Brava."

This was Conrad's quintessential book about the controversial world of bullfighting.

For me, it was the mini-bible for a Spanish tradition that both my Grandfather Evaristo and Father Jorge loved. Their passion for bullfighting which was passed on to me, was fueled by Conrad's book and one of my goals for this summer is to witness a corrida in Madrid's Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas.

I have read La Fiesta Brava more than once.

After watching the Lions-Packers, Cowboys-Dolphins, Ravens-49ers and Texas-Texas A&M games on Thursday, we needed more football on Friday!

Let's see now, on Friday we were able to tune in to the LSU-Arkansas, Pitt-West Virginia, Colorado-Utah, Cal-Arizona State and Houston-Tulsa games. WOW!

Today, we had to say goodbye to Kevin as he headed down to Orange County as Jenn and Andy introduced him to even more family before heading home to Las Vegas.

But first, we went to Cronies Sports Grill for breakfast to enjoy their famous Breakfast Burrito. It was good as usual and we even ran into our good friend Debi Murphy and her son Ian.

More introductions.

With Michigan Fan Debi Murphy

Hey, it's Saturday, that means COLLEGE GAMEDAY!!!

First up was on the old TV for us today was Michigan-Ohio State followed by Oregon-Oregon State.

I am about to sign off before the Apple Cup game between Washington and Washington State. If I can still watch more football, it will be Notre Dame-Stanford and UCLA-USC after we beat the Cougars!

Meanwhile, in high school football this weekend . . .

2011 Western Division Playoffs

Quarter-Final Playoff Results:

Culver City 51 - Righetti 28

Santa Monica 29 - #4 seed Ventura 24

#3 seed Chaminade 31 - San Luis Obispo 27

#2 seed Arroyo Grande 49 - St. Francis 28

Semi-Final Games:

Friday, December 2nd

Santa Monica (11-1) Ocean League #1 at

Culver City (9-3) Ocean League Wild Card

#3 seed Chaminade (10-2) Mission League #2 at

#2 seed Arroyo Grande (11-1) PAC-7 League #1

Are you serious?

They are all related to me?

REALLY?

Great Granndma Chuny with Kevin

In a somewhat unrelated matter,

GO DAWGS!!!

The Leopard

Reading is FUNdamental

Another Great Mystery

Jo Nesbø.

Note the dropping of the "Ø" in his surname in the English language edition of this excellent mystery yarn that takes us from Hong Kong to the Congo and finally to Oslo.

It is Detective Harry Hole of the Oslo Crime Squad at his finest and, unfortunately, darkest.

If you decide to get into Nesbø's Dectective Harry Hole series, then I advise you to read these excellent mystery novels in order.

I didn't.

Trying to read this series in sequential order does have a glitch, the first two books have still not been translated from Norwegian into English nor has the latest tome.

Here is the sequential order that you should be attempting:

1. The Bat Man - not available in the USA

2. The Cockroaches - not available in the USA

3. The Redbreast

4. Nemesis - I still have not been able to find this one at my local library

5. The Devil's Star

6. The Redeemer

7. The Snowman

8. The Leopard

9. Phantom - not available in the USA

I have finished The Redbreast, The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, The Snowman and The Leopard. Each one has been a fascinating tour of man's dark psyche.

The Beach Bowl

2011 Beach Bowl

On Saturday night I joined Ryan Bolland at the Ventura College Sportsplex for the 2011 Beach Bowl sponsored by Joe Kapp Real Estate.

This was a Junior College football bowl game that brought the local J.C. season to a close. The game featured the host Ventura College Pirates (6-4) against the College of the Desert Roadrunners (6-4).

The Pirates were ranked #7 in Southern California while the Roadrunners were ranked #10.

COD, which is located in Palm Desert, featured an outstanding offense that averaged 39.1 points per game and 433.1 yards per game in the regular season.

VC would counter with a strong defense that allows only 86.1 yards rushing per game and 22.9 points per game.

It was my first time at VC's new Sportsplex which, as it turns out, is a very nice facility. I woofed down a delicious tri-tip sandwich and a Diet Coke and I was ready for some football!

VC QB Chase Smith outrunning

COD LB Michael Mehling

As fortune would have it, this turned into a low scoring affair. Both defenses played well with VC Defensive Line Coach Ted Lawrence's big boys applying lots of pressure to minimize the Roadrunners' offensive output. This group racked up 5 sacks on the night, incredible considering that COD had only allowed 8 sacks in the previous 10 games!

Former Rio Mesa H.S. player and coach Tom Lawrence is the Special Teams Coach for the Pirates. His players also played very well including blocking a punt to aid the VC cause.

The Pirates were able to keep COD off of the scoreboard for the last 27 minutes of the game on their way winning the Beach Bowl.

The final score of this entertaining, hard fought game was Ventura 17 - Desert 16.

2011 NCAA Division III Playoffs

Meanwhile, in the NCAA Division III football playoffs, a first round game in McMinnville, Oregon was played between #8 California Lutheran (8-1) and #5 Linfield (9-0).

This was the third straight season that these two West Coast powerhouses have met in the opening playoff contest with Linfield being victorious in 2009 and 2010. Back in September, in the Pacific Northwest, Linfield handed CLU their only loss of the 2011 season 24-14.

Unfortunately, the Kingsmen's luck did not change yesterday as the Wildcats eeked out another close win over CLU. The final score was Linfield 30 - CLU 27.

Linfield (10-0) will now play the state of Delaware's #7 ranked Wesley Wolverines (10-1). Wesley beat New York state's Hobart Statesmen (7-2) 35-28 in their first round match-up yesterday.

It came down to this

Here Linfield's Tyler Steele breaks the hearts of Kingsmen fans by blocking CLU's last second, 38 yard, game tying field goal attempt.