Wonderful Family Time, Another VC Star Game of the Week Podcast and a Long Overdue Get-Together with Dear Friends

Tue.-Mon., April 6-12, 2012

We enjoyed a GREAT week that was highlighted by the arrival of our Las Vegas family contingent, Andy, Jenn and Kevin.

They were here for a belated Easter/Mike's birthday celebration during Spring Break from school and to see Mike, Vanessa, Jacob and Mary's new home in Camarillo.

Sons Andrew and Michael

We had our belated Easter/Birthday Bash at Mike's home.

Young Kevin just had to try on

a football helmet that had

been donated for shipment to

Italy's Varese Skorpions

A Star Wars themed bounce house in

the back yard was the PERFECT

addition to the festivities

 

Mary and I enjoying a bit of

bounce house quiet time

Having the rules of the day's

Easter egg hunt explained

in great detail

The search begins . . .

Mary finds her first egg

Mary, Jacob and Kevin all found

their fair share of eggs

Mary found a good one!

Laurie had pre-made Easter baskets

for each of the grandkids

Michael's birthday cake complete

with a Los Angeles Rams horn

It was a wonderful day for

a light saber battle

Ventura County Star

High School Football

Game-of-the-Week Podcast

The 2-1 Oxnard Yellowjackets

at

The 2-1 Buena Bulldogs

I visited with Buena HC Ryan Bolland

to gather some background info

for our podcast

Ryan played for Buena back in the early 2000s when I was the DC there, great young man!

In 2010, Ryan was my outstanding OC in Sweden with the Hässleholm Hurricanes.

RB drill work

Goal Line Fade Route

 

The Bulldogs walking to the stadium

Taylin Butterbaugh is the three year

starting kicker for the Bulldogs

She will attend Idaho State University next year on a Women's Soccer scholarship.

Cool Bulldog run through

Hard selling much Bulldog swag

with the limited attendance at

these Spring games

Warm-Ups

The following game photos are courtesy of the Ventura County Star.

Oxnard had a potent running attack

But Buena came up with key

defense plays like this one

Oxnard proved to be tough on defense

It was a physical game to be sure

Oxnard started a Freshman QB

who was under duress on this play

Buena had a good night throwing

the ball against Oxnard's stout front

It game down to the wire as Oxnard held on to win 16-13.

On to news from the net . . .

1,000% true

How most people see Italy

in their minds

How I see Italy in my mind

Speaking of Italy, isn't it time to start the American football season?

Why, YES it is!

Next Sunday, the Varese Skorpions will open the 2021 DII season on the road against the Bergamo Lions.

The Skorpion flag teams opened their

season last Sunday but I have not

heard any of the results

Skorpion American football is finally

back after the Covid-19 cancelled

2020 campaign

The Italian DI season opened

last weekend

The three time defending National Champion Milano Seamen got off to a rough start losing in the last 20 seconds.

DI Standings after Week #1

A FUN End to the Weekend

After a year long social hiatus,

we finally met for dinner with

good friends

We met at the Parkway Grill in Pasadena and had a fabulous three plus hour meal while enjoying an even much better time renewing old friendships.

With Mike and Susan D'Antuono

and Paul and Joanne Sabolic

All six of us had already had our two Covid vaccine shots over two weeks ago so we felt cautiously safe in our meeting.

Such great fun that we all missed so much, a great end to a great week.

The 109th Renewal of Ventura County's Oldest High School Football Rivalry

 

Tue.-Mon., Mar. 30 - Apr. 5, 2021

This was the week of what has become my favorite high school game of the year in Ventura County.

It was time for the 109th edition

of the Big Game

Santa Paula Cardinals (0-2)

at

Fillmore Flashes (1-1)

Don't worry about the less than glossy season records, this game will be much more intense than the usual high school game you might attend.

What I love about this game is the small town, one high school district nature of the two schools.

These two agricultural towns are separated by only nine miles on Highway 126 with nothing but citrus groves to be seen along the way.

This is definitely not a game between schools laden with transfer rich rosters as is so often the case nowadays at the high school level in Southern California.

The vast majority of the players on these two squads come from second or third generation families who attended one of these two high schools.

In other words . . .

. . . there is an Old School

feel to this rivalry

The two schools first played in 1924 and have played at least once, and some years twice, since then with four exceptions.

In 1942, because of World War II, all high school football was cancelled in Ventura County.

In 1968, the schools were placed in different leagues and could not find a mutually open non-league date to play.

The Maria Fire in the mountains surrounding Santa Paula forced the cancellation of the 2019 game.

Of course, the strict Covid-19 countermeasures made the 2020 contest and all high school football in California unplayable.

So, here we are in the third weekend of the unique Coronavirus inspired 2021 Spring Season finally getting these two communities back on the field.

As for the series itself, after 108 games, Santa Paula leads by a substantial margin of 61-40-7.

I was scheduled to do the color commentary for the Ventura Orthopedics/Ventura County Star Game-of-the-Week podcast of Saturday night's game with play-by-play announcer Joe Curley.

Thus, I headed first to Santa Paula to interview the Cardinals veteran and highly successful Head Coach Mike Montoya and watch their practice on Tuesday.

Feisty looking Cardinal mascot

Good set of rules for the

SPHS locker room

No roughhousing?

Isn't that the very essence of a boy's high school locker room?

Cardinals working on Kickoff Return

blocking in a 1-on-1 situation

Get-offs and Blocking out

of the chutes

As I suspected, even though they are 0-2 this Spring, today the Cardinals were focused and upbeat knowing that a win over the Flashes would cure a panacea of ills.

On Wednesday, it was on to Fillmore . . .

Frightening is the word

that comes to mind on gazing at

Fillmore's Flashman mascot

Guys with semi-Cyclops looks, spiked hair and lightning bolt tattoos wearing only Speedos have always intimidated me.

The Flashes were also upbeat

The Fillmore's positive minded, first year Head Coach Charlie Weiss would not allow the Flashes to practice in any other way.

Now on to a long Saturday of American football ...

Jorge Zaragoza was a lineman for us back in the day when I coached at Rio Mesa H.S. He is now the RMHS JV team's Offensive Line Coach and again invited me to be his guest at Saturday afternoon's Rio Mesa Spartans at Oxnard Yellowjackets game that kicked-off at 1:00 p.m. Since the Santa Paula-Fillmore game had a 7:00 p.m. scheduled start, I accepted his gracious invitation.

It must be remembered that in these Spring high school games each player and coach is only allowed two adult guests to be in attendance, no kids allowed.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day for

American football at Oxnard H.S.!

Both teams scored TDs in the last 65 seconds of the game as the Yellowjackets prevailed 13-12.

I really enjoyed the Second Half of the game sitting in the stands with longtime Rio Mesa boosters Linda Zilisch and Regina Voshell.

They are two wonderful ladies and we had a lot of fun catching up to be sure.

It was time to head over to Fillmore for the Big Game but I wanted to get there early enough to have dinner at one of my favorite Ventura County hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants.

This is THE place in Fillmore

for a pre-game meal if you ask me

It is only a few blocks from Fillmore's stadium and their Burrito al Pastor is MUY BUENO!

The indoor seating decor is

fabulous as well

Fully sated, it was on to the Big Game . . .

The Big Game's Leather Helmet Trophy

It is a late 1930s style white leather helmet with alternating cardinal (SPHS) and blue (FHS) panels.

Fillmore's Victory Bell

Unfortunately for the home crowd, it would be silent tonight.

I've got to climb up THAT ladder to the

top of the Press Box to do our podcast?

If I were to lose my grip and fall to the left, it would be about a 50 foot drop to the asphalt below.

Thank goodness that I'm in top notch physical condition!

The view from high atop the Press Box

of the Fillmore warm-up

Santa Paula taking the field

Note the lack of visiting stands across the way at Fillmore. It is the same at Santa Paula.

The sharing of the only set of stands no matter who is the home team is another charming part of this rivalry.

The following photos are from the Ventura County Star's coverage of the game.

While Rock-em, Sock-em ground

games were the order of the day . . .

. . . there were some spectacular

plays made through the air . . .

. . . and sometimes almost made

In the end, Santa Paula sensational,

opportunistic defense paved the way 

to a 28-16 come from behind victory

The Cardinals lengthened their series lead after the 109th edition of the Big game to 62-40-7.

Due to fires and pestilence, Cardinals and Flashes fans had to wait two years, five months and 15 days between series games 108 and 109.

Now, we are now only a few months away from the 110th renewal of this historic Ventura County rivalry during the normal 2021 Fall campaign.

Reading Is FUNdamental!

I really enjoy the BBC's televised

interpretations of the Father Brown genre

This book that included 24 Father Brown short stories was a bit more tedious.