Joe Torosian
Good Afternoon!
Note to Whittier Christian HC Sergio Gradilla: Stay healthy…Far too many important games down the road than to risk disappointing me with an injury to a key player. Don’t even let Rudy Robles be part of “Jumbo” package…
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The Mid: “Coach you owe me a Chalk Talk?”
MoonMan: “I owe you more than that.”
(Dang straight! But I’ll settle for my Chalk Talk)
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“Current Bonita starting quarterback Greg Spathias is the son of my former defensive coordinator Hector Spathias,” says former South El Monte HC Erick Escamilla.
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Villathedevil called me this morning and gave me a “Bad Dude” recommendation. La Serna linebacker Craig Jones.
“Dude was everywhere last night,” said Villathedevil, who also mentioned he was selling all stock in La Mirada. “(Mike) Moschetti tore his team a new one after the game last night.”
The Lancers beat the Matadores 32-28.
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The Fortuitous Nature of the Universe
If you could have seen the way the ball bounced into El Monte’s Memo Silva’s hands late in the first half Thursday night, after Steven Cabrera caught and then coughed up a pass from Manuel Santa Cruz, and was taken for a touchdown you would have thought the Lions had been predestined for victory.
Or that you were watching a new gadget play courtesy of Boise State.
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Note to El Monte Offensive Line: You guys got great size and a potentially great running back. Get a better push going and watch Mikey Jimenez go for 1,500 plus.
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The Crescenta Valley community is mourning the death of former Falcons HC Gordon Warnock at the age of 79.
Interesting fact about Warnock is he guided CV to its only CIF title in 1973. The team they beat? Monrovia, 14-7 at Citrus College. Al Staie’s touchdown from one-foot out with 2:31 to play secured the titled for Warnock’s team.
Do you know that is the very last time Crescenta Valley and Monrovia met on the football field? Thirty-seven years have passed and they have yet to play again.
Then again the Wildcats never have had a rematch against Verbum Dei after falling to the them 7-0 in the CIF finals of 1982 (also at Citrus).
M-Town has not played Mira Costa since falling, 28-14, to them in the 1997 title bout. But…It did get its hands on Paso Robles again after losing to the them in the 1998 finals…In the 1999 finals (at Citrus) they fell 24-10.
What does all this have to do with the price of lettuce? Tonight the Wildcats get a shot at redemption when they go to San Dimas with a feeling that they need to prove something.
Being winless in nine CIF title games won’t be the point for the Monrovia faithful…the point will be about having their team prove the weather was a factor last December when the Saints won the crown 12-7 while being deluged in a storm best suited for Noah and his ark.
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I come from the angle that it rained on both sides of the field that night…So I hope I fair better than Peterson did on the M-Town sideline a few weeks ago when he foolishly picked against them…
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On this date in 1971 first year Monrovia HC Tom Paton lost his debut 20-15 at Cantwell…(Cantwell …again)
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Also on this same date in 1993 fullback Eric McMurtrey scored on a 2-yard run with 7:09 to play to give Temple City a 13-6 victory over Arcadia. “It was ugly, but it’s a win,” said Rams HC Gabe Soumakian…
Same night in Palmdale, Muir’s Shaun Haslip (13-139-yds) scored on a 73-yard run and the Mustangs rolled to a 35-9 win.
Same night in Pomona, Baldwin Park got two fourth quarter touchdown passes from Eric Robles and beat the Red Devils 13-0.
On this date in 1999 Arroyo’s Matt Vogel scored three touchdowns, including a 98-yard kick-off return and a 47-yard interception return, in the Knights 44-14 victory over Walnut at Ken Gunn Stadium.
And…It was on this night in 1999 that Los Altos worked Temple City for 59-6 victory at home. The Rams turned the ball over seven times (four picks/three fumbles) and were beat down by LA quarterback Felipe Aguilar who went 10 of 11 160 yards and three touchdowns.
Before the first half was even over Temple City loyalists were accusing Los Altos HC Greg Gano of running up the score.
“Those guys were stunting and running an eight man front,” Gano told the Star News. “I told their coach at halftime, stop stunting and I’ll stop throwing.”
The situation remained heated into the 2000 season when the Conquerors went to North Field and beat the Rams 30-0. After the game at midfield more than a few words were exchanged between Gano’s and Mike Mooney’s coaching staffs.
Last Add Temple City-Los Altos 1999: In the whole scheme of things the game, outcome, and drama is merely a footnote compared to what happened late in the contest.
A freshman named Eric Reed broke off three solid runs and scored the Rams lone touchdown in a scaled down coming out party. Later Eric became Desmond Reed. (I think he turned out alright).
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As someone who routinely had his tail kicked as a ball player and coach, I don’t have a problem with someone running up the score on me. If a coach wants to or doesn’t want to doesn’t matter. Very seldom was I, as a coach, in a position to “call off the dogs” and with the kind of players I had they didn’t know what it meant to “call off the dogs” anyway. But after a certain point, I’d clean out the bench and get other guys in.
On the flipside however…If my team was getting worked, I wanted the team doing it to them to work them all the more. One game I remember specifically telling the opposing coach to feel free about calling timeouts and pressing even when he was up by thirty or forty points.
My perspective was for my guys and even my own kids when they played, was to show them how awful things could get when they didn’t work hard or prepare. I them wanted to understand the full expanse between themselves and the guys beating them. To know those guys were winning because they prepared, worked hard, and took it seriously. The victory they were achieving wasn’t about the refs giving them all the calls or a few bad breaks…
I also felt as every coach should in the life lesson application that my guys needed to understand the world didn’t and life in general didn’t “call off the dogs” …life and the world keeps on coming…and you can’t just take a knee and expect it to be all okay.
So if you don’t like getting your tail kicked…do something about it.
Okay…I’ve stepped off my soapbox…
Stay thirsty my friends…
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