When will Aztecs get some respect?
We had just rolled to a victory in our league opener. I scored a touchdown, the defense did its job and we won in a rout going away. What a thrill it was for me to have played tailback for the Rio Hondo Rams and walk off the field a winner in our first game of the sixth grade flag football league.
We stomped Durfee- squashed them like a bug on the wall. We turned them into road kill. So I walked, actually ran, the block home from school to let anybody and everybody know about our accomplishment.
I was in flag football heaven until I saw a kid I knew on the block about half way home. “Hey Ernie what’s up?” I said.
“Not much, what’s up with you?” he replied.
“What’s up with me? I’ll tell you what’s up. We just killed Durfee! That’s what’s up. We pounded them!” I yelled.
“Durfee?…Durfee? Everybody beats Durfee! They stink! Let me know when you have played somebody,” Ernie said.
Talk about a buzz kill. I walked with my head down the rest of the way home. We haven’t played anybody I thought. Isn’t it about wins and losses? Now I know how Azusa feels.
Apparently it isn’t about wins and losses when it comes to Azusa. The Aztecs are 3-0 this year and 24-4 since 2008. Last year they advanced to the Mid-Valley CIF Semi Finals. All Coach Joe Scherf has done since he took over the program three years ago is win. Again isn’t that what it’s about?
But nobody talks about the 24 wins. Instead they talk about how the Aztecs haven’t played anybody. They say they play in a weak league, or that they won’t match up in the playoffs. They say that if they played in the Rio Hondo or Valle Vista or the Mission Valley, they wouldn’t win and would miss the playoffs.
But if you look at the playoffs the last two years, Azusa has two wins against Valle Vista teams and one over a Rio Hondo team.
At some point you wonder what else does Azusa have to do to get respect? This year the Aztecs have not only won their three games but they have outscored their opponents 113-10. No, that’s not a misprint.
They won 34-0 last week over Gabrielino and were criticized for not playing well. What is playing well? 40-0? 50-0? 64-0?
In the season opener Azusa was matched up against a Bell Gardens team that beat them last year 34-6. BG is consistently a physical team that plays in the tough Almont League. And the Lancers were considered a playoff team coming into this season. What happened? Azusa went into Bell Gardens and destroyed them 48-0.
Naysayers said that Bell Gardens was down- that BG was soft and a fraud. Really? The same team that responded with a ten point win over El Rancho the next week?
This week Azusa begins Montview League play with what most people think will be the Aztecs’ toughest test. La Puente has won two of its first three and scored 89 points in the process.
“Ok let’s see what happens now. Lets’s see how they respond against a real team,” the bloggers are fond of saying.
I ranked Azusa number four this week in the Mid-Valley Top 20 and was ripped for having the Aztecs too high. According to this guy they should be number nine. Nine?
I saw Abraham Ochoa, Jose Nunez, Jake Martinez and Steven Blount up close and personal last week. They aren’t no number nine.
After the game I caught up with Scherf and after interviewing him I asked him if he wanted to come on the Mid Valley Sports Show.
“No I’m not much on publicity. I don’t want to go on TV,” Scherf said. “All I want to do is coach.”
Coach…and win.
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tspeterson32@yahoo.com.
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