Covina Assistant Josh Washington (above) likes what he sees from Gevontray Ainsworth
Earthquakes and hurricanes in the East, 110 degrees in the West and the Dodgers won five straight. It’s the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine.
We always talk about how being on the sidelines at a high school football game is great theatre. It’s better than anything seen on Broadway. Friday night at Covina District Field was no different.
Covina Coach Darryl Thomas was in rare form. After a pass interference penalty was called on the Colts, Thomas yelled to the officials. “Ok. I guess it’s early for you guys too!”
Later when another referee called a holding penalty on his offensive line, Thomas bellowed out to the field, “I need a number!” “It was the right tackle,” said the official with a quizzical look on his face. “No, a number! I need a number!” Thomas said again. He finally started busting up knowing full well that his players were wearing all black jerseys…with no numbers.
When the official trotted back to the Covina sidelines Thomas turned to him and deadpanned “Oh ok it was one of those Covina guys.”
South Hills assistant Brian Johnson said “I got my Fantasy Football league draft at 8:00. I gotta cut out of here.” The side judge overhearing him turned and said “Don’t worry. You’ll make it. We’ll be out of here by then.”
A jarring hit delivered by Gevontray Ainsworth was heard through out the Stadium. The interesting thing about the hit which sent the South Hills player sprawling, was that it came while the Colts were on offense. Ainsworth was blocking!
“Yeah he’s really grown up,” said Covina assistant Josh Washington. As for the scrimmage itself? “We looked pretty good. We still have a few things to clean up, but we’ll be ok.”
Jamie Canada will be doing a lot of things for South Hills. He’ll be running the ball, catching passes and playing defensive back. Watching him play it’s hard to believe he hasn’t played live football, in pads, in two years. It was great to see him back.
Vince Hernandez will also be playing on both sides of the ball for the Huskies. He’s playing cornerback as well as quarterback and doing it very well thank you.
First play from scrimmage for Covina: Billy Livingston to Vinny Venegas…touchdown! I’m sure you’ll be seeing a lot of that combination this year.
The only bummer about the West Covina-Covina Saturday night is that the best game of the year is opening week. But on the flip side, what a great way to kick things off!
Who do I like? “Game Night – Week Zero” will be posted soon.
Jamel Hart was in mid season form for South Hills. He broke several tackles and ran past defenders as well. With Canada, Hart and Hernandez the Huskies will score some points.
Word out of Buena Park was that the Coyote offense was in high gear Friday night in the scrimmage against Mt. View. The first two plays went 80 yards each for touchdowns.
Buena Park quarterback J.J. Christy was terrific in guiding his troops.
Mt. View’s offense struggled at times lining up in their sets. The offense works, but the Vikings are young, especially along the lines and it’s going to take a few games before the players get it down.
Alhambra Coach Lou Torres was spotted at the scrimmage scouting his opening night opponent. Interesting fact: September 2 will be the first time Mt. View and Alhambra have ever played.
Thank you to all the coaches that came in this past week for Rush Week; Darryl Thomas from Covina, Mike Maggiore from West Covina, Maragarito Beltran (and staff) from La Serna, Jim Arnold (and staff) from California, Maranatha’s Pete Karavedas and Whittier Christian’s Sergio Gradilla, Lou Torres and DC Jacob Ochoa from Alhambra (and quarterback Josh Mendoza.) It was a great way to kick off the season. We appreciate it.
Torres on the Mid Valley Sports Show last Thursday night: “I thank Coach Gil Ruedaflores for where I am today. He gave me my start years ago and if not for him I would not be a coach today.”
I can still hear Ruedaflores voice encouraging his players on the Moor sidelines, “You gotta make plays! C’mon boys! You gotta make plays!”
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports.com.
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