The Peterson Principle 9/5/11

Tim Peterson

I covered three games in three nights. It started Thursday night at the Smudgepot at Citrus College and ended Saturday night at Covina District Field for West Covina- Covina. In between I was at La Salle High School to see the Lancers let a 21-0 lead get away in a loss to Village Christian.

Village Christian looked like two different teams. In the first half missed tackles, fumbles, interceptions and mental mistakes plagued the Crusaders as they fell behind 14-0 at halftime. The offense wasn’t moving the ball and when they did they would shoot themselves in the foot with a turnover.

Amjed Aboul-hosn, arguably one of the top five running backs in the Mid-Valley Division coughed up the ball twice (once in each half.) The end of the first half was disastrous for the Crusaders as well as they moved the ball down deep into La Salle territory but failed to get out of bounds or get a time out as the clock ran out before they could attempt a field goal.

In the second half it appeared Village was on track marching down to the La Salle ten yard line. But then Aboul-hosn plunged into the line and after a scrum, Matt Barrero came out with the ball and the 240 pound La Salle offensive lineman rumbled 90 yards the other way for the touchdown. 21-0 La Salle and thanks for participating Village Christian.

At least that’s the way it was perceived by everybody in the house except Village Christian.

“We were making mental mistakes, not finishing plays,” said Village Christian Coach Jay Shroeder. “I challenged them at halftime.”

Shroeder, the former NFL quarterback who is in his first season at Village Christian, took over a team that advanced to the semi finals last year. He had to be wondering what happened to that team. The Crusaders also beat La Salle 55-28 in the opening game. Now suddenly, unexpectedly VC was down by three touchdowns.

Well, they didn’t respond to Shroeder’s challenge immediately. It took them some time. But when they finally did it happened quickly.

Over the last 14 minutes of the contest Village ran off 26 consecutive points. Cayden Boyd hit Tyler McGinnis on screen pass that McGinnis turned into a 54 yard touchdown breaking several tackles along the way.

Now it was La Salles’s time to make mistakes. After a Lancer miscue, McGinnis worked his magic again. This time he scored on a quick out from Boyd. Again it was short pass that McGinnis turned into a big play with yards after catch. He ducked one tackler at the line of scrimmage and raced into the end zone from 24 yards out.

On the next possession Boyd linked up with Scott Maxwell on a 23 yard score to cap a 56 yard drive with 6:22 left. Shroeder, feeling ambitious, went for two but Aboul-hosn was stopped cold.

It didn’t matter. Will Frankian picked off a pass at the La Salle 16 and Boyd did it himself this time going over from a yard out to finish the short drive with 3:00 left to complete the comeback victory.

The defense stopped the Lancers one last time and the celebration began.

“I give our guys credit that they didn’t go into the tank after that fumble return,” Shroeder said.   

Maranatha is better and the Olympic League is always a battle so there won’t be any league title predictions or semi final prognostications for Village just yet. But one thing you can count on. If the Crusaders are down by 21 in the third quarter, they’re just getting started.

That’s my principle.

Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports.com.

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