DE Ezzy Arrellano and Montebello held BG to just one touchdown Friday night. Surprisingly the Oilers still came up short.
I don’t know why things turn out they way they do. It just goes to show you that the more you think you know, the less you know.
Nothing is certain. Nothing is etched in stone. You think you have somebody figured out, and the exact opposite happens. But that’s what makes high school football great.
We received a comment on our boards this week that said “Stop predicting games. You’re just not very good at it.” He (or she) was upset that we picked against their team and their team won but the funny thing is all we heard were crickets when we picked for their team the week before and they did indeed drop the ball. That being said whoever wrote the comment might be right.
Nobody is good at picking high school football games – especially when you talk about actual scores. Take a look at this week’s games. Montebello was coming off a 48-41 overtime victory over San Gabriel. The Oilers lost 57-48 to El Rancho and 40-26 to California. They hadn’t come close to being shut out all year. Bell Gardens beat Torrance 36-33, and Warren 37-21. They fell to El Rancho 52-28 and El Monte 46-41. Everybody we spoke to thought the scoreboard operator would have his work cut out. There were going to be a lot of points put up. I had Bell Gardens winning 34-31.
So what happens? It’s a defensive struggle throughout with BG making a first quarter touchdown stand up in a 7-0 win. Montebello stopped the Lancers on a fourth and goal at the one inch line. Bell Gardens halted the Oilers at the nine yard line on fourth down with under a minute left to secure the win.
“Who said we couldn’t play defense?” Bell Gardens Coach David Ramos screamed at his team after the game. “That’s the best defensive effort I’ve seen all year!”
It wasn’t just me who was stunned by the sudden defensive prowess of the Almont foes but Ramos was as well.
“If you would have told me in the middle of the week that one touchdown would be enough to win this game I would have said no way,” Ramos said.
Raise your hand if you predicted San Marino would beat Temple City 58-0. Many people, on our site and others, thought Temple City could win this game. San Marino’s schedule was soft they said and Temple City was riding the momentum of a four game winning streak. Heck if the Rams could pound the ball, chew up the clock and keep the Titans off the field, they had a good shot. I didn’t totally buy into it. I had the Titans winning 31-20, but I never imagined a 58 point thrashing and in a moment of truth you know you didn’t either.
Isn’t this the one year that we knew Gladstone would beat Azusa? I mean if there was ever a slam dunk this was it. G-Stone had already brushed aside Montview League foes Duarte and La Puente by 16 and 30 points respectively. Azusa lost to Duarte 40-14 so there was no way the Falcons were staying with undefeated G-Stone. So yeah, of course. Azusa beats the Gladiators 27-17.
How did Rowland beat Diamond Ranch to improve to 7-2 on the year and 4-1 in the Hacienda? Anybody have the Raiders on your radar in the summer?
How does West Covina lose to Los Altos earlier this year especially when Los Altos was coming off a 40-3 loss to Diamond Bar?
What’s up with Bellflower? The Bucs beat Norwalk one week and lose to Artesia (2-6) the next. Really?
Look, maybe we’re not very good at predictions but nobody else is either. It’s unpredictable. But we’ll keep posting our prognostications every week because that’s what makes it fun. Besides, If you count just wins and losses, I was 12-2 last week.
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports.com.
Leave a Reply