Tim Peterson
Well, you don’t see that every day. For the first time in the 20 years that I’ve been covering high school football, Friday night’s games were postponed and rescheduled.
I understand it. Anytime there’s lightning it becomes a safety issue. In college there’s a 30 minute delay from the last lightning strike until play can be resumed. The lightning strikes last Friday night were becoming closer and more frequent. The right decision was made by the officials. But it did kind of screw things up.
Some games were rescheduled for early Saturday morning while others were set for the afternoon. Some were even moved to Monday night. I’m still trying to catch up while looking at this week’s games at the same time.
We got most of them covered in the Week 9 Scoreboard but even that wasn’t posted until Tuesday after the Monday night games were official. Burbank rebounded to beat Muir, while El Monte got it rolling in a rout of Arroyo. Bonita suffered its first loss (on the field) while Alhambra obliterated San Gabriel.
Schurr – Montebello also resumed on Saturday with the Spartans leading 9-6 at the half. In case you missed it the Oilers won 27-23 when Richard Plascencia hit Bryan Martinez for a 31-yard touchdown with 29 seconds left in the game. The touchdown was set up when Schurr was forced to punt with 2:03 left giving Montebello the ball back at its own 34.
Schurr had taken a 23-20 lead when Nathaniel Palacios went 65 yards on a read option with just over nine minutes left. The two teams had traded touchdowns throughout the second half until Martinez caught the game winner.
Eduardo Gonzalez’ 4-yard TD run in the third quarter gave the Oilers a 13-9 advantage. later in the quarter Schurr took advantage of a turnover and Palacios hit Ricky Talavera for a 19-yard score. Montebello answered with a drive capped by a Pablo Mosqueda 2-yard plunge for 20-16 lead. Then came the decisive fourth quarter.
It turned out to be a great game between two arch rivals that was amped up a bit due to all of the off the field activities. And no, nothing happened after the game. I didn’t see anything and I also spoke to coaches from both teams and was told that although there may have been a word or two exchanged, it was basically just your run of the mill handshake, a non-story. In other words they had seen more pushing and shoving in the Men’s room.
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Covina quarterback Nin Burns II is out for the year. (Photo by Duane Barker).
“Thank you everyone for all of your prayers and support. I will be ok but my season will be over a little shorter than I expected. This is a minor setback for a major comeback. Believe me,” Nin Burns II posted on Twitter Saturday.
The Covina quarterback suffered injuries to his back and was taken to the hospital in the second quarter of the Colts 33-12 loss to Northview Friday night. The injury may have occurred before Friday night’s game as Burns has been feeling pain for a couple of weeks. Sophomore James Duronslet will take over for Burns in the final two games of the regular season and into the playoffs should the Colts qualify. Burns, only a junior, had thrown for 1,502 yards and rushed for 334 at the time of his injury.
The Colts are currently 1-2 in the Valle Vista and 4-4 overall but with games remaining against Baldwin Park and Wilson they should finish third in league.
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One thing the El Monte win over Arroyo made clear is that the Lions should win the CIF Championship. Arroyo is better than anything El Monte will see in the Division 13 playoffs. The Lions are better than third ranked Alhambra and they already beat second ranked Orange Vista 20-14 in September. So I fully expect El Monte to roll through the Division and raise the banner. No pressure though Coach Ceniceros.
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I keep picking Charter Oak to win. I just can’t get used to seeing the Chargers having a losing season or miss the playoffs for that matter. However after a 21-7 loss to Los Altos last Friday night, it’s clear that they are done for 2018. But one thing is certain. Charter Oak will be back in 2019. Why? Because they’re Charter Oak.
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Before the season started when Hector Spathias was named head coach, I tweeted out “watch out for Workman.” Well, after the Lobos beat Azusa 42-40 last week, watch out for Workman. If the Lobos beat Duarte Friday night they should finish in second place in the Montview and will get a playoff berth. And playing in Division 13 they have a shot to advance. Of course, eventually they’ll have to deal with El Monte. But considering Spathias took over at Workman in June he should be considered for Coach of the Year honors. Watch out for Workman!
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Ironic that Steve Bogan takes over at Bonita and leads the Bearcats to a 7-0 record (on the field) and his former team, South Hills, starts off at 8-0. Bonita, however, after last week’s loss to Ayala and playing in arguably the toughest league in the area, has two key league games coming up in Claremont and Glendora. As for South Hills? The Huskies are going 10-0.
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Oh and one more thing about Schurr and Montebello… Don’t forget about Alhambra.
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports.com or on Twitter @tspeterson40.
Does the Almont league end in a 3way tie this yeah? And what time does Disneyland open?
Well, the only game that truly was the last men standing was arcadia and Pasadena at phs. While arcadia predictably took the win, Pasadena played their hearts out and concluded the game without rescheduling to Saturday. Hats off to both Arcadia and Pasadena for hanging in the rain!
Great job by Spathais and staff. He and staff can make programs improve. Olympians miss Spathais
Is Roger Lehigh still coaching at CO? I know he applied for the Bonita job, but that went to Bogan. Did Lehigh go back to CO, or is he out of coaching now?
From T. Peterson: He’s no longer at CO but I don’t know if he’s coaching somewhere else.
In response to your CO prediction. I’ll give you one unless CO lands great xfers from other schools. This will be the trend. The boys they have are good but not great. They have been in every game this year. But coaching, bad play calls, predictable plays, penalties, etc. The lack of coaching is evident to all who watch them. Had they been coached well they would be minimum of 6-2 They have given up big plays all year after shutting teams down for most of the game. They have had at least 7 TD’s called back because of penalties! 7! The cupboard is bare at CO. I see them winning maybe 4-5 games next year if they move to a lower division
Unless they change they way they coach. I know that is heresy around these parts but you heard it here first! Can you say overrated!
Who is this Zoola dude?
I know how Dale Ziola would solve the resumption of lightning-shortened games: start the contest back up at midnight. That way, instead of everybody being bummed about having to make another trip, they’ll feel exhilarated, like it’s an adventure.