Jon Logan (L), George Johnson and West Covina were stunned by Covina
Say What?
Everything went right for Covina in the fourth quarter Friday night, except for one minor detail. After Billy Livingston fired a perfect strike to Peter de la Cruz for a 31 yard touchdown with 1:46 left in the contest to tie it at 21, everybody waited for the kicker to come on and boot the inevitable extra point. Except Coach Darryl Thomas had another idea. He decided to go for two. Huh?
When I first saw the play develop I thought maybe it was a botched snap or a misunderstood read. The ball was snapped to the holder who tried to run but was quickly swallowed up for a loss. But no it was indeed a two point attempt.
“Yeah you would have to bring that up,” a smiling Thomas said after the game. “Well we had missed the extra point kick earlier in the game and I thought we might catch them off guard. Obviously it didn’t work out. But it was my call- definitely my call.”
The Colts did miss the extra point attempt on their first score but the second one was banged right though the uprights by Randy Robledo. To his credit, Thomas not only answered the question about the call but took full responsibility. Of course if the play works Thomas is viewed as a genius and a shrewd play caller.
The second guessing didn’t last long however – 15 seconds of actual game time to be exact. That’s when Nick Hynes intercepted a pass and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown to give the Colts the eventual 27-21 victory. Covina went for two again, but they were forced to this time when an excessive celebration penalty pushed them back and knocked them out of kicking range.
Two point conversion attempts aside, it was a magical night or Covina. The Colts erased a 21-2 deficit by scoring three touchdowns in the last 3:20. Livingston, who struggled a little bit in the first half, was terrific down the stretch. He threw two touchdown passes including a five yard strike to Vinny Venegas to start the three touchdown blitz.
Thomas came on the Mid Valley Sports show a couple of weeks ago talking about sophomore Gevontray Ainsworth. He’s right. The kid was tremendous.
Terriantate Terrific!
I’m not going to get street rat crazy and say that Ganesha is going to win the Montview League or make the playoffs. But what I will say about Ganesha’s 31-12 win over Montclair Thursday night is that Terriantate Francis (cool name) is fun to watch. Even though everybody at Montclair High School knew Francis was going to run the ball he still exploded for nearly 200 yards on the ground.
He scored on touchdown runs of 54 and 49 yards and single handedly took the Cavaliers out of the game.
I didn’t recall Francis making much of an impact last year and Coach Dave Fleming explained why.
“He broke his hand in the opening game last year and didn’t come back until week six,” Fleming said. “He never really got going.”
Rivera Runs Wild
Maybe Arroyo Coach Jim Singiser was right about playing Steven Rivera on both sides of the ball. Friday night the quarterback intercepted a pass and returned it 65 yards to set up a score. He immediately followed that up with a 20 yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller as the Knights rolled 35-14.
Saints Smudged
It looks like San Dimas misses Tre Evans, Justin Winrow, Ryan Kohler and Sean Kennedy more than was anticipated. The big difference in Bonita’s 41-20 win however was the Bearcats big front line featuring Daniel Harriman, Cody McKenzie, and Tarez Lemmons.
Big Bear?
I knew we had expanded our football coverage but I didn’t realize it had reached all the way to Big Bear. I wonder if Torosian can get Editor Connie to increase the budget for gas.
Week One Barnburners
Arroyo at Temple City (Mid Valley Classic)
Monrovia at Glendora (Citrus College)
Arcadia at St. Francis
Baldwin Park at South Hills
California at Rowland
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tspeterson32@yahoo.com.
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