I'm Glad You Asked

Firstly, anyone reading this who attended the game saw an injury to one of our players (I will not name him here for privacy reasons). I am happy to report that he is doing well and expects to return soon. He suffered a dislocated knee, but it was a fairly run-of-the-mill variety. I visited him after the game in the hospital, and he had already had the knee put back in place and looked quite good.

Now, on to the game itself.

It wasn't a perfect game for us--we had too many penalties (some of which were inexcusable procedural ones: one of my great hatreds is procedural penalties) and we turned the ball over on too many times.

But it was a darn good game.

Glendora was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the best team we have faced all season. They were big (very big, actually) they were physical, they were smart, they were reasonably fast. In other words, this was the first team that did not give us many chances to win.

Still, we did not make our own success like we need to. We fought hard all the way to the end (the final score doesn't quite reflect the reality of the game: this game was undecided until the middle of the 4th quarter) but we weren't able to wrestle a win away from a very tenacious Glendora squad.

Many of the Glendora players were varsity players brought down for our contest (this is perfectly legal as long as the player is not a senior) and Glendora was undefeated, as we were, giong into the contest. We have reports that their JV squad was undefeated last year as well.

This was a good indicator of the quality (if not the type) of opponent we will likely face in the Foothill. It is good to know that we are close to the level we need to be in order to challenge the league for the championship.

Now, as to the bruhaha regarding the forfeits:

As some of you know, we were forced to forfeit our first three games because we had inadvertently played an ineligible player as a backup/rotator on defense. At our school, grade checks are supposed to be conducted by the Assistant Principal (Athletics) and the Athletic Director. I was informed that they forgot to do this, and as a result, we technically forfeited those games.

As I told the team, this is a forfeit because we broke the rules: never mind that we didn't mean to or didn't know. We broke them, and the penalty is forfeiture. I think it is important for the boys to know that actions lead to consequences, and a real man (I can say "man" here because we have no girls on the team this year) stands up and admits his faults and takes the consequences. I myself have had to do this in my own life, and it is important to me the boys learn this lesson.

However, it is also important to remember what actually happened on the field. Lancaster, Corona, and Pasadena will, I am sure, be happy to post their JV games with us as a win, but each and every player that participated in those games knows the truth. Just as I didn't count the forfeits we received last year as "wins," neither will I count the forfeits we had to give up this year as "losses."

As far as I am concerned, we are still a very tough, very dangerous 3-1 team looking to go 4-1 into Foothill league action.

Next week: Grace Brethren (at Moorpark College, 5:00)!

P.S. For anyone keeping count, this game snaps my personal 11-game win streak at West Ranch. My record at WRHS is now 11-1, bringing my overall lifetime w/l ratio to 39-13, or 75% win/ 25% loss.

It was a pretty good half of football for us on Thursday.

We dropped a little in quality, and certainly dropped in enthusiasm, against our Week 3 opponent. There is still a lot we are doing right, but this was not the same effort we gave against Corona. Our first half score was merely 6-0, and that came from a punt return. I'm not taking anything away from our special teams unit, especially our return man, but the point I am making is it represented ONE play, not a series.

Our second half was significantly better, than the first, as again our opponent handed us opportunities and we took them. We intercepted several passes and gave our offense a short field many times. Defensively, we continued our unscored-on streak, but we were not as dominant as we could have been.

Offensively, we are still too one-dimensional. I take most of the responsibility for that: I am getting better, but I still tend to find what works and stick with it, instead of developing more ways to attack. It's not as if we don't practice other things; I just tend not to call them in a game.

Where we are excelling is on special teams. In two contests now, we have scored on special teams. We ran a fake punt and got the first down (mainly due to a heroic second effort by the runner). In our last two contests, our special teams have not decided the game, but were a major factor in the win.

I know it may seem odd to be so down after what appears to be a dominant, significant win, but I know what is on the horizon. Today's performance will not stack up to Foothill league teams.

It will probably not be enough even for next week's opponent.

But that's why we practice. To get better.

Next week: Glendora!

They say there are three aspects to a football game: offense, defense, and special teams. They also say that if you win two of the three, you will most likely win the game.

If you win all three, you get a rout.

Everything clicked for us Saturday as we took care of the Panthers in very decisive fashion. This is not to say we are perfect: we still have much to work on and improve. But we are not the same team we were against Lancaster.

I don't have my stat sheet with me now, so I am not sure who exactly scored what, but I do know that the first 2007 JV touchdown was scored by Zak Snell. I also know that Snell ran rampant over the Panthers. Our fullback, Choi, was also a machine, churning out the yardage when we needed it.

Defensively, again, it's hard to ask more out of the unit. Again, we scored a safety (the second time in as many games--an impressive stat indeed) and again, we held a team scoreless. Big plays and big hits kept the Panthers reeling.

From a special teams perspective, we kicked what I believe was a twenty-nine yard field goal and kept the Corona offense pinned deep with several booming kicks. We also scored on kickoff, as our cover unit manhandled the ball out of a Panther runner's hands and romped into the end zone.

So, to sum up, we scored 44 points in the following ways:

A safety for 2 points.
A field goal for 3 points.
Three PAT's for 3 points.
Six touchdowns for 36 points.

Total: 44 points.

Incidentally, and forgive me this shameless bit of self-promotion (but it is my blog, after all, and I'm glad you asked!), this win was my 50th game as a JV head coach. My running record is now 38-12, which gives me a win percentage of 76%. Some of you know that number has significance to me, so I thought I'd share it.

Next week: Pasadena!

Yes, reader, you read that right. 2-0.

The lowest scoring game possible that still results in a winner.

From the defensive side of things, what more can a coach ask for? We not only held them scoreless but scored on defense. Lonnie Walker scored the safety with just over 5:00 to play in the contest. We picked the ball off twice (both by Zak Snell) and had good returns on them. Lancaster has a lot of breakway potential, and we contained it all night (their only big run was called back on a penalty).

Offensively, we weren't hopeless: we had around 180 yards of total offense, which is not embarassing. We ran the ball reasonably well when we were between the twenties with Snell, Choi, and Cisneros providing the gains. We were adequate in the offensive line, but we need to do a lot better with the front six. Our major issue was that when we needed gains, we usually didn't get them unless a back got it himself. We need to do major work on the throwing game, in protection and in accuracy.

Special teams performed well, though some costly running into the kicker penalties for Lancaster gave them life. We out kicked them, which is no small feat. Our lone kickoff went into the end zone both because Oscar Martinez' leg and the Lancaster return man mishandling the ball. Our return unit gave us the ball in good field position.

All in all, we won two of the three parts of the game (our defense beat their offense, our kicking unit beat theirs) which was enough to get it done Friday.

Barely.

Next Week: Cornoa (Saturday 4:00)