TheLounge
09-17-2007, 01:48 PM
Wow. The first full weekend of high school football was not kind to the Peninsula Athletic League specifically or San Mateo Country in general. Of 18 games over the weekend, San Mateo County went 3-15 — the only wins came from Carlmont (36-0 over Gunn), Menlo School (38-12 over Sacred Heart Prep) and Menlo-Atherton (38-0 over Independence).
The Ocean Division was 0-8 over the weekend, while the Bay Division was just 3-5. The other two private schools in the county —*Serra and Sacred Heart Prep —*were both blasted.
The following is a quick review of the weekend:
Most Dominant team: Carlmont’s 36-0 win over Gunn. There were a lot of questions regarding the Scots this year and for one week, at least, they answered them convincingly. The running of Conrad Nichols (14 carries, 85 yards, two touchdowns) and Ricky Jordan (2 carries, 126 yards, two touchdowns) was more than enough to make up the difference for graduated David Aknin. Joe Ferrari (4 catches, 78 yards, one touchdown) did a good job replacing the graduated Anthony Burrell.
The defense, however, was the biggest surprise. The Scots held the Titans to just 132 yards of total offense, sacked the quarterback four times and came away with two interceptions.
Biggest Surprise: Although Terra Nova opened the season with a loss to Wilcox, it was the final score that was surprising —*Wilcox 41, Terra Nova 35. In the past, this game was a defensive struggle.
Last year, the Tigers eclipsed the 35-point mark once —*a 42-14 win over Carlmont in the third week of the season.
Biggest “Duh” Moment: Serra’s 40-22 loss to De La Salle was not as close as the final score indicates. Someone asked me Friday if the Padres had a legitimate shot at beating the Spartans. I said they did have a shot — if they played a perfect game. They didn’t.
It shouldn’t be that surprising. De La Salle, while no longer the best in the nation, is still certainly the best in the Bay Area, having not lost to a Bay Area team since 1991.
Biggest Disappointment: Los Gatos owns Aragon. That’s not too surprising — the Wildcats beat the Dons for the seventh straight time Saturday. It was how the Dons went down that was shocking — a 31-6 beatdown in which the Dons managed “only” 254 yards of offense. I admire teams that don’t schedule cupcakes early in the season, but maybe it’s time Aragon eases into a season with a relatively easy game instead of taking on the best of CCS in its opener.
***
Every high school football player should get a video of Buffalo Bills’ tight end and special teams player Kevin Everett, who suffered a severe spinal injury Sunday when he hit Denver’s Domenik Hixon during the second half kickoff.
Football players are constantly told to see what you hit. Everett learned the hard way: If you watch the replay, he dropped his head just as he went in for the tackle. As soon as I saw it and the way he crumpled to the ground, I knew it was bad news.
Football is a physical, demanding sport. Injuries are part of the game. But if players use the proper technique, consequences can be mitigated.
***
Anyone that reads this column with any regularity knows I’m not the biggest ultimate fighting fan. I did, however, watch one of the fights this weekend from “UFC 75” and must say that UFC has already equaled boxing in one respect: The number of fighters who get screwed by the judges.
American Matt Hamill dominated his fight against Briton Michael Bisping Saturday night in London. Hamill took Bisping down several times, turned his face into hamburger with his striking (read: punching) and controlled the fight overall.
Guess who was declared the winner by split decision? That’s right, hometown favorite Bisping. If UFC truly wants to supplant boxing as the top fighting sport, it needs to avoid egregious errors such as the one Saturday night. On the UFC Web site, there is a poll asking who won the fight: Over 80 percent voted for Hamill.
***
Speaking of officials, how in God’s name do soccer referees get assigned to games? The one who oversaw the United States-Brazil friendly Sunday needs his license revoked. He was absolutely horrible. With Brazil leading 2-1, American forward Josh Wolfe was brought down in the penalty box —*no call. Second after the United States tied the score at 2 on Clint Dempsey’s goal, this bonehead official awarded a free kick to Brazil just outside the American penalty box, after Ronaldinho got bumped and fell to the ground like he got shot. He scored on the ensuing free kick.
This was the same official who screwed over Canada during the Gold Cup when he disallowed a Canadian goal that would have tied the game against the U.S. I can guarantee you U.S. coach Michael Bradley didn’t request this ref for the game Sunday.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.
The Ocean Division was 0-8 over the weekend, while the Bay Division was just 3-5. The other two private schools in the county —*Serra and Sacred Heart Prep —*were both blasted.
The following is a quick review of the weekend:
Most Dominant team: Carlmont’s 36-0 win over Gunn. There were a lot of questions regarding the Scots this year and for one week, at least, they answered them convincingly. The running of Conrad Nichols (14 carries, 85 yards, two touchdowns) and Ricky Jordan (2 carries, 126 yards, two touchdowns) was more than enough to make up the difference for graduated David Aknin. Joe Ferrari (4 catches, 78 yards, one touchdown) did a good job replacing the graduated Anthony Burrell.
The defense, however, was the biggest surprise. The Scots held the Titans to just 132 yards of total offense, sacked the quarterback four times and came away with two interceptions.
Biggest Surprise: Although Terra Nova opened the season with a loss to Wilcox, it was the final score that was surprising —*Wilcox 41, Terra Nova 35. In the past, this game was a defensive struggle.
Last year, the Tigers eclipsed the 35-point mark once —*a 42-14 win over Carlmont in the third week of the season.
Biggest “Duh” Moment: Serra’s 40-22 loss to De La Salle was not as close as the final score indicates. Someone asked me Friday if the Padres had a legitimate shot at beating the Spartans. I said they did have a shot — if they played a perfect game. They didn’t.
It shouldn’t be that surprising. De La Salle, while no longer the best in the nation, is still certainly the best in the Bay Area, having not lost to a Bay Area team since 1991.
Biggest Disappointment: Los Gatos owns Aragon. That’s not too surprising — the Wildcats beat the Dons for the seventh straight time Saturday. It was how the Dons went down that was shocking — a 31-6 beatdown in which the Dons managed “only” 254 yards of offense. I admire teams that don’t schedule cupcakes early in the season, but maybe it’s time Aragon eases into a season with a relatively easy game instead of taking on the best of CCS in its opener.
***
Every high school football player should get a video of Buffalo Bills’ tight end and special teams player Kevin Everett, who suffered a severe spinal injury Sunday when he hit Denver’s Domenik Hixon during the second half kickoff.
Football players are constantly told to see what you hit. Everett learned the hard way: If you watch the replay, he dropped his head just as he went in for the tackle. As soon as I saw it and the way he crumpled to the ground, I knew it was bad news.
Football is a physical, demanding sport. Injuries are part of the game. But if players use the proper technique, consequences can be mitigated.
***
Anyone that reads this column with any regularity knows I’m not the biggest ultimate fighting fan. I did, however, watch one of the fights this weekend from “UFC 75” and must say that UFC has already equaled boxing in one respect: The number of fighters who get screwed by the judges.
American Matt Hamill dominated his fight against Briton Michael Bisping Saturday night in London. Hamill took Bisping down several times, turned his face into hamburger with his striking (read: punching) and controlled the fight overall.
Guess who was declared the winner by split decision? That’s right, hometown favorite Bisping. If UFC truly wants to supplant boxing as the top fighting sport, it needs to avoid egregious errors such as the one Saturday night. On the UFC Web site, there is a poll asking who won the fight: Over 80 percent voted for Hamill.
***
Speaking of officials, how in God’s name do soccer referees get assigned to games? The one who oversaw the United States-Brazil friendly Sunday needs his license revoked. He was absolutely horrible. With Brazil leading 2-1, American forward Josh Wolfe was brought down in the penalty box —*no call. Second after the United States tied the score at 2 on Clint Dempsey’s goal, this bonehead official awarded a free kick to Brazil just outside the American penalty box, after Ronaldinho got bumped and fell to the ground like he got shot. He scored on the ensuing free kick.
This was the same official who screwed over Canada during the Gold Cup when he disallowed a Canadian goal that would have tied the game against the U.S. I can guarantee you U.S. coach Michael Bradley didn’t request this ref for the game Sunday.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.