Royal head coach Gene Uebelhardt told me my eyes looked tired as we stood together on Buena High’s fog-shrouded football field late Saturday night and discussed his team’s 24-21 victory over Westlake, the Highlanders first defeat of the Warriors since 1991.
The coach was right, I was exhausted.
After all, I had just embarked on a self-imposed football odyssey, a fantastic, 15-hour journey in which I had the pleasure of watching three Marmonte League games in addition to the USC-Arizona State tilt on television.
Some said it couldn’t be done. They said I lacked the heart, the determination, the desire—the intestinal fortitude to conquer such an historic task.
“Seriously,” one doubter quipped, “can anyone handle that much football?” Apparently, I can.
Bound for Buena
Because of last week’s wildfires, the Marmonte schools, along with other institutions throughout the Conejo Valley, were forced to reschedule or cancel many sporting events, including all varsity football games, which were eventually moved from Friday night to Saturday.
Game locations had to be altered, too, because of concerns about air quality.
“We had to make a call on what we thought we could do, and the best thing was to get rid of our freshman and sophomore (football) games completely,” Simi Valley athletic director Matt LaBelle said. “Those games will not be made up.”
LaBelle said when the athletic directors and school principals originally met last Friday morning, their first thought was to move all of the varsity football games to Monday afternoon. But with the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah set to begin at sundown on Monday, that idea was scratched.
Buena High, located just off the 126 Freeway in Ventura, then stepped up and volunteered its field as a host site.
The end result was that the Simi Valley-Calabasas matchup was moved to Saturday morning at 9 a.m., with the Thousand Oaks-Moorpark and WestlakeRoyal contests to follow, beginning at 6 p.m.
The three home teams received the gate receipts, with Moorpark and Royal splitting the combined totals from the two night games. Both schools also had concession booths to serve their faithful fans.
The fourth and final Marmonte game of the weekend, Newbury Park vs. Agoura, was moved to Pacifica High in Oxnard. League administrators had hoped to play all four contests at Buena, LaBelle said, but were unable to pull off the four-game lineup because Buena was hosting youth football games Saturday afternoon.
Coffee and Pigskin
Saturday’s action began with Simi Valley (4-0, 1-0) jumping all over Calabasas (0-4, 0-1), on a pair of scores by running back Devin Kelley, who had 173 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
The Pioneers had built a 28-6 halftime advantage before the Coyotes finally got their offense on track in the second half. Simi would win the ballgame, 48-35, but they were outscored by Calabasas, 29-20, over the final two quarters.
Simi safety/wide receiver Lorne Bell said having to be on the team bus at 6 a.m. was a strange experience.
“You’ve got to be prepared to play anywhere; we’ll play in a parking lot if we have to,” Bell said. “Getting up was the hardest part, but once the game started, there were no excuses.”
While they might currently be mired in a prolonged, 25game losing streak, the guys from Calabasas deserve a lot of credit for continuing to battle through the tough times.
“We’ve been improving every week,” Calabasas quarterback Kevin May said. “Hopefully, with practice, we’ll keep getting better and get a win.”
No Rest for the Weary
Following the morning tilt, I headed home to spend some quality time with my cat and my couch.
Naturally, I turned on the tube and locked into some college ball. God forbid I’d pick up a book or attempt to do some type of physical activity.
Clean the kitchen? Not today.
I was in too deep at this point to shut it down and take my mind off of football. Vince Lombardi would’ve been proud. My mother? Not so much. Moorpark Makes a Statement
After watching the Trojans put it on Arizona State despite an awful start, I threw on my Antonio Gates jersey (you know, to set the mood) and headed back to Buena for the impending doubleheader.
Neither game would disappoint.
But rather than talk about how Moorpark (2-2, 1-0) was able to dominate the line of scrimmage and basically out-physical Thousand Oaks (3-1, 0-1) for 48 minutes en route to a 50-28 victory, I’m going to make this bold statement: Right now, the best football player in the Marmonte League is Musketeer sophomore running back Darrell Scott.
Why? Because Scott’s already showing a knack for playing his best in the big games, and that’s something you just can’t teach.
Against two of the finest defenses in Ventura County—in Week 2 vs. Ventura and against Thousand Oaks last Saturday—Scott rushed for a combined 501 yards and scored six touchdowns.
“He’s a great football player,” T.O. head coach Mike Sanders said. “He’s physically strong. He keeps his feet moving and he doesn’t stop. He doesn’t ever stop.”
Moorpark’s defense deserves credit as well. The unit was all over Lancer quarterback Ryan Cloney and held T.O. to just 12 yards on the ground.
Royal Saves Best for Last
The best game of the night was Royal (3-1, 1-0) going up against Westlake (1-3, 0-1).
Highlander quarterback Michael Long had two nice touchdown passes early to put Royal up 14 points, but Westlake, which had been decimated by injuries to key personnel, fought back to tie the game in the third quarter on a touchdown catch by Erik Schneider.
Royal had the ball and the lead late in the game, and when running back Curtis Marsh was able to convert a pair fourth-and-short attempts in his team’s territory, the Highlanders had their first win over Westlake in 14 seasons.
It was 11:17 p.m. when the final game ended.
Big Thanks to the Volunteers
There’re a lot of people who need to be applauded for their efforts in making last Saturday’s games possible.
Buena High is right at the top of that list, along with all of the parents and school officials who put in so many hours of volunteer service. I saw Joe Akrop, a campus supervisor at Simi Valley, working the chain gang during the morning, and Royal head baseball coach Dan Maye manning the down marker late into the night.
Moorpark’s Kam Holland heads the school’s football booster club and was an essential figure in keeping the concession stand operating at full capacity throughout the evening.
As for myself, what can I say, I may have a developing football disease, but nevertheless, it was a delightful weekend spent with some really good people.
