TITLE WAVE TEN LOCAL TEAMS WILL COMPETE FOR FOOTBALL GLORY FRIDAY, SATURDAY SPORTS FANS PREPPED FOR ACTION.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI Take me out to a prep game. It's that time of the sports year again, and thank goodness. On the heels of college football's Championship Week, here comes high school football's version, a tonic for a sports fan's soul. Every now and then, you grow weary of stories about Bowl Championship Series contrivances and New Year's Day New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated among Christians usually on Mar. 25. bowls that aren't on New Year's Day and players leaving college early to turn pro. You get tired of steroid scandals and player strikes and .284-hitting shortstops with $39 million contracts and Terrell Owens Terrell Eldorado Owens (born December 7, 1973), is an American football wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. Popularly known by his initials, T.O., Owens has established himself as one of the League's most productive and outspoken players. . You get sick of touchdown dances and shooting guards who miss 20 shots a game and prizefighters who never fight and race horses who never race. And what better to take the mind off the ills of big-time college and pro sports than high school championship games Friday and Saturday featuring 10 - count 'em, 10 - local teams? There's Notre Dame Notre Dame IPA: [nɔtʁ dam] is French for Our Lady, referring to the Virgin Mary. In the United States of America, Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, No. 1 in the Daily News' rankings, facing Dominguez for the Southern Section Div. III title. There's Taft of Woodland Hills vs. Crenshaw cren·shaw also cran·shaw n. A variety of winter melon (Cucumis melo var. inodorus) having a greenish-yellow rind and sweet, usually salmon-pink flesh. [Origin unknown.] for the City Section title. And six other games involve teams from the Daily News circulation area. A check of the record books shows this will be the most football teams from the area to play in championship games in any season. With eight championships in reach, our teams could eclipse the area standard of six, set in 2003 with Hart of Newhall leading the charge. As a sportswriter sports·writ·er n. A person who writes about sports, especially for a newspaper or magazine. sports , I'm so ready for this. I suppose a lot of sports fans are too. See, the way it works in the sports-writing racket, the longer you hang on, the more bad stuff you have to cover. For every great game and heroic athlete a columnist gets to see, there's a labor squabble squab·ble intr.v. squab·bled, squab·bling, squab·bles To engage in a disagreeable argument, usually over a trivial matter; wrangle. See Synonyms at argue. n. A noisy quarrel, usually about a trivial matter. , drug inquiry, salary-cap issue, new-stadium demand or ego explosion to sour the mood. Not that the major leagues are more sordid than any other walk of life. They're just so wrapped up in business issues that the good gets obscured. Give me a break. I mean, literally, give me a break from all that. I confess a little envy for the writers of the high-school sports page Noun 1. sports page - any page in the sports section of a newspaper page - one side of one leaf (of a book or magazine or newspaper or letter etc.) or the written or pictorial matter it contains , where it's sweet and simple by comparison to Page 1. A controversy like the recent one in which three football players at Hart High of Newhall were kicked off the team for their roles in a hazing incident, as terrible as it was, seems relatively quaint. Look, I don't get out to a lot of prep football games. They're usually on Fridays, which is when the Dodgers tend to announce their premature firings. But I'll be at one this week. And whichever one it is, I can't go wrong. Notre Dame (13-0 this season) vs. Dominguez, 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Home Depot The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services. Headquartered in Vinings, just outside Atlanta in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, Home Depot employs more than 355,000 people and operates 2,164 big-box Center in Carson: Without a flashy player, Notre Dame is looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. its 36th consecutive victory, trying to become only the third team to win four championships in a row, and hoping to finish the season as the top-ranked team in California. Taft (13-0) vs. Crenshaw, 8 p.m. Friday at the Coliseum: Taft, with quarterback Exavier Johnson coming off a six-touchdown-passes performance, plays in its seventh final in 14 years and tries to deliver its second championship in a match between two of the local prep scene's highest- profile programs. Hart (11-2) vs. Canyon (12-1) of Canyon Country for the Southern Section Div. II title, 7:30 p.m. Friday at Home Depot Center: If familiarity doesn't breed contempt, it should make for a good game between Foothill League rivals and famed coaches Mike Herrington (Hart) and Harry Welch (Canyon). Hart had to upset Mission Viejo Mission Vi·e·jo A community of southern California southeast of Irvine. It is mainly residential. Population: 96,300. , the nation's No. 2 team, to get to the final. Canyon is in its first final since 1988, and won a close one against Hart earlier this season. Moorpark (10-3) vs. St. Bonaventure for the Southern Section Div. IV title, 7:30 p.m. Friday in Ventura: Moorpark makes its second appearance ever in a final and faces a steep challenge in defending champion defending champion n (SPORT) → defensor/a m/f del título defending champion n (Sport) → champion(ne) en titre St. Bonaventure, the Ventura school that might be playing better than anybody these days. Crespi (10-3) of Encino vs. Lompoc for the Southern Section Div. X title, 7:30 p.m. Friday in Lompoc: OK, it's a long way to go for a football game, but maybe we can get Crespi running back Josh Morgan to carry us. Morgan rushed for 347 yards in Crespi's semifinal game, one yard short of Crespi legend Russell White's school record. Oaks Christian (12-0) of Westlake Village vs. Grace Brethren (11-2) of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. for the Southern Section Div. XI title, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Newbury Park: There's a David-and-Goliath theme here, with Grace Brethren chasing a championship in its first year in this division but facing quarterback Jimmy Clausen James Richard "Jimmy" Clausen (born September 21, 1987, in Thousand Oaks, California[3]) is an American football player. He is a quarterback at the University of Notre Dame. and two-time defending champion Oaks Christian. ``If we play like we did (in a less-than-impressive semifinal win), it's a good thing we're both Christian schools,'' Grace Brethren coach Terry Gourley said, ''because it'll be an annihilation of biblical proportions.'' Campbell Hall Campbell Hall can refer to:
Eagle Rock (11-2) vs. Marshall for the City Section Invitational division title, 5 p.m. Friday at the Coliseum: On the schedule, it looks like nothing more than a warm-up act for the Taft-Crenshaw game. But Eagle Rock has shown a dramatic flair in its own right, rallying from 20-6 down at halftime in its semifinal victory. That Notre Dame game looks like the one for me. Then again, it could be the Taft game. Or both ... It's a good week to be a sports fan around here. CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: (color) no caption (football players) Photo illustration by Shane Kidder Box: CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion