OK, now it gets interesting...
I ran into CalHi Sports editor Mark Tennis moments after Long Beach Poly's 13-3 victory over Crespi on Saturday night and he just kind of shook his head at the situation: ``It's a lot closer now,'' Tennis said. ``It might be 50-50 now.''
At 3 p.m. today, Birmingham will gather at Milton Knox's house in Pacoima --along with a camera crew from Fox -- and find out whether it has been selected for the Division I state bowl game.
Long Beach Poly's win on Saturday made that a lot more likely. Centennial of Corona is still a bit of a favorite, by virtue of its win over Crespi, but Birmingham looks a lot better than it did 24 hours ago.
Birmingham's 20-7 win over Long Beach Poly is looking very impressive right about now. What's more, Birmingham didn't just beat Poly, it dismantled them. The Jackrabbits only points came late in the fourth quarter, against Birmingham's second=string defense.
As, Birmingham has wins over two teams --Poly and Notre Dame -- that were ranked in the top 10 in the nation at the time they played. Taht's pretty impressive
Their lone loss to Crespi in Week Zero looms large, because Centennial beat the Celts. But when you consider now that Crespi lost to Poly, a team Birmingham beat, and Crespi beat MAter Dei, the team that beat Centennial, things are a lot more muddled.
A couple interesting facts about the Crespi game I learned last night. Before I write this, I want to say that this shouldn't take anything away from Crespi, which was playng incredible ball by the end of the year. But I found out that Birmingham had a couple of weird things happen to it that night. First off, the team arrived at Pierce College 30 minutes beore game time. Apparently, the bus it was supposed to take accidently took the team's band over first, causing the team to sit in the parking lot for over an hour, just waiting to go to the game.
Second, Birmingham was without starting QB Exavier Johnson who broke his hand three practices before the first game and starting safety Okechukwu Meke, who hadn't been cleared for his fifth year of eligibility yet
Then there was the 99-yard kickoff return on the opening kick that dug Birmingham into a 7-0 hole right away.
Interesting. Very interesting.
I don't envy the 10 commissioners who have to sort this thing out. Both Centennial and Birmingham seem very deserving. You can't really go wrong with either. But the decision just got a lot more complicated.
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Having seen all three teams (CC, Birmingham, Poly) play, CC is still the best of the three. I don't think Birmingham could beat CC. The game would be close with lots of offense, but CC plays at a much faster level than most every other high school team I have seen over the past 30+ years.
I think Bass is a better running back than Knox by a slim margin. (But its like do you want a Benz or a BMW - can't go wrong with either).
Either way, both will be De La Salle by two touchdowns. They will not give up the big play DLS used to beat an average Mission Viejo team.
Posted by: Greg | December 9, 2007 12:50 PM
Too bad for Birmingham that they had those inconviences at the beginning of the season. I honestly feel that Centennial and Birmingham should play each other and the winner plays De LaSalle but I guess their is no such thing as a perfect system. Either way Birmingham had a great season and should be proud of their season. Thanks for all the great coverage you gave us throughout the season.
Posted by: Scott | December 9, 2007 4:52 PM
Birmingham HS should play in the state championship
Posted by: b HERSH | December 11, 2007 9:33 AM