FOOTBALL: 2007 TURKEY TUSSLE
Mustangs take the Tussle
Willie Youngblood scores a pair of touchdowns in 13-9 Muir victory over Pasadena
Muir's Willie Youngblood runs for a touchdown in the first quarter against Pasadena. Youngblood scored a pair of TDs to lead the Mustangs to a 13-9 victory. (Pasadena Star-News Staff Photo Keith Birmingham)
Pasadena's William Walls (52) Jermy Davis (26) and Da Vante La Flora (7) watch Muir celebrate as the Mustangs defeated the Bulldogs 13-9. (Pasadena Star-News Staff Photo Keith Birmingham)
Click on the link below to go to special Turkey Tussle page.
turkeytussle
By Scott Galetti Staff Writer
PASADENA - In one of the more famous intra-city rivalries in Southern California, Pasadena High School could be considered `the other team' during the past 11 meetings of Muir dominance as the Mustangs rode an eight-game winning streak and was 10-0-1.
But with a share of the Pacific League championship on the line, the senior-laden Bulldogs did their best to prove that their bite is as good as their bark.
Muir senior running back Willie Youngblood, however, stood tall in his final career regular-season game.
Youngblood rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns to lift Muir to a 13-9 victory in the 54th annual Turkey Tussle on Thursday night at the Rose Bowl.
With the victory, Muir (8-2, 7-0) finished the regular season with eight consecutive wins and won the outright league title.
"We had to come together as a family and came through," Youngblood said.
Youngblood gave the Mustangs (8-2, 7-0) a 13-9 lead midway through the third quarter when he broke around right end and raced into the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown run.
"I felt like I had to keep running harder," Youngblood said. "Everything was like a fourth down to me and I did what I needed to do."
Muir's defense did what it needed as well, slowing down Pasadena quarterback Tyron Crockom in the second half, holding him to 1-of-4 for 11 yards to put the game away and keep the Victory Bell on the Muir campus.
Pasadena (6-4, 5-2) had one last chance in the second half, but Crockom's pass on fourth-and-8 at its own 44-yard line went in and out of the hands of Tacorey Benson with 2:10 to play in the contest.
Pasadena's offense was efficient as well as relentless in the opening half as the Bulldogs outgained the Mustangs 132-55.
But Muir came back to outgain Pasadena 244-164 in the contest.
Mustangs quarterback Reuben Thomas was just 4-of-12 for 39 yards and two interceptions, but ran for 80 yards on 11 attempts.
Crockom was 11-of-19 for 99 yards and a touchdown in the first half alone. He finished the game 12-of-23 for 110 yards.
Pasadena's defense rose to the challenge by stopping Muir's potent offense attack, holding Youngblood to just 36 yards on seven carries in the opening 12 minutes.
Pasadena drove 63 yards to the Muir 17-yard line, using nearly 5 1/2 minutes.
The Mustangs defense tightened and forced Crockom into three incomplete passes.
Benson's interception on the ensuing series gave Pasadena the ball right back at the Mustangs 5-yard line.
On fourth-and-goal, Crockom connected with running back Rashad McCord for a 5-yard touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead with 3:19 to play in the opening quarter.
Muir answered on its next possession on an 11-yard scoring run by Youngblood less than three minutes later.
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
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Amazing freakin blog here. I almost cried while reading it!
Sorry for the huge review, but I'm really loving the nfl, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it's the right choice for you.
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Oregon needed more substance and less form tonight with Arizona. The PAC-10 is really tough this year.
The PHS uniforms are really bad looking. They took a hint from the University of Oregon "shock 'em" style.
I can't stand when people put-down a JC education (hopefully the JC is a stepping stone), but California offers people a tremendous chance to become college educated and a JC is sometimes the most financially feasible starting point. I bet more people would begin their college education earlier (at a JC) if others would be more supportive and less detrimental.
Pasadena couldn't even win the battle of the uniforms. Hope they bought them on sale.
Wow, how did I miss THAT intelligent and well-thought-out response. "Super duper vocab," "high octane vocab," "JC education," "city team wrapped up in a CIF jacket,"..............wow.......what jewels. To think that someone took the time and EFFORT to string that bit of knowledge together for our reading pleasure. Fanofstangfan, I just want to say thank you. Job well done. You are awesome. Tonight, when I rest my little AA educated head to sleep, I will reflect on your words of wisdom and strive to be a better person. You sure put me in my place.....and I want to apologize to all the bloggers.
The TRUTH[E] has set me free! THE TRUTH[E] has set me free! I am a glutton for the TRUTH[E], even though the TRUTH[E] hurts. Thank you fanofstangfan, thank you.
DEAR MR STANG
HERE"S THE TRUTHE,THE WHOLE TRUTHE AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTHE!!!AND THIS IS NOT THE TRUTHE......and by the way your super duper vocab only re-assures everybody that you probably got two years j.c.education if that......
IT ALMOST FEELS LIKE YOUR A CITY TEAM WRAPPED IN A CIF JACKET...FRUSTRATED ARE YOU?
THEN AGAIN I COULD"NT EVEN IMAGINE MUIR IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS A DORSEY,CRENSHAW,you know teams of that caliber.
SO WHY DON"T WE JUST LET ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN YOUR MEANINGLESS,HIGH-OCTANE VOCAB AND LET THESE YOUNG MEN PLAYBALL
WE"LL SEE HOW GOOD YOUR TEAM IS FOUR WEEKS!!!!!
BUT THE TRUTHE OF THE MATTER IS.......Well,use your spectacular,more educated than everybody's mind
AND JUST FACE IT.....ODDS ARE????????????????
Stang Fan,
I thought we talked about this type of reaction a while ago. Why bother?
THE TRUTH, Anonymous 1:20, and ANY and ALL Alhambra fans who agree with the first two dumb-dumbs I mentioned:
Alhambra high school does NOT "want it" with Muir. BELIEVE ME!!!! You can't win your league. You can't get a top 2 seed from the Almont. You can't beat Schurr. You can't compete without your top 2 guys. And apparently you can't beat a HORRIBLE Montebello team. Do you think that for one instant your big ol' SLOW lineman could hold off our strong and speedy guys for FOUR quarters. Man, you guys are uncalculably FOOLISH to even utter such rubbish. Your buffoonery on this blog before the Schurr game was just downright appalling and it was made all the worse with your loss to Schurr.
And the one blogger who uses hyphens instead of periods is a fricking DUNCE. Does he think we are ALL idiots. Bro, you claim yourself as a non-AHS fan, but at the same time your cretinous posts match that of another imbecilic idiot who also used the same stupid hyphens and labeled himself as an ardent Alhambra supporter. So not only are you a jack-ass but a liar as well.
Alhambra, enjoy your team, I wish them the best in the playoffs, I really do. Let's just go ahead and kill this argument right now. Win the Almont league, beat Montebello and Schur then come talk to me.
BTW, I really do hate these types of posts, and admittedly I'm also a FRICKIN' jack-ass by allowing myself to get drawn in. I know I come off as a pompous jerk, like my team has no flaws, when they most certainly do. But sometimes I feel as if I have to put dudes like this into their place.
Lots of heroes in that game. I like Willie Youngblood's performance. He would not quit and by the 4th quarter was too much for the Bulldogs.
GREAT PIC!!! REMINDS ME OF THE UCLA- U$C SCORE OF LAST SEASON
This game finally lived up to the hype! I didn’t expect the dogs to put up a fight for 4 quarters but in the end the better team one.
The dog's put together a brilliant scheme to win the position game and this kept them in it. There lone touchdown came out of Bingo's first int of the year. This put PHS in the redzone. Besides this Muir was able to keep Phs out of the red zone all day. You have to be impressed by the speed of the defense. Also the db's (who have been called out all week by you bloggers) responded to the call with two BIG int's. One by Marcus Thompson (the guy who always gets beat LOL) and Marcus Graves (the slow guy). Also tight coverage and big tackles from Austin Daniels (the kid with no courage who finished the season with 90+ tackles). The D-line kept Tyrone in trouble all night. When your D-line plays like this you can drop more players in coverage and it's hard to throw when you see all of those blue jerseys dropping back.
I would love to hear from my fellow stang fans who, was player of the game!
I'm glad I went to see the Tussle this year. I got my money's worth and then some. It was quite a battle. Pasadena came to play and the game was in doubt until just a few minutes to play. Two very inspired teams, big crowd, Rose Bowl, nice night for the community.
Congratulations to Muir.
I hate the fact that this clown would try to attack our community in order to promote these two running backs. I have been going to the "Tussle" since the early 90's and I don't think I have seen a better one. The players from both sides came out and played with a passion that we haven't seen in a long time. The crowd stayed in the game for 4 quarters cheering for its own side and heckling the other. And don't forget about the pre-game brawl! This game reignited a rivalry that you can say was on the downside.
Scott I would love to hear your opinion on how this rivalry ranks to others you have seen.
The truth: I would love to see your boys come to our house and we'll see who is soft. Don't forget in the 80's Alhambra was in the Pacific League and DROPPED out because they couldn't hang.(You bloggers know I do my research!)
i did not know you buy new jersey's to lose the tussle. mills do you still have the reciept to take them back ? oh i forgot you put the kids names on the back , what a wonderful memory they are going to have every time they look at them.
huckie , what did your son do ? nothing !
he was not even a threat !!! and your QB
chokekum , i mean crockom !!! sacked 6 times , had a fumble on the 10 yard line , threw a interception, and went 1-of-4 for 11 yards in the second half !
three year starters on varsity ? your school can really be proud of your players. one thing you and your son (trump) have in common is both you guys lost n the turkey tussle to who ?
JOHN MUIR MIGHTY MUSTANGS !!!!!!!!!!!
can all the Alhambra fans stop with the Stang comparisons please. Come talk to us when you when you beat Shurr.
I am proud of the Bulldogs for playing a great game.
Best game in many years.
I know Stang Fan was worried at the 1/2 and until the last PHS drive.
ATOMIC DAWWG
Great game!!
ONCE AGAIN THE STANGS COME OUT ON TOP. IF YOU FOLLOW THE STANGS YOU CAN TELL THAT THIS WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST GAMES. IT ALL CAME DOWN TO D. IN THE FIRST #3 FOR PASADENA WAS DOING HIS THING. BUT COME THE SECOUND HALF MUIR'S D WOKE UP. THEY SHUT DOWN PASADENÁS #3 TO 1 OF 4 IN THE SECOUND HALF AND THE D LINE PUT GREAT PRESSURE IN RECORDING 6 SACKS IN THE GAME. THE FIRST (2) SACKS BELONG TO SENIOR (72) THE NEXT SACK BELONG TO JUNIOR(44) THE ONE WAS SENIOR(51) AND LAST WAS NUMBER (34) WHO RECORED TWO SACKS. OVERALL THIS WAS A GREAT SHOWING OF MUIR'S D. LOOKING OF HOW THEY STEP UP IN THE SECOUND HALF I SEE A GOOD CHANCE FOR THAT RING. CIF!!!!!!!!!!!! HERE WE COME. LEAGUE CHAMPS....
ONCE AGAIN THE STANGS COME OUT ON TOP. IF YOU FOLLOW THE STANGS YOU CAN TELL THAT THIS WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST GAMES. IT ALL CAME DOWN TO D. IN THE FIRST #3 FOR PASADENA WAS DOING HIS THING. BUT COME THE SECOUND HALF MUIR'S D WOKE UP. THEY SHUT DOWN PASADENÁS #3 TO 1 OF 4 IN THE SECOUND HALF AND THE D LINE PUT GREAT PRESSURE IN RECORDING 6 SACKS IN THE GAME. THE FIRST (2) SACKS BELONG TO SENIOR (72) THE NEXT SACK BELONG TO JUNIOR(44) THE ONE WAS SENIOR(51) AND LAST WAS NUMBER (34) WHO RECORED TWO SACKS. OVERALL THIS WAS A GREAT SHOWING OF MUIR'S D. LOOKING OF HOW THEY STEP UP IN THE SECOUND HALF I SEE A GOOD CHANCE FOR THAT RING. CIF!!!!!!!!!!!! HERE WE COME. LEAGUE CHAMPS....
How did the smurf #4 do?
dear stang fan-and i hate alhambra high school-i was at your thanksgiving game,and your lucky you don't play the Moors-WOW-I was hoping to see what you've been braggin bout-and i played div.1 football-u must b sippin 2 much old-E-cause that kid @ Alhambra #3 that brown kid,is the best running back i've seen since all my days playing ball-that team is so discipline and so well coached,well.......lets just say your lucky-and you really don't know what u yappin' bout-and i don'y know what D-line u talking bout-well.....that's cuz u never played b4-I undersatand,pimp-but congrats anyways-and youngbloods a great kid-but u need 2 stop-put it down-it's burning....ha ha ha
the truth if you dont stop it. this was "THE RIVALRY" game (ask fox sports). Both teams played hard. "The Moors never will belong on the same field as Muir. Yeah you guys have a running backs. Muir has the best D line in the area. So your run game would be shut. And you just seen what we did to the team with the best passing game in the area. So you guys dont belong even in the the paragraph with the STANGS........Now thats the TRUTH.
Stangs or die!
Stangs win and Blair wins share of RHL league like Ice Cube said today was a good day!!!!!!
Well,well,well i have to speak the TRUTH even if the TRUTH hurts... ANTHONY BROWN AND DUSHINE SMITH are much much much much much much BETTER running backs than YoungBlood....and Muir or Pasadena would get ran right at...SOFT...SOFT ...STANGFAN what are you talking about bro your superpower football team sqeeked by "dena".....wooooow!!! i want my $6 back please...1 THING I WILL GIVE YOU "STANGFAN" you should work for a record company because you are A great "PROMOTER" ..DAM THAT WAS A HORRIBLE GAME!!!! NO GAME PLAN...RUN DROP BACK THROW THE BALL... BOY WE WOULD RUN UP THE MIDDLE 40 TIMES ......ARM TACKLES !! SOFT!!!!!!!! STANG FAN SLEEP EASY TONIGHT .. YOUR LUCKY YOU WONT SEE THE MOORS IN THE PLAYOFF'S..
IT'S JUST THE TRUTH!!!