Casual Fridays on Thursday: St. Francis proving worth
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Tonight's Showdown with predictions
Burroughs (2-0) at St. Francis (2-0), 7:30 p.m. -- Melendez (St. Francis); Lair (St. Francis)
Tonight's game Burroughs-St. Francis game promises to be a good one. So good I might head over after I leave the office and check it out myself.
The top-ranked Golden Knights had a tough time last season battling injuries that ultimately put halt on their playoff hopes.
St. Francis is healthy and have arguably the area's best running back in Dietrich Riley who of course is only a junior. Rian Younker is a strong force on the D-Line. There are lots of reasons the Golden Knights will be scary-good this season and having a balanced team is the big reason. A potent ground attack and an air assault when needed by Justin Sciarra. The offense against Crescenta Valley last week had 315 total yards led by Riley's 213 on the ground. Malik Speed is a player not to be overlooked. His speed compliments the offense well. And lets not forget a defensive unit that has an offensive mind, too.
It should be noted that Burroughs is 2-0 and are coming off a 30-7 victory over South Torrance. The Indians have a big line up front on both sides of the ball, can spread their receivers and have lots of motion which potentially can be confusing. With such a good pass-rush from the Golden Knights expect Burroughs to be in shotgun formation almost the entire game.
I will be covering Hoover at San Marino. I know Hoover has a big line up front but the reality is the Titans will prove to be too much with a powerful running back tandem in Scott Dooley and Benny Hung. To be honest, the Temple City-San Gabriel game is much more intriguing but I won't be there because I'm thinking of covering the Rams when they visit Rosemead next week.
The TC-SG game has all the makings of an offensive showdown. The Rams did not play to their potential against the Moors last week. Morgan Hatch can wreak havoc in the air for opposing defenses so I expect him to bounce back strong against the Matadors. Joey Stewart is very underrated and I came away impressed with how strong he is, gaining most of his yards running up the middle and breaking blocks.
This could be a close game and I see the Matadors pulling away, though I'm not as convinced as many people think.
Isaac Valdez, a junior, will prove his worth. The Rams defense, led by Nick Conora, will have to contain receiver Isaac Villalobos who'll probably be Valdez's favorite target. Arthur Brown is a speedy back who can make big plays like when he broke off a 52-yard touchdown run before it was called back for a holding penalty. True, the 54-14 victory came against a down South Pasadena team, which is why I don't see either team blowing each other out. No matter what you think, Serra and Cathedral are two tough teams. The kid from Cathedral is going to USC for a reason. There's a reason why it went from Heisman-U to Tailback-U. There were no moral victories for the Matadors and not once did I say they were. But they were losses San Gabriel learned from and can see where they stand against the rest. This game is much more important for the Matadors because it is their first true test against an area team. TC has proven itself with a shutout win and a game they should have won against Alhambra.
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About this blog
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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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Nice blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What host are you using? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol
SG OWNS THE ALMONT LEAGUE STAT BOARD?
YA KNOW GOLDEN ITS SOUNDS LIKE SG GOT YOU ON PAYROLL
FOR THAT STAR-NEWS PROMO PKG...WHEN DID MIGUEL HIRE YOU?
ANYWAYS IT'S ALL GOOD CAUSE YOUR RIGHT THEY WILL CHANGE TONIGHT ON OFFENSE AND THEY SHOULD LEAD IN TACKLES CAUSE
LATELY THEIR DEFENSE NEVER LEAVES THE FIELD.....
ALMONT LEAGUE IS WEAK?
WELL I HEAR THAT EVERY YEAR, BUT AN ALMONT TEAM USUALLY
ENDS UP GOING FARTHER IN THE PLAY-OFFS THAN ANY OTHER
LEAGUES AROUND HERE.LIKE I SAID,SEPTEMBER,OCTOBER,DON'T
MATTER ONLY IN NOVEMBER IS WHEN ALL THIS MATTERS.
With one game more under their belt than AHS, San Gabriel owns the Almont stat leader board. Valdez has an impressive 657 yds in the air and 165 on the ground. In fact, the top 3 rushing spots belong to SG, same for the tackle board. Like I said, only a couple games on which to stat pull, so not that it won't change as the Moors start racking up yds and receptions tonight.
Unlikely the Almont is going to win any power awards this season. Excepting SG and AHS, the remaining 4 teams in the Almont have yet to win a single game. All are 0-2 or 0-3. These are Schurr, Bell Gardens, Montebello and Keppel. In their defense, Schurr and BG have had some close losses - games they could have won.
FYI, Calpreps has San Marino flaming Hoover 46-3, Monrovia losing to Beckman 28-12 and TC falling to SG 21-14, AHS over LC 31-14 and Jefferson edging Blair 31-28. Just a note, Calpreps is not Nostradamus so far this season. Good luck to all tonight.
Hey TC fan,sorry!
Not this year buddy...no doubt TC wins???
How bout this if we played you again this year wich won't happend,we would spank you guys just like we've done the last 3 yrs so stop it!
I saw one dropped ball the rest were over thrown badly-
If we don't drop those 4-5 int's we spank the rams as usual.It would have been at least 28-10 but who gives a sh.........wait til next year and concentrate on the SG game.Hopefully you won't drop so many passes.....I do agree on one thing that you said.by SC losing tonight just goes to prove that any team can go down on any given night.
Golden Knights win, 30-5
Hey justafan,
I admit TC did lose that game, but hey every team has a bad game. You put TC and Alhambra again, and no doubt TC would win. Those dropped passes from TC wouldn't happen again, and our defense was strong until their last drive. Just like SC and Stanford last year a fluke.
The TC-SG game should be a good one. SG blew out TC last year with about the same group of kids. Nonetheless, this game will make or break SG.
Temple City by 14 over San Gabriel.
Miguelito Miguelito,
you are starting to show some true colors that are very
un-settling and I can't seem to figure it out.Then again
you were on the AHS band squad so that tells me a lil bit.I'm trying to figure why you insist TC should have won that game against the moors.Is it because they slaughtered an Arroyo team the week b4? and the Moors fluke loss to glendale? the same week Birmingham loses to Garfield? Let me remind you buddy AHS has beaten TC the last 2-3 years and also demolished Arroyo 2 years in a row wich is probably why they are no longer on the schedule....yet you still insist.By the way,that qoute
you made,"Easy sailing",for SG hear on out??? NO RESPECT!
Oh yeah and by the way,we whooped on SG the last 3-4 yrs!
Like I said buddy your colors are blurry.....