Wow. You can bet Muir will NOT be the No. 1 team when next week’s poll comes out. It appears we may have overestimated how good the Mustangs were going to be this season. They looked undersized and are definitely thin. Jarron Williams injured his left knee in the second quarter and wasn’t much of a threat on the ground in the second half. He threw for 178 yards on 9 of 11 passing, most of it in the second half. Diamond Ranch was just too much, from Gus Viramontes to Amari Staten, there was nobody who could bring them down. Viramontes completed 11 of 17 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a TD. Staten rushed for 155 yards on 15 carries, including a 23-yard score with 4:14 left in the first quarter. Elisha Henley caught six passes for 150 yards. Viramontes’ 8-yard run capped a 9- play, 76-yard drive to put the Panthers ahead for good, 35-20. But it was how Viramontes finished that drive that left Muir coaches frustrated. On second and six with the ball at the 9- yard line, Viramontes rolled out and powered his way through for the score. But a holding call on Diamond Ranch negated that score and pushed the ball back to the 16. On the next play, the Panthers’ attempt for the end zone failed, but the drive was kept alive after Muir was called for pass interference. Viramontes gave it another try, this time rolling out again and straight into the end zone. It was a sloppy game for both teams. Muir was penalized 13 times while Diamond Ranch had 11. But you have to give props to Muir coach Ken Howard for how he handled the loss and what he said after the game. “I’m not going to make excuses. We came out to play football and so did Diamond Ranch, but they played better than we did. As far as the rest goes, we played in the gym all week, but no excuses, though.”
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I want to invite my boys The Stang Fan and Goldenarm to make weekly predictions with me. Keith Lair has too much on his plate these days to make predictions. Stang Fan, Goldenarm and myself will go head-to-head every week until the end of the playoffs. We’ll think of a bet and pay out at the end of the season. Let me know if you guys are interested. So far, I’m 2-0 after picking Monrovia and La Puente to win Thursday night. By the way, I was torn having to choose between Monrovia/Arcadia and Muir/Diamond Ranch, but with the poor air quality and Monrovia/Arcadia moving to Thursday I got to see them and get to see cover Muir/Diamond Ranch tonight. I’m one lucky punk.
For the fourth straight season, quarter-by-quarter updates are available on our scoreboard page by clicking here.
FRIDAY’S SCORES
Diamond Ranch 35, Muir 20
La Salle 24, Village Christian 21
Westchester 13, Pasadena 0
Cathedral 26, San Gabriel 10
Roosevelt 34, Alhambra 20
Blair 66, Margaret’s 0
Cajon 55, Duarte 0
Pasadena Poly 42, Rock Academy 6
Rio Hondo Prep XX, Mission Prep XX
