Thursday Night Football: Must-win game for Muir
THURSDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT
MUIR (1-5, 1-2) vs. CRESCENTA VALLEY (4-2, 2-1) at Glendale High, 7 p.m.
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No matter how you look at it, this is a must-win game for Muir if it wants to keep its playoff hopes alive. What team shows up today is beyond me. It could be the offense, it could be the defense, who knows. If the Mustangs get a win tonight it's seemingly downhill from here, schedule-wise at least. Muir would only have Hoover, Glendale and Pasadena while Crescenta Valley still has Burroughs on its schedule. And some of you I think are right -- the final playoff spot may come down to the end result of the Turkey Tussle. Put in a call to Muir coach Ken Howard and he agreed tonight's game is a must-win.
"It's a must-win," he said. "If we don't win we're going to need a lot of help, but I don't believe anybody else is going to help me."
Muir has been sort of an enigma. So how does Howard get his team to play consistent?
"Right now we've coached them up as much as we can coach them up," he said. "One week it's the offense believing and trusting themselves or vice versa. They have to understand both sides have to have a perfect game in order to win the game."
But it'll get easier, no? I man, c'mon. It's Hoover (yawn), Glendale (hmmm?) and Pasadena still left on the schedule. It's an easy road to the playoffs if Muir can just buckle down and get it done.
"You know what," Howard said, "anybody can say easy but they're not in my shoes. I've only won one football game. It might look easy on paper but they still put on their pants the same way we put our pants on. I don't think about it as easy. Either we win tonight or we need a lot of help. There's a couples teams ahead of us that still have to see Burroughs and Burbank. We just have to bring a little heart to the table and see if we can dance with these guys."
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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. |
i think muir should get a new coaching staff. i played football in high school and even tried out for the world football league and i think the talent on this team was not used crrectly. my son played for muir and fill bad for him and other players on the team who talents were not show cased porperly.
i think muir should get a new coaching staff. i played football in high school and even tried out for the world football league and i think the talent on this team was not used crrectly. my son played for muir and fill bad for him and other players on the team who talents were not show cased porperly.
The principal at John Muir should fire the entire football coaching staff, and hire a trained, qualified, and proven coaching staff. Apparently, the principal thinks you only have to hire babysitters and not a competent coaching staff for John Muir. The principal is only interested in picking up a paycheck - not the welfare of John Muir's football program. If the principal was smart, the principal would hire Jim Brownfield who lives in South Pasadena to train some qualified teachers to coach football at John Muir. If the principaly has no interest in CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN, the everyone should lead a grass root movement to have the principal either removed or fire too. If the principal thinks the John Muir Alumni doesn't care about John Muir Football, then the principal is totally wrong. RISE UP STANGS! Put an end to all this foolishness going on in the John Muir Football program. They are all in it for the money - not the school, the players, or the Alumni. Well they all understimated the John Muir Alumni. WE CARE!
As a player i promise you mike knowles is the worst coach ever. Coach sims is a good coach we didn' call our own plays last year. Their is a lack of talent at muir right now. They are very young watch out in a few years.
As a player o promise you mike knowles is the worst coach ever. Coach sims is a good coach we didn' call our own plays last year. Their is a lack of talent at muir right now. They are very young watch out in a few years.
Hal Lam and sportsfanatic,
While it is SOOO true that there are things that negatively impact the school (and I've discussed a LOT of it on here), the bottom line is Muir could have won against Burroughs, Burbank, and CV....but didn't. Somebody has to answer for that.
When is the Muir principal going to step in and remove all the coaches at John Muir. Its not the kids its the coaching staff they dont have the kids ready to play on game days. I should know I have been to the last six games this season and everbody in the stands can see whats going on. Get some real coaches with TEACHER'S credentials not just anybody from the streets. I think this is the worst record that MUIR has ever had in school history can somebody look it up and post it. I guess last year's senior class called there own plays and excecuted there own plays FIRE COACH SIMS and hire Coach MIKE KNOWLES he is a better coach than the rest of the coaching staff that they have.
PUSD's open enrollment policy has had a negative impact on Muir.
Muir will not make the CIF play-off this year!!!
All of STANGS Nation know it!!!
But most of all PHS BullDog Nation know it TOO!!!
Ha! Ha! HA!!
GO DOGS!!! WIn!!! Win!!
See you at the the Turkey Tussle!!!
MUIR , muir , muir , muir !!!!!!!!!!!
i just cant take this ! our kids are really suffering cause of the PUSD , our program is in trouble cause we have kids not going to muir. no white kids , asians , they need to close the school before they let it really go under. thanks mrs orange for hurting john muir.
MUIR , muir , muir , muir !!!!!!!!!!!
i just cant take this ! our kids are really suffering cause of the PUSD , our program is in trouble cause we have kids not going to muir. no white kids , asians , they need to close the school before they let it really go under. thanks mrs orange for hurting john muir.
Maybe Paraclete needs to play with only 8 people in order to give the rest of the Mid-Valley a chance.
Damn stang fan, I know it hurts man. I did not think muir would struggle against a team that is inferior to them. Now you need some help that you most likely wont get.....again man I know its hurting....well good luck to the rest of ur league play.
Amnot Champion Since 95:
What are you talking about...Paraclete should play 8-man? We won the Mid-Valley Division last season.
I still come out in favor of having tough opponents early on, but maybe with this year's crop - the beatings were simply demoralizing and not of the value you hope and expect to take away from playing "up" in competition. Just a thought.
Muir was wearing red socks last night. Anyone know why?
Stang Fan,
Coaching yes but the player has to have heart. Muir is lacking heart.
I noticed that some eastside schools got shuffled around into new leagues that seem to make more sense. When is the last time any schools on the westside were moved into different leagues?
It's time for St. Francis to join the Camino Real League. (j/k...light humor on a Friday). Anyway, it's time to consider some releaguing on the Westside.
Man this is tough. Another damn loss to a team Muir can beat. Again, CAN beat. Not SHOULD beat. So what's the difference?
Coaching.
For such an important game I just can not fathom how we could come out SO FLAT! How does that happen? Opening kickoff...TD. Called back to the Muir 20 for a penalty. Muir's D STARTS OUT in a bad spot. CV scores. Muir goes 3 and out (with a couple penalties) and CV gets the ball at midfield. A couple of punts later by both teams and CV ends up with the ball on Muir's side of the field and eventually scores. Then Muir comes out and makes a switch at QB and a CV picks off a pass and returns to Muir's 25 before eventually scoring. Boom...like that....21-0! Frustration would be a nice word right now.
Of course, at halftime I'm sure the coaches reamed the kids, because they looked like a COMPLETELY different team in the 2nd half. CV's offense couldn't move the ball AT ALL and Muir scored twice and almost scored another before a TD saving shoestring tackle that Muir never capitalized on. End of game. 21-14.
WHY IN THE HELL WEREN'T THOSE BOYS READY WHEN THEY STEPPED OFF THAT DAMN BUS!!!! I know players play and coaches coach and the players should hold their end up on the field, but damnit coaches have to have these guys ready to go. And the bottom line is they came out as if CV was Hoover. As if 1-5 is supposed to intimidate somebody. Again, I said Muir CAN beat CV just like they COULD HAVE beaten Burroughs and Burbank, that much was evident last night, but something prevented that from happening....coaching.
CV 21, Muir 14. Big second half effort by the Mustangs who were down 21 at half.
If there are no upsets in the next couple of weeks, the Turkey Tussle will decide the final playoff spot in the Pacific League.
Does that mean the Stangs are eliminated? No. So it wasn't really a "must-win", but every other game sure the heck is.
the "scoreboard" says 21-14, Huck says 34 -22.
Either way the "must win" for the Stangs did not happen.
Somebody out there see the game and care to comment?
Was it 21-0 at one point? Turnovers?
Anyone who says the Serra league is weak is foolish. Sorry but a weak serra league is still better than a good rio hondo league. A weak Serra league is still better than a good pacific league. the serra league is not weak. even though crespi and loyola arent what they usually are, they are still very good teams and would put a beat down on the sgv area teams
sorry...Must Win is a won't win..
Down 21-0 to CV
Serra League is a WEAK League this year. Like it or not, this is just too hard to argue! Isn't it Amat???
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SO Notre Dame (ranked 30th in State)…talk about a weak schedule, ... who have they played? That big win to open the season against Klein Oak Texas…not really…that team is 1-6, Taft is 3-3, Birmingham is 0-6 and Dominguez is 1-4. So a squeaker over a good D3 team like St. Francis wasn’t that much of a surprise.
Now Crespi (ranked 83rd in State) is 3-3 with wins over the 1-5 Lancaster, the 0-6 Birmingham and the 1-5 Saugus. And they lost last week to Alemany. Not all that impressive.
Loyola (ranked 39th in state) is 3-3 with wins over Mira Costa a D3 school that’s 4-2, the 3-3 St. John Bosco whose wins are over 1-5 Damien, 0-7 Cabrillo and 3-3 St. Paul…who lost to the D9 La Mirada team and has wins over 3-4 Garfield, 2-4 Pioneer and 4-3 Paraclete…a small school that plays in D11…wasn’t someone saying on another thread that Paraclete should play 8 man football?
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Bottom line Serra league is a WEAK A*s league in 2009!
mm
the blog editor has been giving me a wedgie all day
not sure if others posts are getting reamed as well
Muir 22 CV 34!!!!!!
One thing for sure, the meat on the stick is more tender than it was 7 weeks ago, or 5 weeks ago for that matter.
Muir has a narrower margin for error this year than in some years past, when they could afford a mistake or two - and leave with a win. It is hard to play wide open when you are worrying about making a dumb mistake.
The Stangs get a win Friday.
Muir should win easily as long as the 'stangs defense shows up.
Yeah, I can see how this is a "must-win" for the Stangs. All things even (injuries, etc.) Muir should win this game. CV has had a rough go if it the past few years against Muir, but I do expect this game to be a tough one. Miguel wondered which Muir team will show up, but we should also ask, which CV will show up? The one who battled SF, or the one who got blown-out by Burbank? A few more hours and we'll find out about both schools.
LET"S GO STANGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man good luck to the mustangs, this is now a win or get some help. and I doubt that will happen. I want to see the turkey tussle actually have some significant meaning thie year!!!!!