I’ll have a big preview story in the paper Friday on Pasadena Poly-Bishop, but I thought I’d share some other notes.
Pasadena Poly is about a half hour from arriving to Bishop after leaving a near two-hour practice at Paraclete High in Lancaster. When the Panthers arrive, they’ll check into a hotel, somewhere around 9:30 tonight. At around 11, the team will flip on the TV and tune in the local news. What they’ll see are football highlights from none other than their own.
Coach Brendan McGrail said he spent the early part of Thursday granting TV and radio interviews from the Bishop media.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “They asked what time we were getting in tonight and they said to turn on the 11 p.m. news on the local news station because they’re doing a story on Poly.
“They have the four films I traded with their head coach, and (the TV station) had access to them. They compiled Blake Edwards runs and Hunter (Merryman) passes.”
McGrail had an idea that the Panthers could potentially meet Bishop in the semifinals.
“They’re the top seed and we knew they’d proably be in the semifinals,” he said.
Pasadena Poly lost the coin flip, which is why they travel to play at Bishop on Friday night at 6 for the semifinals of the CIF-Southern Section Northeast Division playoffs.
“We’re staying in a hotel before the game, which is a new experience,” McGrail said. “It feels real big time, like a college road trip.”
Pasadena Poly will have a walk-through in a conference room at the hotel. The Panthers are hoping to reach their first finals appearance since doing so in 2003 when they lost to Flintridge Prep in the Division XIII title game. Pasadena Poly won the divisional title in 1998 and 2002. This is the deepest run the Panthers have embarked in seven years under McGrail. Pasadena Poly lost in the second round last year, losing to eventual champion Linfield Christian.
Pasadena Poly last week against Desert Christian in Lancaster played in 25-degree weather. The Panthers can expect about the same kind of playing conditions Friday.
“We knew all week it was going to be cold,” McGrail said. “But there’s no way to simulate that in practice. I was really pleased with the mental toughness they showed not letting the weather be a factor. It is a funny thing to practice in 75-degree weather and play the next day in 25 degrees and windy.”
It should be around 44 degrees come kickoff and should dip into the high 30’s by around 9 p.m. Arnie Palu, the voice of the Bishop Broncos the last 10 seasons on KIBS-FM, said that’s “nice” weather “by our standards. But the weather can change at moment’s notice.
Last season, Bishop played host to St. Margaret’s in the finals. The weather was around 10 degrees with 30-mile an hour winds.
“It can change up here in the Sierra,” Palu said. “But it should be around what Poly experienced last week in Lancaster. That’d be a great night for us.”
Palu will be joined by Rock Baker, the color commentator who also happens to be Bishops JV basketball coach.
Bishop takes its football very seriously. KIBS-FM has broadcast all football games, home and a way, live on radio consecutively for 30 years.
In addition, Bishop’s 3,000-seat stadium will be filled to capacity.
“It’ll be standing room only,” Palu added.
KIBS-FM will have a 25-minute pre-game show.
“We’ll break it up and play soundbites in our local news segment and an extended interview during the pre-game show,” Palu said.
The radio station is not in an Arbitron market (Arbitron measures ratings), so Palu said he’s unsure of how many listeners tune in to the football games.
“But you mispronounce a kid’s game and you get phone calls,” he said.
Sierra Wave TV will broadcast the game late Friday night and again Saturday throughout the day as well as Sunday and into next week.
