Two-Minute Drills: This is it, now or never in title game.
MID-VALLEY DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP: San Gabriel at Monrovia, 7:30 p.m.
NORTHEAST DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP: Desert Chr. at Rio Hondo Prep, 7 p.m.
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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. |
The secret to the Monrovia defense is they way that the 'Cats defend against the kind of dink and dunk passes that SG uses. The method is Monrovia Mayhem or Wildcat Welcome. Anthony Craft showed the Covina boys how it works. There will be more opportunities this week.
Coach Maddox will be very busy this week, so let me post a reminder of how Monrovia Mayhem works. The wrong colored jerseys throw a short pass, usually over the middle. Then Anthony Craft and/or his buddies deliver a Wildcat Welcome. (Do the 'Cat's then help up the victim? LISTEN DUMMY, the thing that they teach you in first aid class is to never move a guy in that sort of situation. Let the EMT people do it, they're trained professionals.)
GO 'CATS!
Conventional wisdom says the Mid Valley championship was won last week at Covina. But then SG defies conventional wisdom.
Is SG some sort of team of destiny? Can man bit dog? Will the world spin backwards on Sat?
Everybody loves the underdog. Clearly Monrovia is like the German Panzer forces in early WWII and SG appears to be France.
Question will the SG O Line the equivalent of the Maginot Line, be able to block off or just deflect the Monrovia D front to give Guerrero time to scramble and hit a Vialobos or two. Expect a copuious amount of screens, scambles, and draws as SG attempts to keep Monrovia from over pusuing. On the other hand, Monrovia must force the SG hand to throw early, so one would expect some blitzes to overcome the SG O line, that in turn will create one on one coverage. Expect Monrovia to employ a lot of zone pass D.
Key to the game.
Can SG give Guerrero enough time to scramble, buying time for the receivers to either clear out deep or get open. Watch SG attempt to match up on Frazier to expose him on pass coverage with a slot coming on a slant route in his middle zone. It was there all night long at Covina and it will work again.
SG will need to score in abundance to stand a chance.
If the Monrovia D is able to stop them over half the time, it will be early WWII again. It will be over quick and it will be ugly. The game could easily have all the attentive charm of the Whittier Christian game, where Monrovia beat the Olympic Holy Warriors back into the stone age-don't show up late.
Dont get me wrong, I went to a couple of SG games this year and the spread formation-aerial circus is great to watch and their team-fans-students create a sweet vibe. The SG coach built a fun offense. Very enjoyable.
So will military history hold true, will conventional wisdom win out? Or will man bite dog. Will the clock never strike 12 for SG Cinderella? Probably not, but everyone loves an underdog, so if SG wins--that would be a headline.
Monrovia 48-7.......second ring bling!!