Bishop Breakdown

Amat vs Loyola is always an intense game ! Did'nt Barr leave the game last yr due to injury ? I also recall Amat knocking Rios out of the game the last 2 yrs. I believe Amat was hitting so hard, Loyola fumbled the ball alot !!!!

SGVFBFAN,

Barrs been involved in half the offensive plays from scrimmage for the Cubs - he better be ready to go. I'm looking forward to seeing how much better (faster?) he's gotten over the year.

But, I'd also watch out for Ackerman over the middle.

Barr may be bigger than your average RB, and more power to him but his size may also be his downfall as his size will make him an easy and big target for Amat's big hitters.

He's a little bit banged up because he is such a workhorse for the Cubs and is vulnerable to injury as evidenced during the Alemany game.

You can bet your wild horses that Hag and Amat will have a good game plan to stop him. Barr will be alot more banged up after Amat's victory over the cubs. But of course I'm always for an injury free game.

I really hope Anthony Barr plays this week for Loyola. This kid is a freakish athlete and a complete stud. You don't see many 6 foot 4 inch Running backs that put up the numbers he has. A National recruit that will put up at Least 150 rush yds and 2 TD's vs Amat. Good Luck Lancers you're going up against a good one.

Joe

That was good.

jcaz,

I thought you'd like this:

http://www.gocomics.com/inthebleachers/2008/10/24/#

You're right that the at-large team is not automatically the 16th seed. Here is todays CIF Top Ten that will be in tomorrows papers.
1. Long Beach Poly (Moore)
2. Orange Lutheran (Trinity)
3. Los Alamitos (Sunset)
4. Crespi (Serra)
5. Notre Dame/SO (Serra)
6. Edison (Sunset)
7. Mater Dei (Trinity)
8. Tesoro (South Coast)
9. St. John Bosco (Trinity)
10. Mission Viejo (South Coast)

There's a good chance that SJBosco will drop out after dropping a couple in Trinity league play and San Clemente or Amat moves in (if Amat wins 1) that might put them around the 10 spot you have them. Then the CIF has all sorts of pairings guidelines about separating teams from their league, keeping them away from the same 1/4 bracket, trying to avoid rematches, etc. So much of that will depend on where teams finish as their league shakes down in the final weeks. And it all goes out the window if the Lancers don't take care of business.

I wrote this back in August:
An old friend from Miami just called and said the Pac-5 is in a little trouble. LB Poly just ran all over preseason #1 in the nation Miami Northwestern.

Northwestern prides itself on its speed, but the rain from Gustav may have neutralized that a bit. The only ray of hope may be that Poly showed no passing game at all.

Posted by: Joe Amat | August 30, 2008 9:56 PM

An opportunity to play LB Poly in the 2nd round would be welcome considering where we've come from. But if Amat could somehow win a couple in league and go in as an automatic bid with a win over OLu and either Crespi or NDSO then things would be looking pretty good.

BUT that's getting WAAAYYYYY ahead of ourselves. First up - a BIG challenge in Loyola

attn Joe Amat, if Amat wins just 1 of their Serra league games, they are a shoo in for a wild card spot, the only question is where they would be seeded, would they be 16th? meaning they play LB Poly or get a seeding of about, I figured they will be the 10th seed after the top 2 seeds from the South Coast(Tesoro and Mission Viejo)the Sunset (Los Alamitos and Edison) LB Poly from the Moore,Orange Lutheran and Mater Dei from the Trinity and behind Crespi and Notre Dame from the Serra.From one thru 16 I have the teams rated as Poly,Notre dame,Tesoro,Los Al,Crespi,Mater Dei,Mission Viejo,Edison,orange Lutheran, AMAT, Lakewood and the third place teams from the Sunset,South Coast,Trinity and the 3rd and 4th places teams from the Moore.That being said Amat will play either Poly or Tesoro in the second round, but if ND is seeded 2nd it'll be Poly, either way not a bad season for Hags and Lancers , everywhere!

jcaz and XXX,

when games are scheduled as doubleheaders there are fewer opportunities for kids that might not get time in the previous varsity game to play in the JV game.

If we burn a kid in the JV game and then have a couple injuries, equipment issues, or (at worse) an ejection - that kid might not be available to use in the varsity game.

just one consideration.

XXXL

Ya, I remember. I wonder why they don't do it so much anymore.

I know that there are exceptions of course. The Amat, St Francis game a few weeks ago comes to mind, but for the most part, Amat plays only varsity on fridays, while the JV and Freshman teams each play on Thursday afternoon's.

Now, don't get me wrong, I for one actualy like that set up because it lets me get in a few games that I may not ordinarily watch.

Plus, it most likly allows those teams an opportunity to show case thier players out side of the varsity game.

BTW, I wonder if the team will bring up a few of the underclassmen for league play ?

I was told that in todays practice a few of the JV players were playing with the first team varsity.

There are some good players on those teams, and if you recall, Hags did say that if the team was struggling at this point of the season (which of course it is not), that he might bring up Rios for a few snaps.

Lets see what the staff has in mind for league play. Could be intersting from here on out.

i would agree that the pass defense was sub-par friday night. i differ, however, from sgvfbobserver in that gaisie is the only db (if you can call him a db seeing as it was his first play at the position this year) who was truly beaten deep, and it was for a touchdown. price was in position and the receiver made an awesome grab. i would call it a "once in a lifetime" type play. i wouldn't bet on price giving up that play even 1 more time this season. i didn't see johnson beaten deep at all. in fact, the pass chaminade attempted to throw over him was intercepted by johnson in the endzone (but called PI). the problem in the pass defense appears to be underneath by linebackers. with that said, amat has proven it can play with good teams but will have to step its game up a notch or two in the coming weeks. should be interesting and exciting to say the least.

jcaz just like the good old days when the JV game was played BEFORE the Varsity Game.

A lot of fond memories of hearing seeing the Varsity take the field right after our JV game.

Funny story. We just got whacke dby St. John Bosco and as we're walking off thefield a Varsity player looks over and sees SJB JV team doing their PRIDE DRILL.."MAN THEY"RE VARSITY IS HUGE!!!" ...(dramatic pause)

I tell him..."Hey...that's NOT their VARSITY.....THAT"S THEIR VARSITY!!!" as I point to the other side of the field.

Should have seen his face. lol SJB had the late Fred Ford as their RB that year and they worked and ran him like a thoroghbred...which he was! Defensively they were monster in size and speed. Incredible team.

As memtioned earlier, Barr got a hip injury in the first half against Alemany and looks "doubtfull" for the game against Amat on Saturday.

But what makes the game even more intersting is the fact that Rick Neuheisel's son is the quaterback on thier Sophmore (JV) team.

Maybe Rick will stick around to see the Varsity play because it seems that the JV game starts right before the varsity this time around.

Im not doing this b/c im want to be cocky or an to be an A**... But I Loyola's losing streak to Amat is 3... not 2... They also beat them the '05-'06 season... When loyola wont the Div. I Championship.

Im an old school guy... and Amat alum... and I watch the BAHS- LHS rivalry very closley.

Sorry... just a correction.

Good luck to my brothers that are still there. And im happy for your accomplishments so far. But you know this is were it counts. You guys know what to expect, week in and week out in this league. You know that every team is about.

To all the seniors and the Jrs. that were there with us last year... take ur new found mindset and the momentum that you have right now... and the bitter memories from our tough times last year and use that as motivation. I know you dont need any more motivation, but look back at where you were last year and fight not to be in the place ever again. Pick up the slack for us that have moved on. Go take what you know is yours and what you have worked so hard and so long for.

Good luck in the next three weeks and hopefully in the play-offs. We will be keeping track of your play, even though some of us are hundreds and some thousands of miles... Were still rooting for you. Go out there and play Amat Lancer Football.

Good Luck, Remember... Restore the Amat Tradition.

08 Player/and Alumnis... Once a Lancer always a Lancer

Nice assessment JoeA.

Loyola would like to avenge last 2 losses against Amat. But with Barr out of the game, I like Amat's chances of winning even better.

Some weaknesses were exposed at the Chaminade game last week.
Chaminades QB wasn't a top rated passer but by the end of the game, he looked like one. The QB had way too much time to throw deep and burned the secondary. Both Price and Johnson got burned on deep routes and I even saw Gaisie get burned for a long TD haul.

I like our run defense, but we need to blitz and put more pressure on the pass. Amat should have destroyed Chaminade and made a statement but like Amat 73 said we almost let it get away if it weren't for the tying field goal block that gave the Lancers some momentum.

If we come out as flat as we did against Charminade it will be a long night for the Lancers.Maybe they were looking ahead to Loyola but if not for the blocked field goal which lead to a score and added a spark to the team who knows what would have happened. I believe Hags will have the team ready and well prepared to take on the Cubs. Looking foward to a great game and hopefuully another win.

Bishop Looking preety good first few weeks, the Serra League also looking tough lets see how Bishop will do..!!

Bishop Looking preety good first few weeks, the Serra League also looking tough lets see how Bishop will do..!!

Bishop Looking preety good first few weeks, the Serra League also looking tough lets see how Bishop will do..!!

Anthony Barr, the Cub stud who accounts for a big piece of the Loyola offense this year was apparently hurt in the Alemany game last week. It will be interesting to see how well he heals. AB's replacement, Justyn Williams, is just your basic 5'10”, 180 lb, hard hitting two way hoss. Either way, don't look for Loyola Coach Jeff Kearin to change his run oriented offense.

Also either way . . . look for the Hags to riches crew to find a way to bottle up the Cubs. With Barr, I like the Lancers in a close one, under seven points. Without Barr, Amat might open it up by a couple of TD's.

The Serra League is 23-5 overall and ranked as the toughest league in all of California, so the Lancers certainly have their work cut out for them each and every week. Thanks for the good wishes. Loyola's unexpected loss to Alemeny is going to have them hungry - but really hurts the Cubs wild-card chances. However, for the 3rd place team in the Serra League to not get the at-large berth, some unexpected things would have to happen in the other leagues.

The Moore League, while they have the top team in LB Poly will not get their 4th place team. Same with the Sunset league - a couple top teams but not four teams deep. In the South Coast League, Capo Valley or Dana Hills would have to sneak past Mission Viejo, Tesoro, or San Clemente making one of them a potential wild-card - but then they'd have to have at least 3 losses, barring some weird 4 way ties and some "Miramonte-esque" coin flip fiasco. .

Then you're left with the Trinity League. Little JSerra hasn't played a quality schedule and Servite enters League at 4-3 with TWO losses to the Serra league - and that probably eliminates them from wild-card contention. Amat's win over OLu goes a long way in helping the whole Serra league in that comparison and at this point the Serra League being 3-0 vs the Trinity gives any third place team a big edge.

Finally, the CIF knows in the back of their minds that a 4 team league gets screwed-especially when there's an 8 team Moore league without quality depth that has 4 automatic slots. There is talk that there is an "unofficial rotation" and it's simply the Serra leagues "turn" if the W-L numbers justify it. So there's a good chance the 3rd place team will be 8-2 or 7-3 and most assuredly be in a pretty good spot. This puts Loyola in an almost must-win situation every week - which means the Lancers have to bring their A+ game this Saturday.

Good Luck the next few weeks!