By Aram Tolegian, Staff Writer
Consider the plight of the Bishop Amat High School football team.
The Lancers’ regular-season schedule is over. The team is on a bye week and its playoff fate is up in the air. And if you go out to Amat any afternoon this week, the Lancers are in pads practicing for a future they don’t know for sure exists. Amat’s postseason hopes rest on the performances of others and the luck of a coin flip, assuming those performances turn out in Amat’s favor.
In a nutshell Amat, which finished the regular season 6-4, needs Serra League foes Crespi and Notre Dame to lose this week. If that happens, those teams and Amat would be 1-3 in league and need a coin flip to determine the order of finish for the league’s bottom-three teams. The third-place team would earn a berth in the CIF-Southern Section PAC-5 playoffs.
Of course, all of this could be avoided if Notre Dame, which is the league’s secretary school, simply would conduct the coin flip ahead of this week’s games, thus allowing the Lancers to know whether there’s even a point in practicing.
But despite Amat’s attempts to get Notre Dame to do just that, Notre Dame officials won’t budge. The coin flip, if needed, will be done after Friday’s games. Most leagues do it ahead of time to avoid situations like the one Amat is in.
“We’re disappointed that it couldn’t be done ahead of time,” Amat coach Steve Hagerty said. “I think it’s only fair to our kids, but we accept the league’s ruling to do it after the games.”
Hagerty and Amat tried to urge Notre Dame to do the coin flip this week before the games in order to spare players the experience of putting in practice time while risking injury for a game that might not happen. Knowing the results of the coin flip now also would save Amat’s coaching staff scouting trips to potential first-round opponents and parents from having to arrange transportation plans for practice. Again, Notre Dame wouldn’t budge.
“They refused our request for the support of the kids and their families, and for the families of the coaches who are going to spend another night scouting,” Hagerty said. “And for all of the families who have to make arrangements for picking up and dropping off the kids for practice.”
In the meantime, Amat practices as if it was a normal week. The Lancers concluded their regular season last Friday with a close loss to Notre Dame. That outcome, coupled with Amat’s loss to Loyola a week prior, put the Lancers in a precarious position.
Getting teenagers focused on practicing for a game that may not be played is a tricky proposition for Hagerty and his coaches. But as Hagerty explained it, he had no other choice.
“It would be irresponsible of me if I didn’t prepare the kids to play, even if there’s a small chance that we will,” Hagerty said. “All the things we go through in a season have a purpose involved. Usually, the purpose is far greater than winning games.”
Amat has dealt with its share of adversity. It started with the absence of quarterback Rio Ruiz, who was expected to miss a significant chunk of Amat’s nonleague schedule while playing in a baseball tournament. When the tournament was delayed, Ruiz stayed with the team for good.
Then, top offensive lineman Andrew Hauser abruptly left the team in the middle of the season to transfer to Charter Oak. That was followed by Ruiz injuring his knee early in the game against Loyola and top defensive player Randall Varela lost for the past two games because of disciplinary action.
Friday won’t be an easy day for Hagerty. He will travel to Ventura for the funeral of a close friend. Then, he and his wife will stick around the San Fernando Valley area on what happens to be their 25th wedding anniversary weekend to wait and see what happens in the Alemany-Notre Dame and Crespi-Loyola games. If Notre Dame and Crespi lose, which they’re expected by many to do, Hagerty will be on hand at Notre Dame to witness the coin flip. Of course, that won’t take place until after a Crespi representative can make it to Notre Dame from their game at
L.A. Valley College.
The following morning at 9 a.m. is the all-league meeting, also at Notre Dame.
“She married a coach,” Hagerty said of his wife. “Six kids and 25 years later, she is definitely used to all that.”
