“They think this is the Poinsettia Bowl,” Arroyo coach Singiser said of his players’ road trip. “They think they’re going to be running routes with Shamu. I guarantee they’re thinking that they’re going to be the ones going to Lawry’s Beef Bowl and Disneyland. They don’t know, and I don’t know.”
By Aram Tolegian
Arroyo High School football head coach Jim Singiser figures if his team isn’t disappointed with having to play two hours away instead of being at home, then why should he be?
The Knights, who could have hosted this Saturday’s CIF State Division 5-A regional bowl game against La Jolla Country Day, will instead be on the road. School administration decided a previous engagement on campus was more important than a home game in the state playoffs.
But that hasn’t bothered the Knights one bit. They are already embracing their assignment of having to play in San Diego by asking aloud whether they’ll get a charter bus and if they can bring Subway sandwiches on the trip.
“They think this is the Poinsettia Bowl,” Singiser said of his players. “They think they’re going to be running routes with Shamu. I guarantee they’re thinking that they’re going to be the ones going to Lawry’s Beef Bowl and Disneyland.
“They don’t know, and I don’t know.”
Arroyo defeated Rancho Mirage in the CIF Southern Section Division 12 championship Saturday night thanks to a successful 2-point conversion in overtime. The Knights enter the next phase of the season at 13-1 and riding high on winning the program’s first CIF championship in 30 years.
During the lead up to last week’s game, the school was supposed to submit paperwork to CIF about whether it would be willing to host a regional bowl playoff game. Singiser said it was brought to his attention by the administration that the school had already scheduled an all-day event that would run into the night and would be unable to host a football game.
“We won our game and I really didn’t think anything of it until the next day when everybody was calling me the next day and saying “You’re playing away, you’re playing away. It should have been a home game,’” Singiser said.
“There was a conflict between the school and the administrators on what they could do on a Saturday with two major events in the same place, I guess. We’ve never been in a situation of hosting a championship game, let alone going beyond that. Strategy-wise, obviously we’d like to be at home.”
At this point in the season, and given the potential that teams will be flat having just won such a big game a week prior, any edge could prove vital. Heck, Arroyo just knocked off a Rancho Mirage team that arrived in El Monte for last Saturday’s game just 45 minutes before kickoff after traveling from the Palm Springs area.
Now, it will be the Knights facing a long road trip. And Arroyo better have fresh legs on defense because it will face a 4,000-yard passer in La Jolla Country Day quarterback Braxton Burmeister.
THE PARTY’S OVER
Without getting into specifics, the Arroyo coaching staff made the most of its championship win with a hearty celebration on Saturday night. And who can blame it after bringing home the program’s first CIF championship since 1986?
“The sun was rising when I was finding my staff littered throughout my house,” Singiser said. “It was a safe and sane celebration, for the most part. If we had films to study the next morning, we all could have gotten there.
“It was fun. Those guys really earned it. They put in so much time.”
The question now becomes whether the Knights can get “up” in order to practice this week and play another game on Saturday. Of course, La Jolla Country Day will have the same the problem after winning the San Diego Section Division IV championship.
Singiser knows his players may need a few days to come down from such an emotional victory and get refocused on the task at hand.
“We tell the kids that if they’re not upset after a loss, then it probably doesn’t mean enough,” Singiser said. “So I guess if you win the whole thing and you’re not celebrating, it probably didn’t mean as much as it should have.
“We had a good time. We’re a good to go.”
QB BATTLE LOOMS
Fans of the forward pass will certainly be in for a treat when Arroyo visits La Jolla Country Day.
The Torreys feature one of the best quarterbacks on the West Coast in Arizona-commit Braxton Burmeister, who has thrown for 48 touchdowns this season.
Arroyo will counter with super sophomore Ernesto Camacho, who has been on a tear since becoming the unquestioned starter in mid-September. Camacho is fast approaching 3,000 yards and has 30 touchdown passes.