Blowouts - not that uncommon

[CAMoleskinner]

With a minute to go in the 2nd qtr. of California's Open Division Bowl game (at Saddleback College Stadium in Mission Viejo) the St. John Bosco Braves (Southern Champs and ranked number one in the country) are leading the NoCal Champs, the Serra Padres out of San Mateo up by Frisco, 35-0 (the Padres are ranked number 24 in the land by MaxPreps).

By the way, as I'm writing this the Padres have been driving after the Braves had pulled all their starters a while ago; however, with the "Pods" getting close all the backups were yanked and the regular crew just trotted out on the field -- no scoring on us, thank you (PS: It worked as at the half it's still 35 zip).

So No 1 is knocking the stuffing out of No 24 (national rankings).

It happens.

Meanwhile Coach Franklin and his QB coach are on a West Coast swing and they just stopped in at Serra to have a chat,

Check the Twitter:

 

[CAMoleskinner]

Here's the Padre team heading down to Southern Cal for the game (check the plane):



Course, that's just a mockup graphic on the plane but ain't no driving for this team (taking a bus down the 5 Freeway for the game -- no way, just charter a jet).

 

[lilromeo]

With a minute to go in the 2nd qtr. of California's Open Division Bowl game (at Saddleback College Stadium in Mission Viejo) the St. John Bosco Braves (Southern Champs and ranked number one in the country) are leading the NoCal Champs, the Serra Padres out of San Mateo up by Frisco, 35-0 (the Padres are ranked number 24 in the land by MaxPreps).

By the way, as I'm writing this the Padres have been driving after the Braves had pulled all their starters a while ago; however, with the "Pods" getting close all the backups were yanked and the regular crew just trotted out on the field -- no scoring on us, thank you (PS: It worked as at the half it's still 35 zip).

So No 1 is knocking the stuffing out of No 24 (national rankings).

It happens.

Meanwhile Coach Franklin and his QB coach are on a West Coast swing and they just stopped in at Serra to have a chat,

Check the Twitter:

View embedded media

Franklin should have stayed in Pa. and recruited the whole St Joe team LOL

 

[CAMoleskinner]

The final score was 45-0 for Bosco.

St. John was 12-1 going in to the game with its only loss to Mater Dei during the regular season.

Serra was 13-0 playing in a tough Catholic League up North (they opened with Folsom -- which is one of the Public powerhouses -- and then met Concord De La Salle).

And I remind everyone that these were both Top 25 teams (nationally) before the State Final contest.

Following the game a sportswriter down here posted the following on Twitter:


The discrepancy between St John Bosco/Mater Dei and every other program in CA has never been wider and looking at the underclass talent on both teams, next few years won’t be any different.


The gulf that sometimes opens between number one and number two -- and that exists out here too -- is just as noticeable and annoying (let's remember De La Salle's 151 game streak).

Still, the PA situation does "feel" different.

Maybe that's cause CA is just all the West Coast hype and glamour and sunny days and the world's best looking women ( ... Miami and NYC can certainly argue that point but ... ) while PA is a "real" state.

I like the idea of two equal opponents lining up toe-to-toe and slugging it out.

I guess I'm living in Pennsylvania schoolboy ball from the 1950s and '60s era. The Eastons of the world up in the Northeast corner -- John Harris in the middle. The PCL and PL meeting for the City Championship every year (at Franklin Field).

Altoona (and that was always spoken with a romantic lilt included) when school's team seemed to be magical (like the railroad repair shops out there).

Then the WPIAL! Who knew what that was all about except that if you crossed the mountains there was some kind of fiefdom of "super teams" that were comprised of players that you knew would be making noise in college and then the pro level soon enough.

And in "our" little corner in the southeast there were giants roaming around in Langhorne and Fairless Hills. And once a year -- after pounding on everyone else --- they squared off and played another "one point game" (course, the exception was in '65 when the 'Skins nipped the Birds 7-0 on Jerry Barr's 50 yard run in the waning seconds as Pennsbury's Jimmy Neald tackle that seemed to push Barr out at the 1 was ruled a TD by the ref -- that Saturday afternoon game was broadcast live on Philly's WFIL and the multiple replays led to years of bickering between the schools).

Then there's the Big 33 of that era (they weren't high school players - they were super beings from another dimension).

Ahhhh -- enough of an old dude waxing poetically about "yesterday" - I have to get to church and pray for a solution.

PS I could mention many other schools - Allentown of the 1950s and the "Bloody Wednesday" practices when anyone could earn the starting spot or the Bethlehem teams of Chuck Bednarik. Or the Central Dauphin club of the late '50s and early '60s that went like 49-1 the first five years it existed. And the teams out West -- and stories -- would take several pages to list (no wonder the WPIAL wasn't keen on the state playoffs when it started - who needed the rest of the state).

Anyway - the point is there's a boatload of teams that made PA so great back then (a boatload - maybe that's the deal, it's not one team it's a bunch of equally situated teams vying for the gold cup).