Thursday, October 25, 2007

Picking my way into your heart (or onto your hit list)

Alright, I was working on these Wednesday before I ran out of time. But before I go through with this, let me say for the record, it's just for fun. I'm not rooting for any team to win or any team to lose.

Little known point of fact: I don't care who wins or loses any game I cover in any sport.

The reality for me is I have to write the same number of words no matter who wins. I still have to interview somebody after the game, and I still have to type up the box score.

Now, off the objective journalist soapbox, here are my picks for the week:

Friday:
Paso Robles will continue it's roll at Arroyo Grande — The Bearcats are proving they can plug in any of a number of heroes into the spotlight and come away with big scores. Their O-line will be too much for the Eagles.

Atascadero will defend its home turf against Righetti — Sorry, no clever wordplay like Righetti and meatballs from me. But this one isn't as slam dunk as it may seem. The Warriors are the best passing team in the league. If they can move the ball on the Greyhounds D (big if) and get lead like they did against Paso Robles, Atascadero could be in for a tough one. The Greyhounds haven't proven their ability to come back from a deficit and haven't put up big passing numbes all year. Still, with that defense, that rushing offense and being at home, I'll go with A-town.

San Luis Obispo will come back from Lompoc with another win — The Tigers have the defense to play anyone close. They did it against Atascadero last week. The Braves' defense won't pose as much as a challenge, but San Luis Obispo, which hasn't won by more than 12 points all year could open themselves up for an upset bid if they don't get the offense going.

Morro Bay makes it 8-0 at home against Cabrillo — I don't see anyone stopping Logan Budd and the Pirates. The only thing that might trip up the Pirates is if they look ahead to a showdown with St. Joseph. If they remain focused on the task at hand, they should cruise against the Conquistadores.

Nipomo will get back on the winning track at Santa Maria — Every Los Padres League team has been squashing the Saints. No reason why Nipomo, which should get another 100-yard game from RB Billy Chambers, and a defense led by lineman Korben Boaz won't keep Santa Maria's losing streak going.

After a couple close losses already, Templeton breaks the trend by beating Pioneer Valley at home — Eagles DL Lee Ormonde could be huge against the power running attack of the Panthers. Templeton has been able to keep games close. They get over the hump in another nail-biter.

Mission Prep will cement their first playoff berth since moving back to 8-man with a win over Orange Cove — This is a huge game in the Royals' league. Mission Prep handled Orange Cove the first time around when the teams played at Morro Bay. It could easily go the other way if the Royals don't tighten it up against the run.

Coast Union will stomp Fresno Christian at home — This is the team T.J. Nelson set a Central Section rushing record against last year in Fresno. He might not have 450-plus yards again, but the Broncos will get a win on their home field.

Saturday (8-man)
North County Christian will beat Shandon on the road — NCC will remain undefeated at 8-0 and set up a huge showdown in the season finale against Cuyama Valley, the defending league champion. Again, as long as the Crusaders aren't looking past a lesser opponent, they should get a big win.

Alright, have at it. Vote in the new poll over there on the right, and check out Friday's Tribune for records, players to watch, the media top 10 and a preview of the game of the week.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think the most interesting game may be Righetti at Atas. If Righetti has anything at all left this season they will bring it to A-town.

Templeton better win.............

Can SLO ever score more then 2 touchdowns in a single game? We'll find out soon.

If Paso doesn't pound AG we won't let them ever here the end of it. They need to win by 3 or more TD's.

Morro Bay... If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck it probably is a duck. MB makes Cabrillo quack all night.

Anonymous said...

Atascadero will beat Righetti because Righetti seems to fall apart after a couple of mistakes.

Templeton better win... don't let Pioneer Valley hang around because their kick can kill you!

Lompoc may give SLO a really tough game if their offense doesn't show up again! Lompoc has an explosive back.. it could only take a couple long ones and Lompoc will get their second ever win in the PAC-7.

Paso Will pound AG.... Paso Run defense is great! It's the pass that gets them in trouble every now and then... look for paso to blow them out by at least 4 touchdowns!

Morro Bay shouldn't look past Cabrillo.... Cabrillo was knock off their first place ranking a couple years ago by Morro Bay and Cabrillo is still holding onto that grudge.. and looking to sink the Pirates Ship and perfect season.

Anonymous said...

Atascadero eating Righetti and Meatballs was my idea, Scrawg-Dawg. I changed my name from "anonymous" to something more recognizable.

And yes, if Atascadero loses, I might have to remove my left testicle.

And Templeton, as many might have guessed, the team I severely injured myself on, is going to defeat Pioneer in a close score, but not a close game. And that's from an objective standpoint.

Anonymous said...

great line Captain... best on the blog so far -still cracks me up!

This week will be interesting because, for the first time this year, we will get to see how Atascadero and Paso match up with two opponents each team has previously played.
Righetti rolled off 17 unanswered againt PR before falling apart - Hounds have not allowed 17 points in a game since week two against the highly rated St Bonny Searphs.

Greyhounds put up 34 in the mud against AG - What will Paso be able to do on a dry field??

This week will tell me a lot about both programs -can't wait!

Anonymous said...

After reading the paper this morning, I like how everyone questions whether the greyhounds are for real because of their 4 turnovers last week.

Atascadero lost at least 2 of those fumbles from the quarter back handing off to the running back.....the running back took off to quick and the quarter back turned around only to bump into the running back which resulted in fumbling the ball twice...I saw it I was there....a third fumble was when Atown quarterback went to dive into the end zone from the 1 and he had the ball out front and it got hit out of his hands which one of his own teammates could have even done on accident, which resulted in another turnover.

Along with that.....at least 2 of those lost fumbles were when atown was in scoring position.....once from 1 yard out and another from 15 yards out.

I just wanted to clear that up....but I also would like to say that SLO highs rush D is the best Atown has played and will play...they were pretty awesome...so it definitely was harder to move the ball against them then anyone else.

I have to throw my preview of the Atown vs Paso game in because it's becoming really clear now and it goes like this.....

Atascadero will control the clock with their run game that is only if paso's little rush "d" is worth a damn....otherwise atown will run all over their little "d" notice how I used a little d lol.....paso seems to be more of a quick strike team but their QB won't be able to throw against atown...and if anyone thinks that either one of paso's little QBs are better than Thousand Oaks your a bunch of idiots....(atascadero beat Thousand Oaks 14-11).....point is atowns total D is just to good for paso....if paso somehow scores atascadero will match their scores but atown will already be ahead by 21 points....I could go on and on pointing out paso's weaknesses but I have to work, it sucks I know lol....

To the Paso football players: when you lose to Atown run for your lives because your parents and fans will kill you because they hate losing to atown...hahahaha...and to atown fans run for your lives because we will be in paso and someone's going to be shooting at us after we beat paso....hahahaha...ok paso lets hear all your dreams and fantasy's about how you think the A vs P game will go.....

Final score A=35+ P=17-

Anonymous said...

Let's leave it to the kids playing the game for both the teams and see what happens! As history has it the Atascadero senior class hasonly beat this group of Paso Seniors once in their entire football lives and that was last year...when Atascaderos seniors last year carried the load. We will all have to wait and see what happens... but my personal opinion is that it will be a very tight game! 28-21 type of game.

Anonymous said...

Fair enough!

Anonymous said...

Now back to this weeks games.

Atascadero - Don't fumble, not even once and the world is yours to take.

Paso - If you don't win big, you loose in out eyes.

SLO - A change in offense is in order. Make personnel change and win big.

Morro Bay - you are so good it's almost boring.

Templeton - Stay healthy with this win.

Anonymous said...

First off, the Tribune pointed out the day of the A-town V SLO game that SLO has caused more fumbles than any other team and were like plus 5 more than A-town. They called that. If Atascadero wouldn't have fumbled they would have won by at least two more touchdowns. Now fast forward to this week.

Spaghetti at A-Town- This will be a close game in the first half until Atascadero's D wears down Righetti. The Final score at the Dawg Pound-Hounds 28, Warriors 12.

Arroyo Grande at Paso-AG tends to come out tough and Paso likes to score a lot at the end. The Cats look like they'll return to the litter box with a 48-14 win over the Eagles.

SLO at Lompoc-The Tigers Defense is going to hold Lompoc and there Offense is going to be able to put a few up on the board, besides, the Braves are no Hounds. The Tigers beat the Braves 20-8.

Cabrillo at MB- The Conqs are going to get conquered. Morro Bay is going to run away with this one and Cabrillo won't score until Morro Bay puts in there JV squad. MB 41, Cabrillo 7.

Nipomo at Santa Maria- This will be another lopsided LPL game. Santa Maria should forfeit so Nipomo doesn't have to cross the county line. Titans 38, Saints 6.

St Joe at Santa Ynez- This is one of those rivalry games in that these two teams have both been in the LPL for a long time. St. Joe is much better but SY will put up a fight. In the end the knights will sink the Pirates 22-6.

Templeton at PV-The Eagles need to beef up there pre-season games. They play traditional rivals from when they were in the Central Section. Unfortunately, this does nothing for them when they hit the LPL and they are the smallest schools. They are going to pull out another squeeker over the Panthers. Eagles fly back to the nest with a 21-19 win.

Lastly, I find it really interesting that Templeton plays in the LPL only because Atascadero and Paso are barely removed from it. Being from Atascadero (GO HOUNDS!) I could never ever imagine Atascadero playing against Templeton..especially in Templeton. That would be so awkward because it has always been the third wheel HS in the north county, and there stands are so little, Atascadero would probably take over the home side. Anyways, Templeton is definitely holding there own, but because there preseason is so easy, everyone hypes them up, then they are average in the LPL.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, average is 223 points scored to 87 points scored on them. Average is allowing only 14 second-half points in league. Average is being the only team to make Morro Bay win in the last minute. Average is 2000 fans in the stadium(there are 6000 people in Templeton) every home game. Sorry, A-town, but Templeton is not average, and no, there isn't much bias thrown in here, just statistics.

And as for saying that they're a third-caliber north county team, check out to see who won the county passing tournaments over the past two summers(basically, 5 wideouts and a QB with a full defense guarding). Coincidentally, these are also the first two years Templeton's in the LPL. I think you need to spend less time with your head up your arse, and more time acutally look at statistics, and MUCH LESS TIME COPYING MY CATCHPHRASES!!!

You've got credibility, jack@$$.

Anonymous said...

Righetti DID bring all they had to A-town.

Templeton got worked.

SLO CAN score more then 2 touchdowns.

Paso DID win by 3 TD's, so no ragging on them.

Morro Bay, did any of us even have to watch the game to know what would happen.

So Paso is curent King of the world with Morro Bay having claiming rights to being better then Paso if they only could play them.

High school foootball is a roller coaster, this ride isn't over yet.

Anonymous said...

I was solely speaking from my feeling on Templeton becuase it has always been Atascadero and Paso in the North County and it is just weird to me to see little Templeton (yes that's still how I see them) possibly playing Atascadero. And as for your catch phrase of "Spaghetti" we have been using that for Raghetti since I was in HS in the 90's and far before that...wait I think every school has used that on there halftime sign since forever so nice way to coin the catchphrase. "Turn Righetti into Spaghetti"

Anonymous said...

captain of the templeton injured-

I know your upset and now you have to call names....but your little templeton team isn't worth a damn.....and if they ever do make it to the "BIG LEAGUES" lol (aka PAC7) they'll get their @sses handed to them for a while because they will need time to catch up and adapt to the bigger schools and learn how bigger schools play!

Sorry to break your little heart....and yes unlike the other greyhound fan I do have credibility JACK@SS! lol