Thursday, November 15, 2007

Don't call me a jinx, but...

Yes, the story in today's Tribune is true.

The PAC 5/7 football champion in each of the past five years has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

I didn't really have the space to go year-by-year through the history in the paper, so I bring it to you here in reverse chronological order.

2006 — Atascadero, which finished 9-1 and won it’s first title since 1997, got upset 34-27 at home by a tough Saugus team that fell to division title runner-up Moorpark 56-27 in the second round.

Second-place San Luis Obispo, which lost 42-13 to Atascadero that year, drew Dos Pueblos, a team the Tigers beat 34-14 in week 1, in the first round. SLO won 21-20 and lost 21-10 to Westlake in the second round.

2005 — Paso Robles won the PAC 5 at 6-5 (4-0 PAC 7) but lost to Newbury Park 39-36 in the first round and would have had to face eventual division IV champ St. Bonaventure in the second.

Second-place Arroyo Grande beat Santa Monica 27-10 in the first round and fell to runner up Moorpark 26-0 in the second.

2004 — PAC 5 champion Arroyo Grande was upended in the first round by Thousand Oaks 38-31 while second-place San Luis Obispo made a run to the semifinals by beating Camarillo 28-21 and Royal 45-21 before falling to eventual champion St. Bonaventure 42-14.

2003 — In a similar finish to 2004, PAC 5 champ Arroyo Grande lost in the first round 20-7 to Moorpark, and runner-up San Luis Obispo beat North Torrance 44-0 in the first before losing in the second round.

2002 — There was a three-way tie for first between San Luis Obispo, Paso Robles and Righetti. San Luis Obispo got the best seed and was beat 7-3 bv San Marcos in the first round. Paso Robles was second and beat Santa Monica 42-8 before losing 36-29 to eventual champion Westlake in the second round.

Which idiom will hold true? "Never bet against the streak" or "Records are made to be broken"?

I vote for this one (in case any fans feel like I'm bringing on the bad luck): "Don't shoot the messenger."

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck dodging the blogger-bullets. Atascadero will have their hands full with a Moorpark defense that has already proven itself against teams with great running backs. Also, their QB Berry is sitting on 3 offers from D1 schools.

Anonymous said...

I actually mentioned this to Cooper a week and a half ago or so. Not only has the league champion always lost, but the past couple of years, the third-place team has also lost, while the No. 2 team has always moved on. So had Atascadero lost to Paso, the Hounds would have had the second seed in the playoffs and thus gotten an easier first-round draw (Ventura's the worst team in the bracket, if you ask me). He told me they weren't going to throw the game to get a better playoff draw.

If Moorpark has such a great defense, then I'll expect to see a low-scoring affair, perhaps a 10-7 win. Atascadero's got a pretty good defense too... it actually limited Thousand Oaks more than Moorpark's D did.

Anonymous said...

Sorry... Pacifica is the worst team in the Northern Division bracket. Ventura is the second-worst. Pacifica lost to Cabrillo.

Anonymous said...

scroggins, SLO lost to Bonny in 2004 28-21, not 42-14

Anonymous said...

Atascadero should put an end to the Jinx. Unless of course it really is a jinx.

Anonymous said...

SLO 21 St. Bonnie 28.

SLO was one score from the finals. That game was a good battle that saw St. Bonnie Pass for twice as many yards as they ran. This time it will be the run from St. Bonnie.

For the first time this year SLO will be putting a fully healthy team on the field.

Anonymous said...

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

Tribune’s Scroggins to Broadcast Greyhound’s Game Friday Night

November 15, 2007- San Luis Obispo ;) American General Media, the parent company of KIQO radio (104.5 FM), which broadcast Atascadero Greyhound Football games has announced the one game signing of San Luis Obispo Telegram-TRIBUNE sports reporter Joshua D. Scroggins to the broadcast team. Scroggins will provide color commentary and analysis for Friday’s game between Atascadero and Moorpark along side play-by-play announcer Rodger Bland.
Scoggins, who covers central coast high school football for the Tribune, will pull dual duties during Friday’s game. “We’re very excited to have Josh in the booth with us for the game.” says Rodger Bland, the long time radio announcer of Greyhound football. “His insight and knowledge of high school football, will surely add to the overall coverage of the game for our listening audience.”
Scoggins will replace Jerry Tanimoto for the one game assignment. Tanimoto will miss only his second game since 1986 due to a previously scheduled trip.
Kick off for Friday’s game is scheduled for 7:30 pm at Atascadero’s Memorial Stadium. You can listen to all the exciting play-by-play on KIQO radio (104.5 FM) beginning at 7:20 pm.

Anonymous said...

Good. That way if Scroggs jinxed this game you can thank him personally.

Anonymous said...

a team in the Northern Division losing to Cabrillo??

so much for the discrepancy between Divisions

Anonymous said...

Coop is definitely the person to break streaks. He has done it the past few years, and I see him doing that tonight. GO HOUNDS!! Beat Kraproom! (Moorpark backwards for the slower ones reading the blog.)

Anonymous said...

Way to go Hounds

from SLO

Kick it on out baby, roll...