Simi Valley, Buena must wait one more day
By Loren Ledin Saturday, September 8, 2007
When it was official Friday night, head football coaches Todd Borowski of Simi Valley and Justin Berenson of Buena met near midfield, all smiles.
"How many times do you see both coaches walk away at the end looking happy?" said Berenson.
On this weird night, what else to do?
A blown transformer cut the power to Simi Valley High on Friday, forcing postponement of the season-opening football game between Simi Valley and Buena.
The good news? There will be a kickoff to the season after all, with the game rescheduled for tonight at 7:30 at Simi Valley High.
The power outage began at 2:40 p.m., said Simi Valley athletic director Matt LaBelle.
"The power flickered, and everyone began having problems," LaBelle said.
Southern California Edison power crews soon traced the problems off-campus, but were unable to replace the broken equipment. Instead, repairs are expected to be completed today.
"It's disappointing," said Berenson. "You're ready to play. You make the long bus ride here. But we'll get another chance (today)."
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VCFootball
Marmonte
The Marmonte is a tough call this year. There doesn't appear to be a clear pre-season favorite like we had in Moorpark last year. Westlake appears in SoCal rankings based primarily on reputation and coaching. At this point, I'm not sure a team will come out of the Marmonte that will be a plausible threat to St. Bonnie or Hart for the Northern Division title. All this being said, here are my rankings, pulled directly from my a$$:
1. Westlake (They won league last year and have the skill positions covered, so Coach Benkert gets the nod.)
2. Thousand Oaks (Junior class has dominated their age group for many years, their defense should be much improved with the new coach, and their running back is a horse.)
3. Newbury Park (They have the skill position players to execute their pass crazy offense and should score a lot of points. Their offensive line has been getting a lot of buzz as well - as ususal, defense is the question.)
4. Agoura (Huge offensive line and returning solid QB. Question as to whether they have the skill players to run their spread)
5. Simi Valley (Could be the surprise team in the Marmonte. Best RB in the league in Langston Jackson along with a lot of speedy defensive players and receivers returning. Questions at QB and up front)
6. Moorpark (Best QB and coaching in the league, but what else? Very small on defense.)
7. Royal (Usually a strong ball control team, not sure if they have the beef this year. Great LB returning, but skill positions are unknown).
8. Calabasas (This is my most confident pick. This is just a case of a team being in the wrong league. They may win a non-league game this year to break the losing streak.)
By Loren Ledin Saturday, September 8, 2007
When it was official Friday night, head football coaches Todd Borowski of Simi Valley and Justin Berenson of Buena met near midfield, all smiles.
"How many times do you see both coaches walk away at the end looking happy?" said Berenson.
On this weird night, what else to do?
A blown transformer cut the power to Simi Valley High on Friday, forcing postponement of the season-opening football game between Simi Valley and Buena.
The good news? There will be a kickoff to the season after all, with the game rescheduled for tonight at 7:30 at Simi Valley High.
The power outage began at 2:40 p.m., said Simi Valley athletic director Matt LaBelle.
"The power flickered, and everyone began having problems," LaBelle said.
Southern California Edison power crews soon traced the problems off-campus, but were unable to replace the broken equipment. Instead, repairs are expected to be completed today.
"It's disappointing," said Berenson. "You're ready to play. You make the long bus ride here. But we'll get another chance (today)."
_
VCFootball
Marmonte
The Marmonte is a tough call this year. There doesn't appear to be a clear pre-season favorite like we had in Moorpark last year. Westlake appears in SoCal rankings based primarily on reputation and coaching. At this point, I'm not sure a team will come out of the Marmonte that will be a plausible threat to St. Bonnie or Hart for the Northern Division title. All this being said, here are my rankings, pulled directly from my a$$:
1. Westlake (They won league last year and have the skill positions covered, so Coach Benkert gets the nod.)
2. Thousand Oaks (Junior class has dominated their age group for many years, their defense should be much improved with the new coach, and their running back is a horse.)
3. Newbury Park (They have the skill position players to execute their pass crazy offense and should score a lot of points. Their offensive line has been getting a lot of buzz as well - as ususal, defense is the question.)
4. Agoura (Huge offensive line and returning solid QB. Question as to whether they have the skill players to run their spread)
5. Simi Valley (Could be the surprise team in the Marmonte. Best RB in the league in Langston Jackson along with a lot of speedy defensive players and receivers returning. Questions at QB and up front)
6. Moorpark (Best QB and coaching in the league, but what else? Very small on defense.)
7. Royal (Usually a strong ball control team, not sure if they have the beef this year. Great LB returning, but skill positions are unknown).
8. Calabasas (This is my most confident pick. This is just a case of a team being in the wrong league. They may win a non-league game this year to break the losing streak.)
Monday, September 10
Jackson Plays Lights Out As Simi Wins Opener
The Simi Valley Pioneers, chomping at the bit after having their opening game delayed 24 hours due to a power failure, defeated the Buena Bulldogs 28-14 Saturday night. Langston Jackson led the offense by rushing for 172 yards on 24 carries according to the L.A. Daily News.
Simi opened the scoring on an 11 yard touchdown reception by tight end James Barona. Buena answered with a 2 yard touchdown run by tailback Vince McCowan who led Buena with 138 yards rushing. Simi scored next on a nice touchdown run to the corner of the end zone by tailback Tommy Dowling who rushed for 43 yards on 9 carries. The touchdown was set up on a breakaway run by Langston Jackson. Buena tied the game before the half after McCowan broke through the stingy Simi defense and dashed 86 yards to the Simi 1 yard line and finished with a touchdown run. Simi's Chance Cross made an amazing play on McCowan's breakaway catching him just before he reached the goal line, closing at least 10 yards and running by other defenders.
The play of the game occurred early in the fourth quarter. With the game tied and Buena closing in on the endzone, defensive end Tim McAnany stripped the ball which was then plucked in mid-air by Evan Green. Green raced 95 yards for a go ahead touchdown and the Pioneers never looked back.
Simi added an insurance touchdown late on a 49 yard pass from quarterback Jared Zahorik to wide receiver Keith Williams. The drive started deep in Simi territory with Langston Jackson rushing on five straight plays to drive the ball to midfield. The young Pioneer offensive line was outstanding allowing Zahorik time to pass and giving up just one sack in 15 pass attempts. David Castro connected on all four conversion kicks. The Simi defense limited Buena to two first downs in the first half.
The Simi Valley Pioneers, chomping at the bit after having their opening game delayed 24 hours due to a power failure, defeated the Buena Bulldogs 28-14 Saturday night. Langston Jackson led the offense by rushing for 172 yards on 24 carries according to the L.A. Daily News.
Simi opened the scoring on an 11 yard touchdown reception by tight end James Barona. Buena answered with a 2 yard touchdown run by tailback Vince McCowan who led Buena with 138 yards rushing. Simi scored next on a nice touchdown run to the corner of the end zone by tailback Tommy Dowling who rushed for 43 yards on 9 carries. The touchdown was set up on a breakaway run by Langston Jackson. Buena tied the game before the half after McCowan broke through the stingy Simi defense and dashed 86 yards to the Simi 1 yard line and finished with a touchdown run. Simi's Chance Cross made an amazing play on McCowan's breakaway catching him just before he reached the goal line, closing at least 10 yards and running by other defenders.
The play of the game occurred early in the fourth quarter. With the game tied and Buena closing in on the endzone, defensive end Tim McAnany stripped the ball which was then plucked in mid-air by Evan Green. Green raced 95 yards for a go ahead touchdown and the Pioneers never looked back.
Simi added an insurance touchdown late on a 49 yard pass from quarterback Jared Zahorik to wide receiver Keith Williams. The drive started deep in Simi territory with Langston Jackson rushing on five straight plays to drive the ball to midfield. The young Pioneer offensive line was outstanding allowing Zahorik time to pass and giving up just one sack in 15 pass attempts. David Castro connected on all four conversion kicks. The Simi defense limited Buena to two first downs in the first half.
