Cub Football Review...from Pat Jacobs Mistakes doom Cubs against Bishop Amat Loyola drove 80 yards on seven plays on the game’s first series on a beautifully executed drive to take a 7-0 lead against Bishop Amat in La Puente on Friday. On Amat’s first possession, the Cub ‘Wolfpack’ defense forced the Lancers to punt. The Big Blue had great momentum . . . until the punt was fumbled and Bishop Amat had a short field which it used to its advantage to draw even. Notwithstanding that momentum shift, the Cubs remained in it to the end. With just under four minutes left, Amat was clinging to a 14-10 lead as it lined up for a long field goal attempt. The kick missed badly, but a roughing the kicker penalty was called against the Cubs, and for all intents and purposes that was the end of the game as the Lancers scored a touchdown shortly thereafter. Loyola scored on its ensuing possession to make the final score 21-16. In the Cubs’ final three games they turned the ball over a staggering ten times. Loyola outgained Notre Dame 275 total yards to 255, and played well enough against Amat to win the game, but the bottom line is turnovers ruined the team’s bid to win the Serra League title and qualify for the playoffs. An inability to complete passes in crucial situations also was a factor in the three-game slide down the stretch. The positives Loyola’s players once again had to adapt to a new coaching staff and offensive system for the fourth time since 2005. There is no question that new head coach Marvin Sanders earned the players’ respect and improved the Cubs’ defensive play. Among the season’s highlights: · Loyola’s near flawless 38-6 demolition of Lakewood was the Lancers’ second worst defeat of the season, second only to L. B. Poly’s 39-0 rout of their league rival. · The Cub defense held the Crenshaw Cougars, the second seeded team in the Los Angeles City Section playoffs, to their lowest point total (10 points) of the campaign in regulation, before Loyola fell 23-17 in double overtime. · Loyola held undefeated St. John Bosco (10-0) to its lowest point total (24) and smallest margin of victory (14 points) of the regular season. The double pass that was nearly completed for a TD on the Cubs’ first series could have been a game changer against the nationally number six-ranked Braves who are the odds-on favorite to win the Pac-5 Division title. · The Big Blue scored the most points (49) ever tallied by a Loyola team its 13-game series with Manhattan Beach Mira Costa dating back to 1963, and put more points on the scoreboard against the Mustangs (7-3) than any other Mira Costa opponent this season. The Mustangs finished second in the Bay League. · Once again, Loyola held another opponent, Valencia, to its lowest point output (20) of the campaign in a 39-20 victory against the Vikings, who won a fifth consecutive Foothill League championship with a win over archrival Hart. · Far and away the Cubs’ best win and effort of the season was against Alemany in Mission Hills on October 11. Loyola executed to near perfection in all phases of the game to defeat the Serra League champion Warriors 31-20. The 20 points scored by Alemany were the fewest tallied by the Warriors this season. Alemany’s head coach said this might be the best Warrior team he has coached. Alemany defeated perennial Inland Empire giant Corona Centennial 45-28; handed one-loss Pacific league kingpin Pasadena Muir (9-1) its worst loss of the season, put on the worst beating suffered this fall by Narbonne (8-2), the City Section’s top-seeded playoff team; and administered the worst loss suffered by Serra League rival Notre Dame this year. The Warriors (8-2) are the fourth seed in the CIF Pac-5 Division playoffs. · Loyola held Sherman Oaks Notre Dame to its lowest total offense output of the campaign (255 yards). The Knights gained only 80 net yards on the ground against the Cubs, after rolling up staggering totals of 540 rushing yards against Foothill League runner-up Canyon Country Canyon and 520 yards against West Hills Chaminade. · The Cubs held Bishop Amat to 21 points, which tied for the second lowest points scored by the Lancers this fall. While the win-loss ledger did not turn out the way the Cubs wanted, they went down fighting in all of their setbacks. It is clear that Coach Sanders has set a foundation for future success.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 20:04:00 +0000
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