Cub Football - Big Blue has taken steps in right direction, faces huge obstacle on Friday
LOYOLA IS BACK ON THE RADAR
First year head coach DREW CASANI ‘91 and his staff have gotten the Cub Football program back to a place where opponents know they will be in for a battle against Loyola. And it has been quite a while since that was the case.
The Cubs took Division 3 Cathedral down to the wire, beat Division 1-2 Valencia, beat Division 1-2 Serra, barely lost to Division 1-2 Notre Dame, and battled hard against Division 1-2 Chaminade before a late fumble. They face Division 1-2 Bishop Amat in La Puente Friday in a contest that Loyola has a real chance to win.
Yes, the Cubs are 3-5, but the record belies the fact that a program which was 1-9 last fall, has improved immensely. Loyola easily could be 6-2, but for some bad breaks. Among the good news is that the team could possibly make the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs even if they drop their final Mission League tilt. The best news is that, unlike in the recent past, the Cubs have gone toe to toe with some of the best teams in California. That speaks to outstanding coaching and a profound cultural shift.
WHY NOT THIS FRIDAY?
Loyola travels to La Puente this Friday to take on long time nemesis Bishop Amat. The Lancers are picked by the CalPreps computer to beat the Cubs 31-10.
What if Loyola plays virtually mistake-free football, connects on previously missed in-game opportunities, its players compete like there is no tomorrow, and it wills itself to victory? “What if” is not pie in the sky. This team has proved it can compete with the best. Amat may already be a lock for the eight-team CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, and the Lancers are guaranteed a berth in the 16-team D-2 field. But, an upset could be in the cards.
This spring the CIF Southern Section picked 24 schools (a new wrinkle in its competitive equity-based playoff structure) that would be automatic entries (based on their performances in the preceding two years) into the Division 1 and Division 2 playoff fields this season. The Cubs have played five of those squads, recording a 24-7 victory over Gardena Serra, a 29-14 win against Valencia and suffering just a six point loss (29-23) to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
So why can’t the Cubs play their best game of the season this Friday? Don’t be surprised if it happens.
A LOOK AT FRIDAY’S GAME IN A STORIED PREP FOOTBALL RIVALRY
There is only one team, La Puente Bishop Amat, that has historically had Loyola’s number over the course of the last six decades.
The spirited-that is a euphemistic understatement-rivalry between the Jesuit prep school in Los Angeles and the Archdiocesan school in La Puente is one of the most intense in California prep football annals.
While the Lancers have the better side of the win-loss ledger, the Cubs have recorded some huge victories in a rivalry that started in 1968, some fifty-one years ago. Only old timers will remember that Bishop Amat was sparked by the prolific pass-catch battery of sophomore quarterback Pat Haden (USC, Rams, USC A.D.) and wide receiver J.K. McKay (USC) when the Lancers downed the Cubs, 29-13 at their old home stadium, Sentinel Field in Inglewood, in the first battle between the schools.
The level of frustration Amat has caused the Cubs over the decades was never so pronounced as in 1981 when the Lancers kicked a game-winning field goal as time ran out in a non-league game to pull out a 20-18 non-league win. Then, in the first round of the CIF playoffs in La Puente several weeks later, Amat, after trailing 20-7 at halftime, rallied for a 21-20 triumph. Two victories by a total of three points.
Again in 1995, Loyola lost to the Lancers, 24-17, in conference completion, and barely lost on a late TD at the Coliseum in the CIF Div. I championship, 14-10.
Perhaps the most gratifying contest of the series for the Big Blue was in 1997 when then nationally ranked Loyola stopped a fourth down-and-one play deep in its own territory late in the fourth quarter when defensive tackle MIKE LONG shot the gap and tackled the Lancers’ running back for a loss to preserve a 3-0 victory.
The Cubs lost an absolute heartbreaker to the Lancers, 7-3, in the 1992 CIF Division I championship game at Cerritos College. Earlier in the campaign the Big Blue fell to their rivals, 28-14. Frustration raised its ugly head once again.
In 2003, Loyola won its fifth of six CIF AAAA/Division I titles, and defeated Amat twice in its march to the championship. The Cubs defeated the Lancers 28-5 during the regular season and hung on to defeat them again, 10-9, in the first round of the playoffs.
Loyola’s most recent victory over Amat, a 24-23 thriller, was in 2016. In 2017, the Cubs lost 7-3 at home after a controversial officials’ call ruled that a Loyola running back fumbled the ball at the Lancer one-yard line late in the game.
The best run in the rivalry for the Cubs was during the five season stretch from 1996 through 2000 when Loyola won four and tied one.
This season Bishop Amat (8-1) is paced by senior tailback Damien Moore, who combines speed and power better than any back the Cubs have faced thus far. The Lancers will try to win the game on the ground. Loyola will try to notch a win with heart.
If the Cubs indeed play their best game of the new era, look out.
First year head coach DREW CASANI ‘91 and his staff have gotten the Cub Football program back to a place where opponents know they will be in for a battle against Loyola. And it has been quite a while since that was the case.
The Cubs took Division 3 Cathedral down to the wire, beat Division 1-2 Valencia, beat Division 1-2 Serra, barely lost to Division 1-2 Notre Dame, and battled hard against Division 1-2 Chaminade before a late fumble. They face Division 1-2 Bishop Amat in La Puente Friday in a contest that Loyola has a real chance to win.
Yes, the Cubs are 3-5, but the record belies the fact that a program which was 1-9 last fall, has improved immensely. Loyola easily could be 6-2, but for some bad breaks. Among the good news is that the team could possibly make the CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs even if they drop their final Mission League tilt. The best news is that, unlike in the recent past, the Cubs have gone toe to toe with some of the best teams in California. That speaks to outstanding coaching and a profound cultural shift.
WHY NOT THIS FRIDAY?
Loyola travels to La Puente this Friday to take on long time nemesis Bishop Amat. The Lancers are picked by the CalPreps computer to beat the Cubs 31-10.
What if Loyola plays virtually mistake-free football, connects on previously missed in-game opportunities, its players compete like there is no tomorrow, and it wills itself to victory? “What if” is not pie in the sky. This team has proved it can compete with the best. Amat may already be a lock for the eight-team CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, and the Lancers are guaranteed a berth in the 16-team D-2 field. But, an upset could be in the cards.
This spring the CIF Southern Section picked 24 schools (a new wrinkle in its competitive equity-based playoff structure) that would be automatic entries (based on their performances in the preceding two years) into the Division 1 and Division 2 playoff fields this season. The Cubs have played five of those squads, recording a 24-7 victory over Gardena Serra, a 29-14 win against Valencia and suffering just a six point loss (29-23) to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.
So why can’t the Cubs play their best game of the season this Friday? Don’t be surprised if it happens.
A LOOK AT FRIDAY’S GAME IN A STORIED PREP FOOTBALL RIVALRY
There is only one team, La Puente Bishop Amat, that has historically had Loyola’s number over the course of the last six decades.
The spirited-that is a euphemistic understatement-rivalry between the Jesuit prep school in Los Angeles and the Archdiocesan school in La Puente is one of the most intense in California prep football annals.
While the Lancers have the better side of the win-loss ledger, the Cubs have recorded some huge victories in a rivalry that started in 1968, some fifty-one years ago. Only old timers will remember that Bishop Amat was sparked by the prolific pass-catch battery of sophomore quarterback Pat Haden (USC, Rams, USC A.D.) and wide receiver J.K. McKay (USC) when the Lancers downed the Cubs, 29-13 at their old home stadium, Sentinel Field in Inglewood, in the first battle between the schools.
The level of frustration Amat has caused the Cubs over the decades was never so pronounced as in 1981 when the Lancers kicked a game-winning field goal as time ran out in a non-league game to pull out a 20-18 non-league win. Then, in the first round of the CIF playoffs in La Puente several weeks later, Amat, after trailing 20-7 at halftime, rallied for a 21-20 triumph. Two victories by a total of three points.
Again in 1995, Loyola lost to the Lancers, 24-17, in conference completion, and barely lost on a late TD at the Coliseum in the CIF Div. I championship, 14-10.
Perhaps the most gratifying contest of the series for the Big Blue was in 1997 when then nationally ranked Loyola stopped a fourth down-and-one play deep in its own territory late in the fourth quarter when defensive tackle MIKE LONG shot the gap and tackled the Lancers’ running back for a loss to preserve a 3-0 victory.
The Cubs lost an absolute heartbreaker to the Lancers, 7-3, in the 1992 CIF Division I championship game at Cerritos College. Earlier in the campaign the Big Blue fell to their rivals, 28-14. Frustration raised its ugly head once again.
In 2003, Loyola won its fifth of six CIF AAAA/Division I titles, and defeated Amat twice in its march to the championship. The Cubs defeated the Lancers 28-5 during the regular season and hung on to defeat them again, 10-9, in the first round of the playoffs.
Loyola’s most recent victory over Amat, a 24-23 thriller, was in 2016. In 2017, the Cubs lost 7-3 at home after a controversial officials’ call ruled that a Loyola running back fumbled the ball at the Lancer one-yard line late in the game.
The best run in the rivalry for the Cubs was during the five season stretch from 1996 through 2000 when Loyola won four and tied one.
This season Bishop Amat (8-1) is paced by senior tailback Damien Moore, who combines speed and power better than any back the Cubs have faced thus far. The Lancers will try to win the game on the ground. Loyola will try to notch a win with heart.
If the Cubs indeed play their best game of the new era, look out.
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