Cub Football - Loyola offense rolling, defense expects to shore up, Cubs take on another first time foe
LOYOLA IS PUTTING UP IMPRESSIVE OFFENSIVE NUMBERS, WILL FACE POSSIBLY BEST DEFENSE IT HAS SEEN THUS FAR ON FRIDAY
Cub quarterback JOE TATUM has put up stellar numbers behind center after he took over the reins in the second half of game two against La Verne Damien. Perhaps his most impressive stat is his 11.6 yards per pass attempt-not completion, attempt!
The senior field general has completed 49 of 74 passes (66 per cent) for 860 yards. His uber talented receiving corps is averaging 17.6 yards per catch. In Loyola’s heart stopping, 34-31, win against Mira Costa last Friday, Tatum completed nine of fourteen passes for 240 yards (26.7 yards per reception) and four touchdowns, bringing his season TD total to 13.
Tatum is the beneficiary of what is one of Cub Football’s best all-time groups of receivers. Senior co-captain PETER VANIS has 24 catches for 386 yards and five TDs, including two catches for touchdowns totaling 106 yards against Mira Costa. His classmate JACOBY KELLY has hauled in 21 aerials for 303 yards and four touchdowns. He is also the flat out best blocking receiver in the Southland. Many long distance scores by his teammates have been enabled by his downfield blocks. Juniors BAYLIN BROOKS and WILKIE WILES have together averaged close to 20 yards per reception. BROOKS has scored five touchdowns.
If you have not made it out to a Loyola game as yet, you should make plans to do so as the talent possessed by this season’s wide receiver group is special-once in a generation special.
The player who makes the offense go and helps set up the Cubs’ lethal aerial attack is senior running back TAHJ OWENS. The only sophomore tailback in Loyola annals to earn All-CIF accolades as a sophomore (in 2019), OWENS has definitively established himself as one of the Cubs’ all-time best runners. That is saying something as the list of ball toting Loyola luminaries is long and impressive. The 5-11, 195 lb. OWENS has rushed for 807 yards and 11 TDs with a 7.8 yard-per carry average. He is well on his way to a 1,000 yards-plus season.
Loyola is averaging 36 points per game and 43 points per outing in its last four contests. Credit is due to the fine job offensive coordinator MATTHEW HATCHETTE has done in tweaking the offense to match TATUM’s skill set.
Credit for the team’s success on offense also goes to the Cub line (from tight end to tackle: senior tight end JOE TAYLOR, junior right tackle JACK SUSNJAR, sophomore right guard RYAN TURK and senior right guard COLIN CRUCE, junior center MATT POHL, sophomore left guard RASHAD WESTBROOKS and senior left tackle SAM YOON. Line coach JOE MURRAY ‘78 has done a fantastic job mentoring the young first time interior players.
Loyola’s ‘Wolfpack’ defense has been a bend-but-don’t break unit. In its last game, Mira Costa’s quarterback hit on a number of intermediate passes for substantial yardage against a stop unit that has been riddled with injuries to some of its best players. It is expected that some of the injured defenders will be returning to the lineup soon to shore up a defense which is relinquishing an average of 20 points per game.
LOYOLA GAME IS HOMECOMING FOR FIRST TIME FOE SAN CLEMENTE
San Clemente is well known for some prime surfing spots on its beaches and just south of the city limits, but it has also garnered a reputation for annually fielding one of the best football programs in talent-rich Orange County. Carolina Panthers QB and former USC star Sam Darnold ‘15 is a graduate of San Clemente. Among the Tritons’ accomplishments in the last six seasons was winning a D-2 championship and California State 1A title and reaching the CIF Div. 2 semifinals. They were 5-0 this spring.
Being tabbed as a homecoming opponent for the host school is generally considered a sign of disrespect for the visiting football program. Well, if that old belief is true, the Tritons likely did not consider the Cubs to be much of a threat when they put together their 2021 schedule. As 5-1 Loyola prepares this week for its 130 mile round-trip trek to and from South Orange County on Friday, the “Homecoming” designation should serve as all the motivation it needs. Friday’s game marks the first time the schools have ever met in football.
A LOOK AT SAN CLEMENTE
San Clemente has developed into a top end program, and as per usual the Tritons were highly ranked in all the preseason state polls. But San Clemente has not quite lived up to its lofty preseason prognostications. The Tritons (4-2), though, are still a more than worthy foe.
San Clemente’s defense has carried the team thus far, but it is just a matter of time before its typically potent offense gets untracked. The Cub’ Wolfpack’ defense will do it’s best to ensure that the Triton offense does not come of age in this Friday’s “Homecoming” battle.
Head Coach Jaime Ortiz’s squad opened with a 34-0 shut out of Oceanside, but has struggled to score points in its five ensuing contests. The Tritons squeaked by San Jacinto, 15-13; beat La Costa Canyon, 13-6; and lost a fiercely fought contest, 7-3, to highly regarded and undefeated Corona del Mar. The following week San Clemente was blown out by state top 25-ranked Huntington Beach Edison, 42-0, but that score is deceiving. Multiple miscues by the Tritons took the top off of what started out as a close game. In a phrase, what could go wrong did go wrong for San Clemente in a nightmare scuffle with the Chargers.
Last Friday the Tritons regrouped and eked out a 21-20 heart stopping victory over a solid Murrieta Valley team. San Clemente’s average score through six games is 14-15.
Senior quarterback Lachlan Van Rosmalen (6-1, 193) has completed 59% of his throws for 997 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions.
Tough junior running back Blake Allen has rushed for 471 yards and four TDs, while averaging 4.9 yards per carry. He is also the squad’s second leading receiver (19 receptions for 273 yards, 14 yards per reception). The top pass catcher is junior Thomas Hartanov who has 23 catches for 247 yards.
Defensively, the Tritons play their typical hard hitting brand of search and destroy football. The leading tacklers are junior middle linebacker Cole Robertson (6-0, 200) and junior outside linebacker Reese McDonald (5-11, 190).
OUTLOOK
San Clemente will likely use the offensive blue print employed by Mira Costa with frequent passes, including throws to Allen out of the backfield. The Tritons will also try to pound away with the run game behind a strong offensive line.
Defensively, San Clemente will bring their hard hitting style and discipline to the field. Expect the Tritons to go all out to shut down Loyola’s run game to force the Cubs to become one dimensional.
Loyola will have a good chance to make the long drive back to Los Angeles a pleasant one if it can continue to put points on the board with its talented playmakers. If the Cub defense does not make improvement from last Friday, the hosts will have a legitimate shot at posting their fifth win. One thing is certain, to pull off a victory, the Big Blue will have to play one of their best games of the season. San Clemente has had a tougher non-league slate than Loyola, and will play with intensity in hopes of securing a statement-making victory.
THE SERIES
Friday’s match up marks the first time Loyola and San Clemente have met on the football field. San Clemente High School was established in 1964. This is the third first-ever meeting between the Cubs and their opponent this season. The other two were Culver City and San Diego Mira Mesa.
EXPLAINING LOYOLA’S BIG DROP IN THE STATE RANKINGS
Two weeks ago, the Cubs were ranked 17th in the state by CalPreps.com. After Friday’s win over Mira Costa, Loyola dropped to number 30. It fell correspondingly in the CalPreps’ Southern Section rankings to number 20. The CalPreps rankings are used by the Southern Section at the end of the regular season for divisional placement and seeding determination for the CIF playoffs under the recently enacted comparative equity process.
The top eight Southern Section teams at the conclusion of the regular season will be placed in Division 1 for playoff competition, and the next 16 teams (9-24) will be slotted in the Division 2 bracket. If the regular season ended today, the Cubs would be the number twelve seeded squad in Division 2 and would play number five seed Los Alamitos.
There is still a lot of football to be played. If Loyola qualifies for the playoffs, and hopes to be in the D-2 bracket, it will likely have to win out.
So why have the Cubs dropped so precipitously in the CalPreps’ state and Southern Section rankings despite winning their last two games?
The answer is simple, the computer formula utilized to rank teams places high value on both strength of schedule and wins against-and surprisingly losses to-highly ranked teams. By way of example Bishop Amat (3-2) lost to the second-ranked team in the state, St. John Bosco, 47-7; and was routed by third-ranked Servite, 58-7, and actually rose in the rankings to number 15.
Loyola’s lone loss was to Inglewood in its opener. Inglewood is currently ranked 14th in the state by CalPreps. The Cubs’ five wins have come against lower ranked teams-and in some cases very low ranked squads. Loyola’s 16-14 win over then state top-25 ranked Damien helped its rankings, but since then Damien lost to Orange Lutheran and was routed on Friday, 53-28, by Bishop Amat, a team many predicted Damien to beat.
Meanwhile, Cathedral (1-4) just suffered an embarrassing, 6-2, loss to lowly ranked Muir. San Clemente fell in the rankings because of its lopsided loss to Edison. Culver City (2-2) suffered its second loss, falling big, 36-15, to La Serna. Inglewood is 4-0, but it has dropped in the rankings as its overall schedule, including its league, is very weak. St. Francis is 3–1, but its opponents have not been highly regarded, except for Damien (2-3) which has since plummeted in the rankings. Winless Crespi (0-4) is losing big. The Celts were demolished last week by Ventura St. Bonaventure, 65-13. St. Paul (5-0) is undefeated, but the Swordsmen do not own a win over any highly ranked schools.
Other than Inglewood, to whom the Cubs lost by a score of 29-26, the highest state-ranked squads Loyola has played and/or will play are Damien (47), San Clemente (51) and St. Francis (73).
At the end of the day, the Cubs have to root for all of their opponents to win (except against Loyola), as strength of schedule and wins are huge components of the rankings formula.
Playoff talk is premature in any event as the Cubs will most likely need to win two of their three Angelus League battles to qualify.
EXTRA POINTS
Former Loyola All-American DAVID LONG, JR. ‘16 made his second NFL start at corner for the Los Angeles Rams in their win over defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay at SoFi Stadium on Sunday . . . the last time the Cubs averaged 36 points through their first six games of a campaign as they have in 2021, was in 1975 when Loyola went 13-0, won the CIF AAAA title and National Championship; the Cubs averaged 40 points in their first six games that season . . . former Loyola quarterback JERRY NEUHEISEL ‘11 is the wide receivers coach at UCLA . . . UCLA grad assistant KODI WHITFIELD ‘12, an All-CIF safety for the Cubs who started at Stanford, has a younger brother, junior KYLE SOMERVILLE, who is a starting corner on the varsity team this season . . . Former Cub safety ADAM PILAPIL ‘14, who played outside linebacker at Wyoming, is now a defensive line coach at Montana State . . . Loyola has six former players on PAC-12 rosters.
Cub quarterback JOE TATUM has put up stellar numbers behind center after he took over the reins in the second half of game two against La Verne Damien. Perhaps his most impressive stat is his 11.6 yards per pass attempt-not completion, attempt!
The senior field general has completed 49 of 74 passes (66 per cent) for 860 yards. His uber talented receiving corps is averaging 17.6 yards per catch. In Loyola’s heart stopping, 34-31, win against Mira Costa last Friday, Tatum completed nine of fourteen passes for 240 yards (26.7 yards per reception) and four touchdowns, bringing his season TD total to 13.
Tatum is the beneficiary of what is one of Cub Football’s best all-time groups of receivers. Senior co-captain PETER VANIS has 24 catches for 386 yards and five TDs, including two catches for touchdowns totaling 106 yards against Mira Costa. His classmate JACOBY KELLY has hauled in 21 aerials for 303 yards and four touchdowns. He is also the flat out best blocking receiver in the Southland. Many long distance scores by his teammates have been enabled by his downfield blocks. Juniors BAYLIN BROOKS and WILKIE WILES have together averaged close to 20 yards per reception. BROOKS has scored five touchdowns.
If you have not made it out to a Loyola game as yet, you should make plans to do so as the talent possessed by this season’s wide receiver group is special-once in a generation special.
The player who makes the offense go and helps set up the Cubs’ lethal aerial attack is senior running back TAHJ OWENS. The only sophomore tailback in Loyola annals to earn All-CIF accolades as a sophomore (in 2019), OWENS has definitively established himself as one of the Cubs’ all-time best runners. That is saying something as the list of ball toting Loyola luminaries is long and impressive. The 5-11, 195 lb. OWENS has rushed for 807 yards and 11 TDs with a 7.8 yard-per carry average. He is well on his way to a 1,000 yards-plus season.
Loyola is averaging 36 points per game and 43 points per outing in its last four contests. Credit is due to the fine job offensive coordinator MATTHEW HATCHETTE has done in tweaking the offense to match TATUM’s skill set.
Credit for the team’s success on offense also goes to the Cub line (from tight end to tackle: senior tight end JOE TAYLOR, junior right tackle JACK SUSNJAR, sophomore right guard RYAN TURK and senior right guard COLIN CRUCE, junior center MATT POHL, sophomore left guard RASHAD WESTBROOKS and senior left tackle SAM YOON. Line coach JOE MURRAY ‘78 has done a fantastic job mentoring the young first time interior players.
Loyola’s ‘Wolfpack’ defense has been a bend-but-don’t break unit. In its last game, Mira Costa’s quarterback hit on a number of intermediate passes for substantial yardage against a stop unit that has been riddled with injuries to some of its best players. It is expected that some of the injured defenders will be returning to the lineup soon to shore up a defense which is relinquishing an average of 20 points per game.
LOYOLA GAME IS HOMECOMING FOR FIRST TIME FOE SAN CLEMENTE
San Clemente is well known for some prime surfing spots on its beaches and just south of the city limits, but it has also garnered a reputation for annually fielding one of the best football programs in talent-rich Orange County. Carolina Panthers QB and former USC star Sam Darnold ‘15 is a graduate of San Clemente. Among the Tritons’ accomplishments in the last six seasons was winning a D-2 championship and California State 1A title and reaching the CIF Div. 2 semifinals. They were 5-0 this spring.
Being tabbed as a homecoming opponent for the host school is generally considered a sign of disrespect for the visiting football program. Well, if that old belief is true, the Tritons likely did not consider the Cubs to be much of a threat when they put together their 2021 schedule. As 5-1 Loyola prepares this week for its 130 mile round-trip trek to and from South Orange County on Friday, the “Homecoming” designation should serve as all the motivation it needs. Friday’s game marks the first time the schools have ever met in football.
A LOOK AT SAN CLEMENTE
San Clemente has developed into a top end program, and as per usual the Tritons were highly ranked in all the preseason state polls. But San Clemente has not quite lived up to its lofty preseason prognostications. The Tritons (4-2), though, are still a more than worthy foe.
San Clemente’s defense has carried the team thus far, but it is just a matter of time before its typically potent offense gets untracked. The Cub’ Wolfpack’ defense will do it’s best to ensure that the Triton offense does not come of age in this Friday’s “Homecoming” battle.
Head Coach Jaime Ortiz’s squad opened with a 34-0 shut out of Oceanside, but has struggled to score points in its five ensuing contests. The Tritons squeaked by San Jacinto, 15-13; beat La Costa Canyon, 13-6; and lost a fiercely fought contest, 7-3, to highly regarded and undefeated Corona del Mar. The following week San Clemente was blown out by state top 25-ranked Huntington Beach Edison, 42-0, but that score is deceiving. Multiple miscues by the Tritons took the top off of what started out as a close game. In a phrase, what could go wrong did go wrong for San Clemente in a nightmare scuffle with the Chargers.
Last Friday the Tritons regrouped and eked out a 21-20 heart stopping victory over a solid Murrieta Valley team. San Clemente’s average score through six games is 14-15.
Senior quarterback Lachlan Van Rosmalen (6-1, 193) has completed 59% of his throws for 997 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions.
Tough junior running back Blake Allen has rushed for 471 yards and four TDs, while averaging 4.9 yards per carry. He is also the squad’s second leading receiver (19 receptions for 273 yards, 14 yards per reception). The top pass catcher is junior Thomas Hartanov who has 23 catches for 247 yards.
Defensively, the Tritons play their typical hard hitting brand of search and destroy football. The leading tacklers are junior middle linebacker Cole Robertson (6-0, 200) and junior outside linebacker Reese McDonald (5-11, 190).
OUTLOOK
San Clemente will likely use the offensive blue print employed by Mira Costa with frequent passes, including throws to Allen out of the backfield. The Tritons will also try to pound away with the run game behind a strong offensive line.
Defensively, San Clemente will bring their hard hitting style and discipline to the field. Expect the Tritons to go all out to shut down Loyola’s run game to force the Cubs to become one dimensional.
Loyola will have a good chance to make the long drive back to Los Angeles a pleasant one if it can continue to put points on the board with its talented playmakers. If the Cub defense does not make improvement from last Friday, the hosts will have a legitimate shot at posting their fifth win. One thing is certain, to pull off a victory, the Big Blue will have to play one of their best games of the season. San Clemente has had a tougher non-league slate than Loyola, and will play with intensity in hopes of securing a statement-making victory.
THE SERIES
Friday’s match up marks the first time Loyola and San Clemente have met on the football field. San Clemente High School was established in 1964. This is the third first-ever meeting between the Cubs and their opponent this season. The other two were Culver City and San Diego Mira Mesa.
EXPLAINING LOYOLA’S BIG DROP IN THE STATE RANKINGS
Two weeks ago, the Cubs were ranked 17th in the state by CalPreps.com. After Friday’s win over Mira Costa, Loyola dropped to number 30. It fell correspondingly in the CalPreps’ Southern Section rankings to number 20. The CalPreps rankings are used by the Southern Section at the end of the regular season for divisional placement and seeding determination for the CIF playoffs under the recently enacted comparative equity process.
The top eight Southern Section teams at the conclusion of the regular season will be placed in Division 1 for playoff competition, and the next 16 teams (9-24) will be slotted in the Division 2 bracket. If the regular season ended today, the Cubs would be the number twelve seeded squad in Division 2 and would play number five seed Los Alamitos.
There is still a lot of football to be played. If Loyola qualifies for the playoffs, and hopes to be in the D-2 bracket, it will likely have to win out.
So why have the Cubs dropped so precipitously in the CalPreps’ state and Southern Section rankings despite winning their last two games?
The answer is simple, the computer formula utilized to rank teams places high value on both strength of schedule and wins against-and surprisingly losses to-highly ranked teams. By way of example Bishop Amat (3-2) lost to the second-ranked team in the state, St. John Bosco, 47-7; and was routed by third-ranked Servite, 58-7, and actually rose in the rankings to number 15.
Loyola’s lone loss was to Inglewood in its opener. Inglewood is currently ranked 14th in the state by CalPreps. The Cubs’ five wins have come against lower ranked teams-and in some cases very low ranked squads. Loyola’s 16-14 win over then state top-25 ranked Damien helped its rankings, but since then Damien lost to Orange Lutheran and was routed on Friday, 53-28, by Bishop Amat, a team many predicted Damien to beat.
Meanwhile, Cathedral (1-4) just suffered an embarrassing, 6-2, loss to lowly ranked Muir. San Clemente fell in the rankings because of its lopsided loss to Edison. Culver City (2-2) suffered its second loss, falling big, 36-15, to La Serna. Inglewood is 4-0, but it has dropped in the rankings as its overall schedule, including its league, is very weak. St. Francis is 3–1, but its opponents have not been highly regarded, except for Damien (2-3) which has since plummeted in the rankings. Winless Crespi (0-4) is losing big. The Celts were demolished last week by Ventura St. Bonaventure, 65-13. St. Paul (5-0) is undefeated, but the Swordsmen do not own a win over any highly ranked schools.
Other than Inglewood, to whom the Cubs lost by a score of 29-26, the highest state-ranked squads Loyola has played and/or will play are Damien (47), San Clemente (51) and St. Francis (73).
At the end of the day, the Cubs have to root for all of their opponents to win (except against Loyola), as strength of schedule and wins are huge components of the rankings formula.
Playoff talk is premature in any event as the Cubs will most likely need to win two of their three Angelus League battles to qualify.
EXTRA POINTS
Former Loyola All-American DAVID LONG, JR. ‘16 made his second NFL start at corner for the Los Angeles Rams in their win over defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay at SoFi Stadium on Sunday . . . the last time the Cubs averaged 36 points through their first six games of a campaign as they have in 2021, was in 1975 when Loyola went 13-0, won the CIF AAAA title and National Championship; the Cubs averaged 40 points in their first six games that season . . . former Loyola quarterback JERRY NEUHEISEL ‘11 is the wide receivers coach at UCLA . . . UCLA grad assistant KODI WHITFIELD ‘12, an All-CIF safety for the Cubs who started at Stanford, has a younger brother, junior KYLE SOMERVILLE, who is a starting corner on the varsity team this season . . . Former Cub safety ADAM PILAPIL ‘14, who played outside linebacker at Wyoming, is now a defensive line coach at Montana State . . . Loyola has six former players on PAC-12 rosters.
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