Cub Football - New life, new season
LOYOLA HAS OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE 2024 A MEMORABLE SEASON
On Friday night Loyola has an opportunity to elevate its performance to a level commensurate with its not inconsiderable talent base when it travels to Orange County to take on Tustin (9-1), the number four seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs and the 30th-ranked team in CalPreps' Southern Section rankings.
The Orange County Register not only predicted a decisive victory for the Tillers in their first ever meeting on the gridiron with the Cubs, but also picked them to win the Division 3 title in three weeks. The Big Blue has different ideas.
As the Los Angeles Times' noted on Wednesday, two of Loyola's six losses were by one point (Damien and Notre Dame), one was by three points in overtime (Cathedral) and two were by seven and ten points (Serra and Leuzinger, respectively).
The Cubs, ranked 39th in the Southern Section by CalPreps, could have easily entered the post season with an 8-2 record, but good fortune escaped them at critical junctures in five of their six losses. This Friday they have to seize every in-game opportunity and finish.
Winning a series of coin tosses to secure third place in the Mission League and therefore allowing it to gain entry into the CIF Southern Section playoffs, gave Loyola new life and a chance to restart the 2024 campaign.
With a victory over Tustin, the Cubs (4-6) would have the possibility of playing five more games, three in the Division 3 playoffs, one in the State Southern Regional and one in the State Championship final.
To make a run, Loyola needs to follow the script set by the 2005 squad which won the school's most recent of six CIF AAAA/Division I titles after winning coin tosses to secure a third place finish in the Serra League.
The Cubs will have to play mistake-free football and compete with great will and urgency for 48 minutes against an excellent Tiller squad to successfully kick off their "new" season. Don't count them out from doing just that on Friday night against number four seed Tustin.
Except for the shortened 2020 Covid season in which there were no playoffs, Loyola won four consecutive CIF Southern Section first round playoff games in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The Cubs were CIF Division 4 runners-up in 2019 (lost to San Juan Hills in the championship game), advanced to the Division 3 quarterfinals in 2021, made it to the Division 6 semifinals in 2022 and advanced to the CIF Division 4 quarterfinals last fall.
LOYOLA LEADS MISSION LEAGUE IN MULTIPLE STATISTICAL CATEGORIES
MaxPreps has not yet updated Loyola's season statistics after the final regular season contest against Notre Dame, in which the Cubs had their most dominant offensive performance of the season in rolling up 483 yards of total offense (343 rushing yards, 140 passing yards).
The nine-game Loyola statistical leaders in the Mission League, according to MaxPreps, are as follows:
Rushing Yards: No. 1: SEAN MORRIS II
Receiving Yards: No. 3: MARKUS KIER
Total Points: No. 1: SEAN MORRIS II No. 2: MARKUS KIER
Total TDs: No. 1: SEAN MORRIS II No. 2: MARKUS KIER
Total Tackles No. 1: HENRY CASANI No. 2: DAEQUAN JEFFES
Sacks No. 2: MAX MEIER
Field Goals Made No. 2: JACOB KREINBRING
Total Return Yardage No. 1: DESI VALDES
ANOTHER LOOK AT FRIDAY'S FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF GAME
One significant difference between the Cubs and Tustin as they prepare to face off in Friday's first round playoff game is strength of schedule.
Loyola has played the eighth, 13th, 17th, and 19th-ranked teams in the Southern Section per CalPreps. Other than the blowout loss at the hands of Sierra Canyon, the Cubs lost to number 13-ranked Serra by seven points, were beaten by 17th-ranked Damien by one point, and fell to 19th-ranked Leuzinger by 10 points. Their other five Southern Section opponents are ranked 32nd, 42nd, 47th, 69th and 91st. Mount Miguel is ranked ninth in the CIF San Diego Section.
The highest ranked team the Tillers played was 21st-ranked Yorba Linda, to whom they lost by a score of 35-31.
The next highest ranked squad Tustin has played was 44th-ranked El Modena. Eight of its other opponents are ranked 46th, 76th, 80th, 82nd, 113th, 116yh, 130th and 170th.
The ranking positions of a team's opponents is a metric used in CalPreps' computer algorithm in projecting outcomes.
CalPreps projects the Tillers to prevail on Friday, 26-22. Loyola will win Friday if it plays at the top of its game.
TUSTIN PRE-GAME LOCATION Loyola supporters will congregate before Friday's first round playoff game at 4:30 p.m. at Tustin Brewing Company, 13011 Newport Avenue, Suite 100, Tustin, CA 92780.
TWELVE LOYOLA ALUMNI STUDY AND PLAY FOOTBALL AT ELITE TOP 20 RANKED COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
U.S. News & World Report is considered the gold standard in ranking National Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges.
Here is the list of the 12 Cub graduates who study and play for U.S. News' elite top 20 universities and college:
NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES
Rank/School/Alumnus 1 - Princeton (TAHJ OWENS '22, DB)
2 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (JACK PARIS '23, DL)
13 - Columbia (SHAWN LIN '22, DL; PATRICK SODL '22, LB)
15 - Dartmouth (RYAN TURK '24, OL)
15 - UCLA (EVAN THOMAS '20, DB; SAM YOON '22, OL)
17 - Cal (JEFFREY JOHNSON '22, TE)
18 - Notre Dame (ALEX WHITMAN '22, WR)
LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES
5 - Bowdoin (COLIN CRUCE '22, OL)
8 - Carleton (BLAKE NEITHART '20, DB)
19 - Grinnell (ANDREW KOZHAYA '24, OL)
2024 LOYOLA VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
8-23 @ Cathedral (L, 16-13, 2OT)
8-30 Damien (L, 30-29)
9-13 @ Leuzinger (L, 40-30)
9-20 @ St. Francis (W, 35-7)
9-27 @ Mount Miguel (Spring Valley, San Diego) (W, 46-38)
10-4 Serra (Home)* (L, 42-35)
10-11 @ Bishop Amat* (W, 24-17)
10-18 Chaminade (Home)* (W, 44-10)
10-25 @ Sierra Canyon* (L, 45-0)
11-1 Notre Dame (Home)* (L, 35-34)
CIF SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION 3 PLAYOFFS 11-8 @ Tustin (CIF D-3 Playoffs first round)
CUBS IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Below is the list of Loyola graduates playing college football in 2024 according to published collegiate rosters:
CHAD BAILEY ‘20, DB, Bentley University
NICHOLAS BARR-MIRA ‘19, K, Mississippi State
COLIN CRUCE ‘22, OL, Bowdoin
JEFFREY JOHNSON ‘21, TE, Cal
LUKE HARRISON ‘24, OL, University of San Diego
ANDREW KOZHAYA ‘21, OL, Grinnel
SHAWN LIN '22, DL, Columbia
LEIGHTON LINE ‘23, DL, Cal Lutheran
CONNOR McDOWELL ‘21, DB, Angelo State
BLAKE NEITHART ‘20, DB, Carleton
TAHJ OWENS '22, DB, Princeton
JACK PARIS '23, DL, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
RYAN QUINTANAR '20, LB, USC
ISAIAH SANDERS, ‘24, LB, UC Davis
PATRICK SODL ‘22, LB, Columbia
HENRY STICKLER ‘22, WR, SMU
JACK SUSNJAR ‘23, OL, USC
JOE TATUM ‘22, QB, Texas
EVAN THOMAS ‘20, DB, UCLA
RYAN TURK ‘24, OL, Dartmouth
ALEX WHITMAN ‘22, WR, Notre Dame
CHAMP WESTBROOKS ‘24, OL, Arizona State
CEYAIR WRIGHT ‘21, DB, Nebraska
SAM YOON ‘22, OL, UCLA
LOYOLA GRADS IN THE NFL
MYLES BRYANT '16, corner, Houston Texans
ALEX JOHNSON '19, corner, New York Giants (practice squad)
DAVID LONG, JR., corner, Indianapolis Colts (practice squad)
COLEMAN SHELTON '13, center, Chicago Bears