Prep Impressions: Week 9-A
I covered the Bloomington-Riverside Patriot varsity football game for The Press-Enterprise and came away thinking I didn’t expect to see a shootout.
As I wrote in the preview here, I expected 40, maybe 50 total points. And certainly not 94.
Bloomington's Demetreus Moore, who later said, "I don't like having my picture taken." / Dennis Pope Photography
But neither team played defense of any kind. In fact, each drive in the third quarter ended in touchdowns. Four drives, four scores; two by each team. In total, 14 of the game’s 20 drives ended in touchdowns, the last one three straight kneel-downs by Patriot.
Clearly, neither team showed much interest in defense, combining for to rush for 608 yards. If either team had a QB worth two nickels throwing the ball, this game could’ve probably eclipsed 1,000 total yards.
The game hinged on a fumble by Bloomington QB Demetreus Moore. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Moore scrambled (as he was want to do) and the ball apparently jumped from his hand. Patriot scored one play later to give the Warriors a two-score lead, and essentially the game.
Oh, and there was one punt. Just one, the whole game, by Patriot, who scored on 8 of their 10 drives. I don’t think I’ve seen that this season.
And it was windy and cold, as temps dipped into the low 50s (hey, it’s SoCal) for the first time this year. I could sense that it was going to rain soon because my papers started to get soft and pliable from the moisture in the air.
Soft and pliable, kind of like the defenses on Thursday night.
Bloomington coach Thomas Conner:
“When you put everything in perspective, we just didn’t execute. We missed some key blocks but our kids played their hearts out. My frustration is… I love our kids. I don’t even want to get into what I want to say…”
Bloomington senior Johnta Carter:
“The linebackers… we didn’t fill in as good as we supposed to. That’s just what happened right there. They got a few passes on us, that’s about it. I expected to go hard, and the whole team did to, so the outcome of the game was all about defense. Get up on that saddle on defense, just pick up on defense. I’m thinking about going D-1. I just got to do my SAT, then I’ll be good.”
Riverside Patriot coach Scott Pearne:
“It feels really good. It was a hard-fought game. We talked to our kids all week about ‘We want it,’ but so do they. There were some ‘ups,’ there were some ‘downs,’ but I’m really proud of our kids. That we were, umm… last week we were in a great football game with Kaiser, and we were the one’s that kinda fell apart. And we talked about that. It’s not about… you’re gonna make mistakes, but it’s how you react to those mistakes… and I think we kinda learned from that, and some of our players stepped up and made plays. We gotta ton of injuries, and we were kinda runnin’ guys on and off the field, especially defensively, but I’m proud of our guys. We really had some guys step up. (Nano) had five touchdowns?!? You know, he had a good week of practice, and I’m proud of him. He played hard. That’s what’s kind of nice, and then John Evangelista stepped up, and our little sophomore quarterback played really well. We’ve got (Jaylen) Crutchfield catching passes, that’s why it’s kinda nice. It was a good team effort. Penalties during the game happen. It’s those penalties after the whistle that you don’t want. And we gotta take care of that, too. We’re playing better on offense. We have to play better on defense ’cause NoVi’s got a good offense as well.
Bloomington junior Francisco Vega, who actually asked to have his picture taken. / Dennis Pope Photography
Bloomington senior Johnta Carter, who rushed for 220 yards and three touchdowns in the Bruins' 54-40 loss to Riverside Patriot. / Dennis Pope Photography
INLAND FIELDHOUSE 