El Camino dominates Bell Game, 39-0

El Camino and South City players line up for a second half snap in the Bell Game on Nov. 9, 2019. The Colts beat the Warriors, 39-0 for their second straight win in the series.

After time ran out on more than a decade of frustrations ended for El Camino in last year’s rivalry against South City, the Colts made time move even faster on Saturday by dominating the Warriors, 39-0, in the first ever Bell Game featuring a running clock.

It was the Colts’ second straight Bell Game triumph, although the Warriors still lead the all-time series, 47-11. Prior to 2018, South San Francisco had won 14 straight.

“Every El Camino program before us, this is revenge for them,” said El Camino senior Javion Tarusan, who had five touchdowns last year and two on Saturday. “Even though the season was hard, this is a good group of fellas and we worked really hard as a team.”

South City finishes 0-10 for the second straight year and was shut out for the seventh time this season.

“The energy was there, I’m not going to blame it on a lack of experience,” said first-year South City head coach Taulaga Elisaia. “They’re all athletes, they know how to get out there and compete.”

El Camino (2-8) received the kickoff and scored on its first possession on a 7-yard run from sophomore Sonnie Terreros. But the Colts were only in position to score after Noel Valdez converted a fourth-down quarterback sneak at midfield a half-dozen plays earlier. Tarusan caught a PAT pass to put El Camino up 8-0 with 5:27 left in the first quarter.

“We ran a pitch to the left,” Terreros said. “I saw the corner go out, so I cut in and the safety was already beat.”

South City (0-10 for the second-straight season) just couldn’t get it going offensively, tallying only 78 yards on the day, 70 of them on the ground. The Warriors were paced by Elijah Avegalio’s 29 yards on six carries, followed up by Christopher Garcia Magallon’s 27 yards on nine carries.

The lack of offense also indirectly contributed to the Colts’ second touchdown, when Tarusan received a South City punt exactly at midfield and ran it 50 yards, right up the middle, to put El Camino up 16-0 after the PAT midway through the second quarter.

“My blocks helped me out. That was it,” Tarusan said.

Tarusan added a second touchdown – his seventh career Bell Game TD – with 1:06 left in the half, on a 57-yard rush up the right side. Valdez again passed for a two-point conversion, making it 24-0 going into the break.

El Camino kicked off the second half with a bullet into the South City frontline, but the Warriors frontmen muffed the kickoff and the Colts had the ball on the South City 45 to start the second half. A couple plays later, El Camino’s Thomas Haysbert pulled down a 44-yard Valdez airstrike to put the Colts up 32-0 after a fourth two-point conversion pass.

The Colts scored one final time four seconds into the fourth quarter on a one-yard Elijah Vasquez run, and for the first time ever, the Bell Game went to a running clock.

The closest the Warriors came to the end zone was on their very first drive when South City got to the El Camino 23, but turned over on downs. It was a disappointment for the all-alumni South City coaching staff, of whom only the head coach is over age 23.

“We have to be consistent,” Elisaia said. “We were not able to keep up the momentum.”

Valdez completed 5 of 6 passes for 107 total yards for El Camino, while Ferdinand Galang completed 2 of 9 for 8 net yards for South City. The Colts tallied 274 total yards to South City’s 78. There were no turnovers.

Terreros, who rushed for 62 yards on nine carries, transferred from Hillsdale to El Camino for his sophomore season, but said he already could feel the rivalry.

“Even in the locker room and walking up, you could feel the pressure, you could feel the hate on the field,” he said. “During the season, it was bad; we were stressing over the record. But today we feel like a whole new team.”

Colts and Warriors shake hands following the completion of the Bell Game.

El Camino wins Bell, snaps South City's streak at 14

If history proves a kind judge, the 57th Bell Game on Saturday will not be remembered by HOW it ended, but by WHAT it ended.

For the first time since 2003, El Camino defeated South City High in the annual rivalry, buoyed to a 41-15 margin by five Javion Tarusan touchdowns. The win ended a 14-game losing streak by El Camino, which has freshmen on campus that had not been born the last time the Colts won a Bell Game.

But, as sometimes happens in rivalry game, emotions ran high -- a little too high. Officials ended the game early, expressing their dismay with seven fourth-quarter personal fouls by symbolically walking off the field with 2:36 left on the clock. It was an anti-climatic finish to a game that the Warriors had led at the half.

“I’ve never seen it,” said El Camino coach Archimedes Junio. “It’s a rivalry game and there were a lot of personal fouls, but a seven-man crew walking off the field because of a taunting penalty is pretty outrageous. The last thing they did was they pointed at the scoreboard and walked off.”

Tarusan was the hero in El Camino’s win, scoring two touchdowns on kick returns, two on interception returns, and one receiving.

“Amazing. I don’t remember anything like that,” Junio said. “He’s been doing that all year, leading us in touchdowns, leading us in interceptions, everything.”

Tarusan, a junior captain, said the win would hopefully start a new streak.

“We’ve just got to keep it there (at EC) for years, just like South City had it,” he said. “For the next 14 years, the next 30 years, we’ve just got to keep it.”

The final score did not reflect the back-and-forth nature of the first half. The Warriors got on the scoreboard first, with a 43-yard field goal by Nelson Ramirez capping an eight-play opening drive, which was the only score of the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, Tarusan worked the first of his magic: first fumbling, then picking up a South City punt and taking it through the approaching Warriors line 60 yards to put the Colts up 7-3 after the extra point.

“It was my blocking,” Tarusan said. “I saw a hole and i just ran through and I ended up with a touchdown.”

After a trade of punts, South City got a big play when Frank House, well… took it to the house, taking a Demetrius Gutu pass 75 yards up the left for a touchdown with 5 minutes left in the second quarter.

How long did it take El Camino to respond? About the 14 seconds it took Tarusan to pull the ensuing kickoff down at the six and run 94 yards up right for another Colts touchdown. EC led 14-9 with 4:46 before halftime.

Two minutes later, Noel Elasia burst through the middle for a 21-yard touchdown run for the Warriors. Although South City could not convert the two-point PAT try, its defense did have a three-play goal-line stand on EC’s next drive and led 15-14 going into the half. When El Camino running back Jonas Junio was injured early in the second half, there was some trepidation on the Colts sideline.

“I was nervous, but I knew that with the adjustments we were going to make, we’d be OK,” Junio, the coach, said regarding the feeling he had when Junio, the player (and coach’s nephew), went down.

There indeed was no real need to worry, as El Camino scored four unanswered touchdowns after the break. The first came on the same series Jonas Junio was hurt on, as Tarusan pulled down a 24-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Noel Valdez and carried it 24 yards for a touchdown. The Colts, or rather, Tarusan stopped South City’s next drive with a 90-yard interception return when the Warriors threatened the red zone.

Senior running back Ivan Pineda scored on a three-yard rush midway through the fourth quarter to cap a long El Camino drive, then Tarusan stopped the Warriors’ next drive with a 51-yard pick-six interception.

“Right before that play, this guy targeted me and it just fired me up,” Tarusan said. “I had to go out a play, I came back in and got the pick-six. It was just destined.”

The loss capped a tough year for South City, which finishes 0-10 under first-year coach Jerome Lee. The Warriors tallied 195 yards on the ground, led by Elasia, who had 16 carries for 102 yards. Romeo Alapati added 67 yards on 12 carries. Gutu completed 7 of 19 yards for 149 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions.

El Camino finishes 4-6 under first-year coach Archie Junio. The Colts tallied 102 yards on the ground, paced by 60 yards on 13 carries by Jonas Junio prior to his injury. Valdez completed 9 of 11 passes for 105 yards.

“This is amazing,” coach Junio said, savoring the win. “We’re trying to change the culture of this whole rivalry and we’re trying to do the right things. I’m just so glad it happened on my first year here.”

Below: Halftime entertainment from the South City Spirit Squad and the teams shake hands at the end of the game.

South City wins 14th straight Bell Game, 36-6

Spencer Eugenio scores on a five-yard second quarter run for South City High in the Bell Game, on Nov. 4, 2017.

For the 14^th straight season, the Bell tolls for South San Francisco High School.

With no end to the streak in sight, the Warriors topped El Camino, 36-6, on Saturday in the 56^th annual matchup of the crosstown rivals.

“It’s not that difficult (to keep the intensity up), it’s the Bell Game” South City coach Jay Oca said. “These guys are neighbors, they’ve know each other since they were in elementary school. Both teams are going to fight, crawl and scratch to get into the end zone.”

South City’s Spencer Eugenio was the unofficial player of the game, tallying the majority of the Warriors’ offensive yards by rushing for 235 yards on 30 carries and scoring two touchdowns.

“He’s an explosive athlete,” Oca said. “He does everything; he runs the ball, he passes, he catches, he kicks the ball — he does whatever you want him to do.”

El Camino started with the football, but fumbled it away four plays into the game. In a preview of the impact he would have later, Eugenio picked it up for the Warriors. Twelve plays later, Eugenio capped a 58-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run with 5:29 left in the first quarter, after which he also took in the two-point conversion.

The fumble set a bad tone for El Camino, according to Colts coach Eric Jacobson.

“I felt really good on that first drive and then we put the ball on the ground,” he said. “You can’t have these little things happen in a big game; they multiply.”

Oca agreed.

“That was huge,” he said. “They we kind of driving on us they were eating up yardage, and real quickly that (recovery) emotionally turned us around.”

Eugenio scored again 7:35 before halftime on a five-yard run. Kalvin Pua also scored a touchdown 1:36 before the break to put South City up 24-0 after two quarters (the Warriors tallied a two-point conversion after all three touchdowns).

“I felt it was good to be quick and out, and come out with a boom,” Eugenio said. “Having a hard week of practice went well for us and everything our coaches did prepared us for this.”

While El Camino (3-6) held South San Francisco (also 3-6) scoreless in the third quarter, Pua — who had 122 yards on 25 carries — scored his second touchdown of the game with 6:23 remaining on an eight-yard run. Quarterback Tyson Alapati scored with 2:41 left on a five-yard keeper.

“We just didn’t make plays,” Jacobson said. “They came to play and we didn’t. I think you can tell that by the way they were running the ball.”

El Camino’s only score came with just 28 seconds left in the game, when quarterback Jonas Junio hit Ian Dugas on the right side for a 30-yard scoring pass.

Emilio Urrutia had 38 yards on seven rushes to pace the Colts’ ground game. Junio completed four of 13 passes for 65 yards. South City’s Demetrius Gutu caught the only pass Alapati attempted for a 12-yard gain. In all, South City outgained El Camino with 400 total yards of offense to the Colts’ 173.

“What kept us moving was wanting to run the ball as hard as we can in the last Bell Game for our seniors,” Eugenio said. “There’s a lot of pressure on it, but I feel that us being a team keeps us focused.”
The Colts' last win in the series remains a 35-19 upset in 2003. Jacobson’s disappointment was apparent.

“I thought we had them really well prepared, especially after Capuchino, but another year has gone by,” he said. “Sometimes I hate Novembers. I’ve hated the last 15 Novembers for sure.”
Both teams do get a rare bounce-back week after the Bell Game next Thursday, making up for games that were postponed because of poor air quality caused by last month’s wildfires. El Camino will host Jefferson at 7:30 p.m., while South San Francisco will travel to Woodside.

South City defeats El Camino, 28-27, in new Bell Game classic

El Camino's Ian Dugas (No. 3, right) runs away on a 60-yard scoring pass in the first quarter of Saturday's 55th Bell Game at South San Francisco High. Click to enlarge.

What defines a classic?

Art? Universal appeal? Something that stands the test of time and influences what comes after it?

If those are the definitions, then Saturday’s 55th edition of the Bell Game between South San Francisco and El Camino highs was truly a classic.

The game featured art in the skillful execution of trick plays. It featured universal appeal in the grit of its competitors grinding it out in the face of shifting odds. Finally, its back and forth nature will stick forever with those who played in it, teaching lessons that will influence major decisions in their lives about dealing with pressure and not taking things for granted.

So, it that regard, South City’s 28-27 victory over El Camino at Clifford Field will go down as a classic.

“I’ve been at every Bell Game since 1983,” said El Camino head coach Eric Jacobson. “I’ve seen scoreboards blow up, streakers, a couple nice wins by El Camino, but this was a heart-breaker.”

The game wasn’t decided until time expired and a tackle was made on El Camino’s last-gasp pass play at midfield. The fact that the Colts had even gotten to that point was an achievement.

South City had taken a 28-14 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the game on Jeremiah Lupe’s third touchdown of the game, a 42-yard run up the left side.

“It feels great man, we finally showed up and did our thing,” Lupe said. “I want to give credit to my line. Without them, I wouldn’t have had those touchdowns — they opened some big gaps.”

Lupe’s score had seemed initially to take the wind out of El Camino’s sails. In fact, the Colts looked done after a fourth down passing pass went incomplete at midfield with 8:55 left in the game. But as EC quarterback Jimmy Bakshi got back up on his feet after being knocked down, he was happily surprised to be the beneficiary of a roughing the passer penalty. El Camino then capitalized a few plays later when Bakshi stretched over the goal line on a one-yard keeper to get the Colts within a touchdown with 5:12 left.

Then a little art: El Camino dribbled the ensuing kickoff just a few yards upfield and masterfully recovered. A handful of plays later, Bakshi connected with Ian Dugas for the latter’s third receiving touchdown of the day — a 25-yard lob into a crowd in the right side of the end zone. The Colts were within a point.

At that point the Colts lined up for two. Bakshi rolled left on the snap and threw a line drive. South City linebacker David Alapati burst through the line, however, and intercepted the PAT try, all but giving the Warriors the victory.

“I knew I had to go and get that interception,” Alapati said. “My eyes went hella big when I saw him roll (my way).”

Jacobson said he decided to put everything on the line and go for two under the assumption that El Camino would never have as good a chance.

“I was always going to go for two,” Jacobson said. “We know there’s overtime, but I didn’t like our chances going in there because we were getting beaten up on the defensive side of the ball. When you get a chance to win the Bell, you’re going to take that shot.”

With the win, South City finishes the season 3-7, while El Camino finishes 1-9. The Colts' last win in the series remains a 35-19 upset in 2003.

The game’s first score came about five minutes into the contest on a 38-yard left run by Lupe. Just two plays later, a wide-open Dugas scored his first touchdown on a 60-yard pass from Bakshi. After a quarter, it was 7-7.

Dugas (four receptions for 161 yards) put El Camino up 14-7 34 seconds before halftime with a 49-yard score set up by a successful fake punt. Lupe tied the game on a 40-yard run with 3:47 left in the third quarter, then quarterback Tyson Alapati scored on a one-yard keeper with 14 seconds left in the third, setting up the momentous fourth.

“Ian made some incredible catches today,” Jacobson said. “He singlehandedly kept us in the game today.”

Lupe led all rushers with 186 yards on 13 carries, followed by teammate Kolson Pua, who carried 20 times for 90 yards. The Warriors generated 349 combined yards of offense.

El Camino was led by Bakshi, who completed seven of 12 passes for 161 yards. El Camino only tallied 61 yards total on the ground, spread amongst seven rushers. The Colts tallied exactly 100 fewer total yards than South City.

Defensively, RJ Aquino tallied a fumble recovery and an interception for El Camino. For South City David Alapati had another interception beyond the one on the PAT, and Jacob Martinez recovered a fumble.

“There was a lot of pressure,” Lupe said. “Both teams came out to play. We played to our fullest potential and I have to give props to El Camino — they really came out.”

In other words, it was a classic.

Fourth quarter action during the Bell Game, Nov. 5, 2016. South San Francisco High beat El Camino, 28-27.

Victorious South City players perform a haka-like ceremonial dance after their victory.

Kamelamela leads South City to 12th-straight Bell Game victory, 53-22

South City quarterback Kolson Pua rolls out on a six-yard run in the second quarter of the Bell Game, on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015. Photo by John Baker.

It’s now an even dozen in a row for South San Francisco High, which won its 12th straight Bell Game on Saturday against rival El Camino, 53-22, in the 55th edition of the rivalry.

One of the reasons South City now has a dozen straight Bells was the play of senior running back Eric Kamelamela, who tallied 223 yards on 33 carries, and scored four touchdowns.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” Kamelamela said. “(The Bell) is staying at South City — for many years to come, also.”

Kamelamela’s efforts were a key part of a Warriors attack that compiled an impressive 483 total yards of offense (330 on the ground and 153 passing), compared to a net total of just 68 total yards for El Camino.

South City finishes the season 4-6, while El Camino finishes 1-8. The Colts' last win in the series remains a 35-19 upset in 2003.

"We gave it a good shot, but they were too much for us,” said El Camino coach Eric Jacobson. “The one thing I can say about the kids on this team is that they’re very good kids. I really had a good time with all of them.”

After the Colts stopped South City on their first two drives, the Warriors finally broke through on their third try. Tavaimanu’uliletiuoali’I Tuitasi capped a long South San Francisco drive with a one-yard barrel across the goal line to put the Warriors up by six with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.

South City scored again four minutes into the second quarter when Juan Borrego pulled down a 44-yard pass from quarterback Kolson Pua.

El Camino got on the board on a defensive play 2:05 before halftime when CJ Bautista picked up a loose ball on a South City lateral attempt and ran it back nearly 80 yards for the Colts’ first touchdown.

“It was like 3-and-18, so we had to do something,” said South City coach Jay Oca on the lateral attempt. “They had picked us off on one of our deep balls and that play is usually money for us.”

It was the fourth week in a row SSF had given up a touchdown on an offensive fumble or turnover.

The teams exchanged touchdowns in the final 1:13 before the break, with David Miller scoring for South City on a 60-yard pass from Pua just two scrimmage plays after EC’s score, and the Colts’ Armin Webb throwing up a halfback option that receiver Efrain Ramon pulled down for a 21-yard score right before the break.

In the second half, Kamelamela stepped up, gaining the majority of his yards and scoring all four of his touchdowns (on runs of 3, 37, 20, and 46, respectively). Oca said Kamelamela “got stronger as he went on,” but Kamelamela said he just played smarter.

“Throughout the game, I learned what they were doing,” he said. “I saw what they were doing on different plays, reacted to that and did my thing.”

In the third quarter, El Camino briefly got within a touchdown on Jordan Ebalo’s 9-yard TD pass reception and a 2-point conversion (also from Ebalo), but Kamelamela helped extend South City’s lead from there.

Besides Kamelamela’s scores, the Warriors also got a 23-yard field goal from Angel Nevarez in the second half.

“In the first half, a lot of penalties brought us back; We had to do a lot of things to try to get first downs,” Oca said. “Once we settled down, we were able to run our offense and pound the ball, which was our game plan.”

Lua completed five of 13 passes for 124 yards for South City, which also got 55 yards on 11 carries from running back Peter Lopez and an interception from David Alapati.

El Camino tallied only seven yards rushing, but made some progress through the air. Junior quarterback Heinay Keller completed six of 11 passes for 40 yards, and Webb both made his single pass attempt, but also picked off a South City pass.

Jacobson takes some solace in the fact that the junior varsity won their game 41-7.

“One thing we have going for us is that we’re very junior oriented and our JV team is very talented,” Jacobson said. “They won a big one today, so the future looks bright.”

It will look even brighter next fall, with permanent lights installed at Colts Field. Ground-breaking for the lights’ installation is scheduled for April.

Click arrows below to scroll through a slideshow with photos from the game:

El Camino learns lessons, but South City keeps Bell, 36-0

South City's Eric Kamelamela is brought down on a run during the first half of the 2014 Bell Game. Photo by John Baker.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO -- If sports are a microcosm of life, the El Camino High football team did a lot of living this fall.

The Colts lost a head coach due to criminal allegations, program members were alleged to have participated in racially based hazing (a charge those affiliated with the program dispute), the team was beset by injuries, and -- to top it off -- rival South San Francisco High shut out El Camino, 36-0, in Saturday’s Bell Game.

But if you ask Eric Jacobson, who took over the program in the fourth week of the season, the adversity the Colts faced this season will make them better men in the long run.

“They learned a lot about life this year … these guys were reading stuff in the paper that was not true. It kind of gave us a black eye, but I really think it made us stronger,” Jacobson said. “The guys should really be commended for the effort they made.”

On Saturday, however, it was the Warriors whose effort paid off the most. The tone was set early. El Camino went three-and-out on its first possession, then South City started its drive on its own 46 yard line. On his team’s second play, Eric Kamelamela took a handoff and busted out a 49-yard run up the right sideline for a score.

“I was just doing it for my team; it was the Bell Game,” Kamelamela said. “I think it set the mood for the rest of the game.”

The Colts again went out on downs on their next possession, in fact El Camino punted five times in the first half to just once for South City. The Warriors took advantage and showed a little trickery, scoring on a 40-yard running back option pass from Tommy Miller to Jose Galban with 2:48 left in the first quarter.

“The (South City) quarterback doesn’t throw the ball very often -- it’s the backs and the other people,” Jacobson said. “That’s why those plays are so good; you’re focusing on the running back so much.”

Galban said the play helped buoy his team

“It feels great to win,” Galban said. “We executed today and played very well -- that’s what we were planning to do all season.”

South City (4-6) got two more rushing touchdowns in the second quarter, one from Cesar Torres (two yards) and the other from Kamelamela (eight yards). The Warriors took a 29-0 lead into halftime, having outgained the Colts 248-24 in yardage at the break.

El Camino (3-7) stepped up better in the second half, with Jaqari Taylor and CJ David pulling down interceptions. But South San Francisco also put up an effective defense, with Galban pulling down an interception just in front of the goal line late in the third quarter to kill EC's best scoring chance.

South City's Terrell Townsend knocks down a pass from EC's Andrew Pierotti late in the first half. Photo by John Baker.

After South City’s Mauricio Mabutas ran the ball in 16 yards for a touchdown with 8:21 left in the game, making the score 36-0 after the extra point, the contest transitioned to a running clock, and the Warriors’ victory came quickly.

Kamelamela, just a junior, led all rushers with 21 carries for exactly 200 yards. Teammate Alex Benevides had 67 yards on 11 carries. Terrell Townsend had two sacks defensively for the Warriors. El Camino’s longest play of the day was a 33-yard pass from quarterback Andrew Pierotti to Anthony Graham.

Jacobson, who started his second stint as the Colts’ head coach midway through this season, hopes to return next season to give the team stability.

“I plan on being back,” he said. “I’ve been here a lot of years and I want to be here.”

It was South City’s 11th straight Bell Game victory and 43rd overall in the series.

Below, a slideshow from the 2014 Bell Game:


Like this story? I also covered the Bell Game in 2013 (click here), 2011 (click here) and 2010 (click here).

Dons shut out Colts, 19-0

El Camino receiver Andres Abarca (in red) is swamped by Aragon defenders as he tries to make a catch late in the game on Sept. 13, 2014. Photo by John Baker.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — A close game got away from El Camino High on Saturday, as Aragon took advantage of a couple trick plays and a stifling secondary to beat the Colts 19-0 on El Camino’s gridiron.

El Camino (1-1) just couldn’t get much going. Its pass-heavy offense, which performed well the week before in a victory at Washington, wasn’t enough on Saturday. Quarterback Andrew Pierotti completed nine of 25 passes for 108 yards, for an El Camino team that was only able to manage 122 yards of net offense, but was intercepted four times.

“A couple of them were great plays (by Aragon defenders),” said El Camino coach Mark Turner, “and a couple of them were bad throws.”

Aragon coach Steve Sell said his secondary is all second-year starters.

“Those guys are all great athletes and now they’re experienced,” Sell said. “They take pride in their ‘no-fly zone.’ Our defense kept us in the game because we were not very good offensively in the first half.”

Aragon (2-0) got on the board with 6:37 left in the second quarter, when halfback Devin Grant took a handoff, then threw a pass as the El Camino secondary rushed in after him to Tyee Stokman, who scrambled 60 yards up the right side to make it 6-0.

“We played them last year, and their safeties crashed on the outside,” said Aragon coach Steve Sell. “We tried to take advantage to how hard they react. We needed something; we were kind of desperate.”

That score held up to halftime. It could have been worse for the Colts, who were bolstered by two key first-half defensive plays — a sack by Elton Vargas that led to a turnover on downs and a big fumble recovery by EC's Gabe DeOlivera right before the break to stop an Aragon drive. Additionally, the Dons were penalized eight times for 90 yards, making it difficult for them to get much momentum.

A second throw from a running back set up a five-yard Grant touchdown run four minutes into the second half. Like the big play in the first half, the Dons took advantage as the Colts’ secondary rushed the ball carrier.

“When guys get antsy they want to be making a play,” Turner said. “Sometimes they make a play that’s not supposed to be their play.”

(Story continues below picture.)

Devin Grant scores in the third quarter for Aragon.Photo by John Baker.

Grant led all rushers with 82 yards on 11 carries. Andres Abarca was El Camino’s leading receiver with three catches for 43 yards.

Grant also took in a 19-yard touchdown with just under a minute left in the third quarter. El Camino got into the Aragon red zone in the game’s final minutes, but could not cross the goal line.

Both high schools in South San Francisco are still winless at home on their new Measure J-funded artificial turf fields. Visiting South San Francisco High beat El Camino, 29-28, in the Colts’ field debut on Nov. 16. Visiting Capuchino beat South City, 14-7, in the first game at the Warriors’ new digs on Friday night. El Camino hosts Lincoln High of San Francisco next Saturday at 2 p.m. in an effort to beat the dry spell.

Baseball back in Montréal; for two nights at least

Baseball, right back where it should be: Montréal.

Almost ten years ago, on Sept. 29, 2004, I was at the last Major League Baseball game in Montréal.

Or so I thought.

Tonight, the Toronto Blue Jays hosted the New York Mets for the first of two spring training games at Olympic Stadium, and the atmosphere was electric. The negativity that seemed to permeate media coverage of the Expos during their last days in the city was gone.

Instead, there was jealousy...

Envious of the baseball scribes in Montreal tonight. What a great city. Hope baseball returns there.
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) March 29, 2014

and appreciation of what the crowd meant ...

Attendance in Montreal tonight: 46,121. Speaks for itself.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 29, 2014

(A crowd of nearly 50,000 is expected on Saturday.)

Even casual baseball fans in Montreal's traditional rival of Toronto were happy with tonight's outcome:

Miss watching baseball at the Big O. But even more, I miss watching the Expos play there. #BringBackTheMontrealExpos
— Phil Kane (@philistweeting) March 29, 2014

The atmosphere was compared to a playoff game.

Jays manager John Gibbons praised the "tremendous atmosphere" tonight, saying, "I did hear a lot of cheering for the Expos."
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 29, 2014

It was a far cry from when I was in Montréal for the last Expos game there. I had been an Expos fan for years, and an online advocate for their staying in Montréal. That day was an emotional experience, probably the last time I cried that was not connected to a relative's death. If anyone who doubted that Montréal could be a baseball city had been there, they would've changed their minds after seeing the heartfelt love the city showed their team that day.

Here's a short slideshow with some pictures I took before, during and after that final game:

How I listen to local announcers during the World Series

This gentleman shows the sentiment of many Giants fans regarding Joe Buck.  Source: Facebook.

San Francisco Giants fans love their hometown broadcasters, and with a team containing Jon Miller, Dave Fleming, Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow, who can blame them?

With the Giants in the World Series this week, however, San Francisco fans have had to stomach Fox broadcasters Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as national TV broadcasts bump out local ones. Buck in particular has had to face criticism for his style, including his perceived bias against West Coast teams and for the St. Louis Cardinals (the team for which his father broadcast for decades and the Giants' opponent in the NLCS). Such criticism includes:

Crowd out here in right field has taken exception to a certain Fox Baseball play by play guy chanting "Joe Buck Sucks"
— Jennifer Hammond (@HammerFox2) October 25, 2012

and,

I would rather listen to mating sounds of the humpback whale than listen to Joe Buck narrate this game
— Not Jason Hanson (@TheJasonHanson) October 25, 2012

and,

BELIEVE IT. And go suck it, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. I hate you both. #MLBONFOX
— Karena (@karenaaaho) October 25, 2012

Never fear, because the Giants' regular broadcasting team are on the radio! Alas, because the TV broadcasts need time to encode, go up to the satellite, come back down and be transmitted, the radio feed is a few seconds ahead. Not easy to watch that way. So what to do?

When the Giants made their 2010 World Series run, I came up with the following method and have continued it this season. You do need a DVR and a smartphone with the MLB At Bat app to make it work.

First, turn on the TV, mute it, load the At Bat app and start the audio (right) for the team you wish to hear (yes, you could even listen to the Tigers if you want). You'll notice that the audio (thanks to the encoding and download process) is now about 30 seconds behind the TV broadcast.

Now, use your DVR to pause the video (as seen below) and press play when the radio broadcast over the app starts. This easiest way to do this in my experience is to wait until a player hits the ball and pause the video. When you hear the crack of the bat on the radio broadcast, press play.

You should then be more-or-less in synch. While I have Airplay for my iPhone and stream the audio through my stereo system, probably any speaker system will work. Heck, even a little tinny phone speaker sure beats listening to Fox!

The City's sure supporting the Giants, as I saw downtown last night:

San Francisco City Hall decked out in Giants orange the night of Oct. 23, 2012. Photo: John Baker

My Florida adventure

Holmes Beach, my home for the past week.

As soon as we exited the plane, I knew we were in trouble.

I am typing this blog entry both pool side and beach side, so I guess I don't have much to complain about. But from the moment I got onto the jetway and felt toy the hot blanket of moist air seeping through the seals, I could tell we'd be fighting the humidity -- as bad, or worse, than what I experienced during my last trip to the tropics (Darwin, Australia). And we did, the whole week.

We've spent the last week visiting Florida, mostly in an around the home of my grandparents in the Tampa Bay area. But we also spent some time in the Miami area, St. Petersburgh and Legoland in Central Florida.

We arrived at Fort Lauderdale airport shortly after 6 a.m. and it was already hot, as described above. After an adventure in and around the airport, trying to figure out how to get to our rental car, we finally got on the road. The first stop was Miami Beach, where we watched people watching what Miami Beach is famous for:



We then had breakfast at a beachside café, where we were given complimentary mimosas post-meal. The alcohol did not help our exhausted state after a red eye seated next to a baby. I did hope that we'd run into the crew of Burn Notice while in Miami, but no luck.

While I'm in Miami, wondering if it would be practical to have a mojito with Sam Axe aka Chuck Finley aka Bruce Campbell. #BurnNotice

— John C. Baker (@jcb10) August 7, 2012

Next, after a detour into Hollywood, Fla., for a car sick member of our crew, we got somewhat lost -- to our chagrin in these days of GPS and smart phones. Instead of cutting west onto Alligator Alley, somehow we ended going north, curbing along the north shore of Lake Okeechobee along rural roads. Moreover, Google Maps on my iPhone directed me to take an exit off the Florida Turnpike that did not have a cash toll plaza -- only a Sunpass (similar to Fastrack in the SF Bay Area) lane. Of course, we did not figure that out until already on the exit. So we are expecting a large fine in the mail when we get home.

Upon our arrival, Ian went straight into the pool. A pattern that was repeated later that evening and again and again and again over the next eight days.

My grandfather, Ian, myself and Charlotte during one of our many pool trips.

Most of our week was spent at my grandparents' condo on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico in Holmes Beach. What a condo! Great view of the Gulf out the back window, pool in the back and sufficient air conditioning!



(Update, Nov. 16, 2013: OK, I admit this post won't be updated. Suffice it to say, a fine time was had by all.)

My son writes to Buster Posey

Last year, my son's favorite baseball player -- San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey -- was injured in a horrific home plate collision and missed more than half the season.

This year, Posey is trying to make a comeback, so Ian wrote a letter to encourage him. There's nothing more heartfelt than an earnest letter from a second grader, so here you go:

The text reads:

Dear Buster Posey,

I hope your leg is better.

Besides, how is your wife(?)

On April 15th, I'm going to come in at 9:30 a.m.

From, Ian

P.S. Hope you play well.

(Ian is noting that we will be visiting the ballpark, with other members of South San Francisco Youth Baseball, for a 9:30 meet and greet with some yet-to-be-determined Giants before that day's game with the Pirates.)

I love the kid's idea of small talk! "Besides, how is your wife?" Priceless.

El Camino falls, 71-53 in CCS championship game, but comes away with school pride

El Camino's Anthony Knight tries to drive past Sacred Heart Cathedral's Herman Pratt in the first quarter of the CIF-Central Coast Section Division III championship game Saturday at Santa Clara University. Photo by John Baker.

From CCS Chamipionship game

After opening its doors in 1961, it took 51 years for El Camino High School to earn its first league championship and get to its first Central Coast Section boys basketball championship game. After Saturday, the Colts are raring to get right back next season.

Despite being significant underdogs to top-seeded Sacred Heart Cathedral of San Francisco, who play in the powerful West Catholic Athletic League, El Camino came into Saturday night's Central Coast Section Division III championship game with high hopes.

Those hopes were dashed, as the Irish (ranked 14th in the state by Maxpreps.com) took advantage of a sluggish El Camino second quarter to win the championship, 71-53, at Santa Clara University.

Coach Archie Junio (right), who took over the program again this season after coaching the Colts in the early 2000s, will get serious consideration for CCS basketball coach of the year after leading El Camino -- which had never gotten past the quarterfinals -- to a championship game and state playoff berth.

"It was the (SHC) guards shooting lights out," Junio said. "We were banking on them missing some shots, but they weren't missing many shots, especially from the outside."

The Colts were handicapped by playing without starting point guard Elijah White, who was suspended for unrevealed reasons. El Camino could have used his nearly 16 points per game average and floor leadership.

"We didn't have the full force of our arsenal," Junio said. "And even with Elijah, who knows? We needed to be clicking on all cylinders and we weren't -- especially defensively."

Sacred Heart Cathedral coach Darrell Barbour, who had faced a weaker El Camino many times when he coached Woodside, said the El Camino players will always remember this year, regardless of the final result. Barbour should know, as his Irish have made the finals five straight years.

"It never gets old, it can't," he said. "It's just a blessing for these kids to have this experience. I tell them all the time to be humble about everything that happens to us because not every high school kid gets this opportunity."

Indeed it was a special year for El Camino's sports programs.

"We won our league in football, we won our league in basketball," Junio said. "It was just overall a great year thus far for the entire school and the population."

Colts football coach Mark Turner, who also assists Junio on the basketball squad, says more will come for El Camino.

"As far as I'm concerned, we've always been the best school in the city of South San Francisco," Turner said. "We haven't been the winning-ist program, but we're building. It's an everyday process."

For Sacred Heart, the win was the school's third CCS championship just on Saturday, as the Irish won titles in boys soccer and girls basketball earlier.

El Camino still has at least one more game in the State basketball tournament. Pairings will be released late Sunday on the California Interscholastic Federation's website.

Best's best retort to a ref

Last night I covered the annual induction ceremony of the Pacifica Sports Hall of Fame for the Pacifica Tribune, where one of the inductees was retired NASL referee Klaus Kretschmer.

Kretschmer, a German immigrant and a Pacifica resident for almost five decades, related stories of his old refereeing days, including an encounter with soccer legend George Best (below). Kretschmer said the fiery Best, who like many aging European stars of the 1970s (e.g. Pelé*) was earning a past-his-prime paycheck in America, had a verbal issue.

George Best as a San Jose Earthquake.

“George Best had a problem with the English language — all he knew were the cuss words,” Kretschmer joked.

Best, then with a previous incarnation of the San Jose Earthquakes, had been previously carded by Kretschmer, who was about to book him again.

A cursing Best came running up to Kretschmer, and the referee said he’d pretend he didn’t hear Best’s verbal assault.

“You’re not just blind, you’re deaf too!” was Best’s reply.

* Or David Beckham and Thierry Henry these days.

Henry Holmes died in a horse race

Henry W.V. Holmes' tombstone in Adelaide's West Terrace Cemetery
Open picture in new window to enlarge.

Occasionally, I have the macabre hobby of walking through cemeteries (developed when I had to take shortcuts through Colma). I look to look at the tombstones and wonder a bit about peoples' lives. I think it's nice to be remembered long after you're gone.

When I was in Australia a while back, I disembarked from the train at Adelaide's Keswick Station for a brief tour about town. Next to the train station is the opulent West Terrace Cemetery.

While there, I saw this particular tombstone, and I don't know what struck me more: That Henry Holmes died at about the same age as I am, that he died riding in a local horse race (a hurdle race, at that), that his tombstone was in danger of falling over, or that his wife's name appears to be misspelled. (Update, per comments: the name was spelled correctly, but the metal letters fell off.)

(On the side of the tombstone is even something more somber: the birth and death dates of two Holmes children who died in infancy. What a tragic family.)

But Henry's ghost can take solace in the fact that he's remembered a century later -- his marker is at the front of the cemetery and can be seen easily from the nearby sidewalk.

No word on Kanmantoo's fate.

Bell Game 2011 - SSF beats El Camino eighth straight time, 34-9

South City cheerleader Byanka Avalos is thrown into the air by teammates in an effort to excite the crowd before the Bell Game at South San Francisco High on Nov. 12, 2011.

Even in these days of declining interest in high school sports, there's usually a once-a-year occasion when a town rallies behind its high school teams.

In South San Francisco, that day is usually the second weekend in November, when the city's two high schools, South San Francisco High and El Camino High, face off in their annual Bell Game. While South City has typically dominated the match, winning 40 of 49 contests, it's always a day when the city rallies around its football like a small Texas oil town.

Last year, South City rallied in the final seconds to win 29-22. This year (in a game I covered for the San Mateo Times), after a close first half, the Warriors dominated in the second half to win 34-9.

Below is a slideshow I made covering the atmosphere of the local contest:

An instant classic -- 2011 World Series Game 6

Tonight's Game 6 of the World Series at first looked like it would be a forgettable one: a sloppy game with multiple errors, a letdown for the National League. Instead, by the end of the night it turned into one of the all-time classic baseball games.

Four hours and 33 minutes is a long time for a baseball game, but the tension, the back-and-forth reversals and the thrill of seeing a "goat" redeem himself Thursday night made every moment exciting.

The Texas Rangers would have won the series with a victory Thursday, and if you weren't watching, the St. Louis Cardinals not once, but twice, were down to their last strike.

In the bottom of the ninth, David Freese (right) -- who had a committed a costly error earlier which the Rangers took advantage of to take the lead -- tripled to score two and tie the game. An inning later, Texas took the lead again in the top of the 10th and got one strike away from victory in the bottom of the frame, but Lance Berkman drove in the tying run. An inning after that, Freese struck again with a walkoff home run to win the game for the Cardinals and force a seventh game on Friday.

Tonight's game joined a number of famous World Series Game 6s: 1975 (Fisk's blast at Fenway off the foul pole), 1986 (Bill Buckner's error), 1993 (Joe Carter's walk-off to win the series) and 2002 (the Angels rally to beat the Giants). Of course, none of those games had Twitter through which far-off fans could commiserate. To wit:

As Texas pulled ahead and the game went into the ninth, I posted the following:

@jcb10
John C. Baker Dang, what an entertaining baseball game this has been. #WorldSeries#Postseason
Oct 28 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

(Times and dates shown on these Tweets are GMT.)

A few moments later, the Cards were down to their last strike when Freese tripled to right just past the reach of outfielder Nelson Cruz, scoring two to tie the game and make up for an earlier error. That hit brought the following reactions online:

@nicko229
Nick Ostiller When Freese made that error earlier, I thought "what if he redeems himself later with a walk-off homer?" Here we are
Oct 28 via UberSocial for BlackBerryFavoriteRetweetReply

@jeremybalan
Jeremy Balan Holy hell
Oct 28 via TweetDeckFavoriteRetweetReply

@mlb514
Dave Kaufman best fucking sport on the planet.
Oct 28 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

Heck, even I got a little excited:

@jcb10
John C. Baker Man, I'm gonna retweet myself here, with emphasis: DAMN, what an entertaining baseball game this has been! #WorldSeries#Postseason
Oct 28 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

Outspoken Florida Marlins Manager Ozzie Guillen and Braves Pitcher Peter Moylan (writing from his native Australia) were also impressed:

@OzzieGuillen
Ozzie Guillen Wuaoooooo crazy game
Oct 28 via txtFavoriteRetweetReply

@PeterMoylan
Peter Moylan What a game, what a series!
Oct 28 via Tweetbot for iPhoneFavoriteRetweetReply

The game now tied, it went into the tenth. Reining AL MVP Josh Hamilton then blasted a monster shot into the bleachers to once again put the Rangers on the brink of their first world title:

@EncoreBaseball
Encore Baseball Mtl 1er hr des Séries d,après-saison de Hamilton et bon pour 2 points et contre Motte! Ah la la, Texas sont trop dûs, 9-7 Texas en 10e
Oct 28 via FacebookFavoriteRetweetReply

@mlb514
Dave Kaufman WOW
Oct 28 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

Cardinals fans looked forlorn, with good reason. They had the bottom of the lineup coming up, including the pitcher with no pinch hitters left on the bench:

@snapwilson
Snap Wilson I hate baseball. Not only does it break your heart, it takes five hours to do it.
Oct 28 via twiccaFavoriteRetweetReply

@JPosnanski
Joe Posnanski If Cardinals find a way to tie game with the hitters they've got coming up, Spielberg should be filming.
Oct 28 via Twitter for iPhoneFavoriteRetweetReply

But, whaddya know? Rally time! St. Louis gets two runs with a ground out and -- after a fan-infuriating intentional walk to superstar Albert Pujols -- an RBI single to right from Lance Berkman:

@jimramsey
Jim Ramsey I haven't followed the Rangers but I find it hard to believe that Darren Oliver was the best option to get the last 3 outs to win the WS
Oct 28 via Twitter for iPhoneFavoriteRetweetReply

People saw this game was becoming a classic:

@RattoCSN
Ray Ratto All fans of other sports will now bow down before their intergalactic overlord
Oct 28 via TweetDeckFavoriteRetweetReply

Well, most people did:

@karenaaaho
Karena WHAT'S HAPPENING?! Do I need to be watching this World Series?!
Oct 28 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

As the game moved past midnight (Eastern Time), this became a game not to go to bed during -- even if you start work at 4 a.m.:

@sal_castaneda
Sal Castaneda Looks like KTVU gets a slightly tired Sal Castaneda tomorrow.
Oct 28 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

@OzzieGuillen
Ozzie Guillen Told u before we were excited now u see why
Oct 28 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

Of course, politics gets into everything:

@RobertMackey
Robert Mackey 9-9, someone alert Herman Cain
Oct 28 via Twitter for iPhoneFavoriteRetweetReply

Then Freese strikes again ... home run to straightaway center and we're off to game 7! The reaction, by now, is predictable:

@jeremybalan
Jeremy Balan Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Oct 28 via TweetDeckFavoriteRetweetReply

@mlb514
Dave Kaufman Amazing! Game 7 here we go!
Oct 28 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

Freese's story will be the headlines tomorrow, if Twitter's any indication:

@nicko229
Nick Ostiller The night of Freese! From goat to redemption to hero. Wow #WorldSeries
Oct 28 via UberSocial for BlackBerryFavoriteRetweetReply

Personally, I had to give a shout out to the sports editor at Santa Clara University's student newspaper. He called it:

@jcb10
John C. Baker Posted 47 mins before it happened MT @nicko229 Freese made that error, I thought "what if he redeems himself later with a walk-off homer?"
Oct 28 via webFavoriteRetweetReply

Dang that rain that postponed game six until tonight instead of last night. Now Game 7 will be Friday night, when I have to cover a football game for the San Mateo Times. At least I'm not the only one who'll miss out:

@jeremybalan
Jeremy Balan As much as I love covering HS football... I wish I had tomorrow night off...
Oct 28 via TweetDeckFavoriteRetweetReply

Well, time to DVR the game, hope the PA announcer at Terra Nova High says nothing and keep the radio off on my way home!

(Go Cards!)