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:

What happened to media coverage of San Francisco prep sports?

Is the lack of preps coverage related to the lack of fans,
or is the lack of fans related to the lack of coverage?

As usual during the last 20 or so Septembers, I've been covering high school football for local newspapers the last couple weekends. This afternoon, I covered El Camino High's visit to Lincoln High, where the photo above was taken.

There once was a time were the San Francisco High School Championship would bring 50,000 people to Kezar Stadium, but there were probably as many people on the field Saturday as in the stands. While an estimated 500,000 people attended high school sporting events in 2009-2010, attendance is no doubt well down from its peak era.

Of course, it ultimately comes down to a waning interest in both participation and outside interest in high school sports due to the availability of other activities (e.g., video games and the freakin' Internet). One factor might be the relative lack of media coverage at "prep" sports today. I was the only person reporting today's game for a newspaper. A decade ago, the same game might have brought at least four print media reporters and a crew from a TV show such as "High School Sports Focus." Is the lack of media coverage of high school sports a symptom or a cause of low attendance?

Locally, I trace a lot of the decline in local media coverage to Hearst's acquisition of the Chronicle about 10 years back. Then, as now, the Chronicle had very little high school sports coverage. But the Hearst-owned Examiner had healthy preps coverage and did fairly well. So when the Examiner staff took over the Chronicle, one might have thought that Hearst would bring its coverage over there. Not the case. Prep coverage in the Chronicle is virtually nonexistent.

The Fang family, which owned the thrice-weekly Independent, which had a decent local sports section, took over the Examiner, and covered local sports well (at least until it came under Anschutz ownership). Of course, an eventual casualty of Fang ownership of the Examiner was the very existence of the Independent (the Fangs apparently couldn't afford to keep two papers going). So, over time, the city of San Francisco was left with minimal high school sports coverage.

But new technology is giving prep sports coverage hope. While the local sports pages of local papers like The San Mateo County Times has shrunken precipitously, other media have stepped in to take up some of the slack. The only other reporter at the game was from SanFranPreps.com, a local site started by a San Francisco State University graduate to cover local sports. In this, its second year, SanFranPreps has gotten successful enough it can start paying its writers, or so its editor told me last week. Over the past five years or so, MaxPreps.com has revolutionized the coverage and visibility of high school sports. Even the somewhat-maligned Patch.com from AOL has somewhat helped improve local sports coverage.

So, while the crowds are not at the games anymore, and the "traditional" media has almost abandoned prep coverage (and limited local coverage as a whole), new media offers a ray of hope -- albeit a slight one.

South City keeps Bell, 29-22

I covered the annual Bell Game between nearby South San Francisco and El Camino highs this afternoon. I see about 15-20 games per year, and this was the best game I've seen in a long time. A combination of a tight game, a huge, enthusiastic crowd on both sidelines and some questionable officiating and coaching made this one memorable. I'm reprinting my story here because I knew the Times is going to going to butcher it for space. Hey, I gotta have my clips somewhere!

(The Times does have the story online with minimal cuts. I'll have to see what makes the actual paper on Sunday.)


SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — Despite the tears in his eyes, El Camino coach Mark Turner held his thumb and forefinger just a smidgen apart and smiled.

“One inch,” Turner said. “For years, over the history of people playing sports, people have put their two fingers together and said they were ‘this close’ to winning. Usually it doesn’t mean they were that close to winning … but we were literally an inch away from winning.”

Turner was referring to a play that happened with 52 seconds left in Saturday afternoon’s 48th Bell Game between El Camino and host South San Francisco. The Warriors converted a critical 4th and 2, with the tip of the ball just touching the marker pole on the ensuing measurement, then scored on a 16-yard pass from Brad Los to sophomore Robert Johnson to secure a 29-22 win after a two-point conversion on the next play.

With the win, South City (5-4) retains the Bell and has won 39 of the contests between the two South San Francisco schools. El Camino just missed out on its 10th win in the series.

The rivalry inspired the game situation Saturday, coaches admitted. For example, take the case of the Warriors trying to make the critical fourth-down play instead of attempting about a 35-yard field goal. (Right: The referees award the first down to South City High as El Camino players, in red, look on.)

“Do we make that play against Menlo School? No,” said South City coach Frank Moro. “Maybe that little extra shot of adrenaline playing for a Bell in front of a big crowd (did it).”

But to even see how the Warriors got in a position for the winning score, one must regress to just after the Colts scored a go-ahead touchdown to lead 22-21 with just 2:42 left. Turner had El Camino line up for an onside kick, but South City recovered on their own 49 to set up the final drive, in which good starting position proved critical.

“If you don’t get the ball on the 50, maybe you don’t feel you have a chance and you start sputtering,” Moro said. “(The Warriors) didn’t give up. It was almost like a gift.”

Turner argued that South City had brought back the ball nearly to midfield on almost every kickoff anyway, and thought that by kicking it short some Colts player might get lucky.

“Our kickoff coverage team this year has been a little scary,” Turner said. “I know it’s something a lot of people are going to question in hindsight, but hindsight is 20-20.”

El Camino (5-5) had taken a 14-13 lead into halftime after pair of touchdown passes from Omar Kharrob to Justin Eclavea and Tyler Rios, for 16 and 5 yards, respectively. South San Francisco (5-4) had gotten its first half scores on a 59-yard run up the right from Falah Salem and JJ Vaioli’s eight-yard run.

After a scoreless third quarter, the Warriors broke through with 8:36 left in the game when Salem capped a 10-play, 94-yard drive by running the ball in two yards, then also brought in the two-point conversion to give South City a 21-14 lead.

El Camino then ate up the clock with a 13-play drive which culminated with Tajah Childs running a route up the right for a five-yard scoring reception with made it 21-20. Although Childs made the catch, the referees ruled he was interfered with and charged South City with a half-the-distance penalty on the PAT. With only four feet to go to the goal line, Turner played for the win and Nathan Huey barely made it in for a two-point conversion and a 22-21 El Camino lead with 2:42 left.

Salem led all rushers with 178 yards on 25 carries. DJ Peluso led the Colts with 104 yards on 17 carries, while Huey’s 26 rushes led to 79 total yards.

“We made a great defensive play and the tip of the ball met the pole. Maybe there was a lot of extra cushioning on the pole, but we were less than an inch from winning the game,” Turner said.

“I told the seniors to remember this date, Nov. 13, 2010. They’re going to remember it, but they’re going to remember it by that one inch.”

El Camino (5-5) 7 7 0 8 — 22
South San Francisco (5-4) 7 6 0 16 — 29

EC-Eclavea 16 pass from Kharrob (Reinke kick)
SSF-Salem 59 run (Torres kick)
SSF-Vaioli 8 run (kick failed)
EC-Rios 5 pass from Kharrob (Reinke kick)
SSF-Salem 2 run (Salem run)
EC-Childs 5 pass from Kharrob (Huey run)
SSF-Johnson 16 pass from Los (Bildhauer pass from Los)

EC SSF
Yards rushing 207 206
Yards passing 50 103
Total net yards 257 309
Turnovers 2 2
Fumbles 1 0
Fumbles lost 1 0

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
EL CAMINO (att-yards) — Peluso 17-104, Huey 26-79, Kharrob 7-16, Samson 1-6, Carr 1-1, Childs 1-1.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — Salem 25-178, Los 3-15, Vaioli 2-14, Johnson 1-3, Bildhauer 1-(minus 2), Tufono 1-(minus 2).

INDIVIDUAL PASSING
EL CAMINO (com-att-yds-int) — Kharrob 7-18-50-1.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — Los 8-17-103-2.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
EL CAMINO (rec-yds) — Eclavea 2-28, Rios 2-15, Childs 1-5, Peluso 1-2, Francesconi 1-0.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — Vaioli 3-29, Bildhauer 2-26, Salem 1-18, Johnson 1-16, Moro 1-7.

SamTrans public hearing set for ... sometime

The San Mateo County Transit District's board of directors did as expected on Wednesday and scheduled a public hearing on potentially significant service cuts.

I use the term "scheduled" loosely, as the directors set the public hearing for some vague, unidentified time in "late July or early August."

(Disclaimer: The loose schedule is distressing to me. I am a member of SamTrans' "Citizen's Advisory Committee," which offers its input to the board regarding transportation matters but wields no actual power. We have no meeting scheduled for July and our August meeting is on Aug. 5. The CAC would like to have a well-thought-out opinion for the board, but right now it's looking like the board might have the hearing before our meeting.)

As I wrote last week, SamTrans is faced with a budget deficit of about $30 million and Chief Operating Officer Chuck Harvey is exploring services cuts up to 15 percent to close the gap.

A public hearing is legally required before any cuts are put in place, and SamTrans also hopes to hold four community meetings in different areas of the County before the directors vote on a proposal, probably at their September meeting.

Harvey presented the directors with a couple different proposals Wednesday. Outlining what he expected with a 7.5-percent cut, Harvey said: Lines MX, NX, PX/RX and 342 would be eliminated; Lines KX and 397 would be reduced to 60 minute headways in off-peak and weekend hours; and Lines 292, 390 and 391 would end service at 10 p.m. on weekends.

Under a 15-percent reduction, all of the above would occur, plus: Lines 141, 270, 280 and 295 would be eliminated; Line 391 would no longer provide service to San Francisco; and Lines 292, 390 and 391 would end service at 10 p.m. seven days a week.

"It seems to me that 7.5 percent is a minimum -- I hope 15 percent is an absolute maximum," said director, and Redwood City Councilmember Jim Hartnett. "I would suggest (staff) not be hesitant to come up with a different percentage in-between. (But) 7.5 percent is not going to get us where we need to go."

SamTrans CEO Mike Scanlon told the directors that SamTrans actually would rather add services, especially in the face of what he called "the most-enlightened federal policy in years." Most federal transit funds, however, are being distributed for capital projects rather than operational costs.

"We don't want to leave our most vulnerable (patrons) in a bad situation while we're supposed to be an answer in a sustainable society," Scanlon said. Paraphrasing a proverb, he added, "We're definitely going through Hell right now, but we're going through it. I hope the other side is not far away."

Years of the now-ended practice of subsidizing BART operations in San Mateo County continue to plague SamTrans financially, Scanlon added, and ultimately the agency might "need to get out of the Caltrain business" in order to properly run the bus system.

According to SamTrans Chief Financial Officer Gigi Harrington, SamTrans is providing $16.5 million for Caltrain operations this year, compared to Santa Clara VTA's $16.3 million and San Francisco Muni's $7.2 million.

One more sign of the distressing situation local newspapers find themselves in: once upon a time, our three local dailies would have pounced on this important story. Yet staffing cuts (the San Mateo County Times once had a dedicated transporation beat reporter) have taken their toll -- not one word of this proposal has made it into the Times, San Mateo Daily Journal or the Daily News.

Stacks of newspapers

Yeah, we're a little behind in our reading.

Much has been written about a perceived death knell of daily newspapers. The Rocky Mountain News recently shut down. The Christian Science Monitor will cease its daily edition in favor of web publishing. The Detroit Free Press will now deliver to homes only three days per week. The San Francisco Chronicle's corporate bosses recently threatened closure if it didn't receive union givebacks.

On a personal level, I've certainly gotten fewer assignments from newspapers recently. This was the first year in a decade where I wasn't asked to cover any basketball playoff games, for example. (I did, however, get a freelance assignment for the Pacifica Tribune a couple weeks ago.) God knows that another full-time staff position with a newspaper is probably out of the question in these economic times, despite a journalism degree and good experience.

But there is at least a glimmer of hope for one local paper. The San Mateo County Times (professional ethics require that I disclose here that I get -- or at least USED to get -- a lot of freelance work from said publication) has picked up subscribers. Or at least one.

A young man came to the door recently selling the paper "to earn money for a trip." Apparently he had a good sales pitch, as Claire bought an annual subscription -- and for twenty bucks for a year, why not? The only problem with getting a daily newspaper subscription? It comes every day.

For the same reason that newspapers have seen their subscription rates plummet, many of those papers lay unopened, unfolded on our living room floor (above). Both Claire and I get the majority of our news online, so rarely is there a need to open a physical newspaper anymore. In fact, I am a daily reader of the San Mateo County Times' own website. I feel bad for admitting this waste of dead trees, but we rarely open our subscription unless there's a story I've written (two-three times in the month we've gotten the paper), to have something to read on my morning commute or to pilfer coupons.

I find our situation ironic, because I believe the only survivors of the foreseen-by-some newspaper collapse may be smaller local dailies. Local businesses will always seek places to advertise, and no doubt truly local, suburban news will need an outlet when it is ignored by the big-city media (whatever form it may survive in). I want to know why my library's hours are being reduced, where that fire truck was going last night and whether educational programs at my local school are being cut just as much as I want to know about the war in Afghanistan. So, probably, would most residents.

Economically, I don't think I would inclined to pay $20 for an annual subscription to a local paper online. But give me the actual, physical product that I might read now and then for the same price? Sure. Conversely, I might be willing to pay $20 for an annual subscription to SFGate.com, the SF Chronicle's online hub, but wouldn't buy a paper subscription. If you asked me why, it'd be hard to put it into words.

I guess it would come down to whether I'd feel guiltier having stacks of the San Francisco Chronicle or the San Mateo Times being recycled.

Hoop (game delays Ian's sleepy) Dreams

Ian likes cheerleaders, like every other red-blooded American boy.

On Friday night we had a bit of a child care issue. Claire had a book club meeting (they read John Patrick Shaley's play "Doubt") while I had to cover a game for the San Mateo County Times. Figuring the boy needed to be exposed to some testosterone, I took him to the basketball game at nearby El Camino High School.

Ian's often a little bit wary around crowds and since El Camino was playing cross-town rival South San Francisco High, the place was packed, with the noise spilling out in the parking lot. I thought there'd be a problem.

But no, there was plenty of action, an iPhone and cheerleaders (which Ian enjoyed watching dance) to keep him interested. He even got a kick out of talking to the players after the game during my interviews (we went to a Giants game once and Ian was disappointed we couldn't talk to the players afterward as we do after a game I cover). Ian had fun, although the boy was exhausted and fell asleep within minutes upon getting home.

The story I wrote for the Times is reprinted below, although the editor cut a lot from the end for space reasons (and trimmed my lede, which compared the atmosphere to such epic inter-city derbies as White Sox/Cubs and Liverpool/Everton).

El Camino tops South City in boys basketball rivalry contest
By John Baker
San Mateo County Times correspondent

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO — Like many good rivalries, El Camino and South San Francisco high schools bring out the crowds and the best in the teams playing.

Friday night's boys basketball matchup at El Camino was no exception. The gym was packed, the noise reverberated out into the parking lot and the teams played at their best.

Or at least one of them did.

Rising power El Camino, buoyed by a raucous cheering section, put on a defensive masterpiece, holding its rival to just three points in the first quarter en route to a 57-31 Peninsula Athletic League North Division win.

"Our student section was fantastic, the stands were packed, it was a great high school basketball atmosphere," Colts coach Anthony Khoo said. "I was proud to see that happen in South San Francisco, which isn't necessarily known as being a hotbed for basketball. It's probably the best, least-known rivalry."

The pace was set early as the visiting Warriors made just 1 of 12 first-quarter shots thanks mainly to a Colts defense that almost completely shut down passing lanes and limited shots from the paint. In total, the Warriors made barely a quarter of their shots Friday.

"We're not going to beat anybody shooting 28 percent, especially a good team like El Camino," South City coach Jorge Chevez said. "We're not a big team, we depend on getting a few shots here and there. When we don't knock them down, we can defend all we want, but it's not going to be our night."

El Camino (15-5, 4-0 PAL North) kept up the pressure and took a 29-10 lead into the halftime break.

"We didn't worry about the offense, just the defense," El Camino guard Jorsen Baysac said. "We let the defense pull us along; that's El Camino basketball."

South City (9-9, 2-2) readjusted its game in the second half, scoring better and finding a few more shots. But the Colts turned up their own offense, driving toward the basket, scoring 16 points in the paint.

"As a program we're kind of growing and getting into some uncharted territory," Khoo said. "We're trying to mimic patterns in successful public school programs like Burlingame and (Menlo-Atherton). They've really focused on defense. We're trying to take a page out of their success story."

Anthony Smith led the El Camino run with a game-high 17 points.

Friday night lights, indoor version.

Little stinkers

Stinker No. 1:


Ian at last week's Burlingame/Menlo-Atherton tennis match, which I covered for the San Mateo Times. The Burlingame tennis coach actually told me something along the lines of "I didn't discover watching girls playing tennis until I was in my twenties."

Stinker No. 2:
I finally had my first blowout tonight, as El Camino beat Jefferson, 30-8, on a foggy Daly City field. The fog was probably the only familiar thing, as the Jefferson field has been completely renovated. In a previous post I decried the new artifical turf at Terra Nova*, but this was a field that really needed it.

Jefferson High -- the closest thing to an inner city high school one will find in San Mateo County -- opened in 1922 and it seemed like it hadn't been tended to since. The old field was usually muddy, bare and poorly marked. The "press box" was a four-feet by six-feet shack and what passed for a track was a concrete-hard surface covered with blowing dust. But the new field -- the whole stadium, in fact -- looks great.

While it's still under construction, the renovated stadium has already brought a new energy to the school, new spirit to the fans and even the lights (donated by alumnus John Madden) seem a lot brighter than they once were. Kudos to the Jefferson High School District and school bond voters. While educational priorities will always be debated, this field and track will help keep thousands of Daly City youths healthy and greatly benefit the community as a whole.

* Four weeks into the season, I have yet to see a game on real grass this year and have another game on turf (Menlo School vs. Lowell at Woodside High) on Saturday night.

It's all over but the equinox

It's still blazing hot, the days are still much longer than the nights and Fall technically doesn't start until Sept. 22, but summer's over for me.

Technically in the Bay Area (at least the north Peninsula), you can tell it's the end of summer when the weather actually begins to get warm. But for me, the traditional end of summer is the start of the high school football season. Last night, I covered my first game of the season for the San Mateo Times.

It was actually a decent kickoff for the gridiron season. Terra Nova scored a touchdown in the last 65 seconds to beat visiting Burlingame, 15-10. You can read my story online. (As an aside, whenever I have a game at Terra Nova, I have a ritual of eating my pre-game meal at the world's most awesome Taco Bell, literally built on stilts above the beach in Pacifica, near Ian's school).



The only disappointing thing was the new field at Terra Nova. There was a beautiful Field Turf carpet, but I think Terra Nova was one of the few fields around here that didn't need one. Unlike the ratty fields at, say, our local high school (which shall remain nameless), Terra Nova's had a well-drained, lush field of green grass -- which is what the game should be played on.

Sometimes I get a tad depressed that I'm again doing the same primary job (security) that I had 13 years ago, despite getting a pair of bachelor's degrees. I don't, however, have a problem writing about high school football year after year after year. Covering football is a tradition, one I've had every fall since 1992 (except 1996, 1998 and 1999 and not counting spectator attendances in 1987-1991 and 1995). The weird thing? I don't even really like football all that much -- at least above the high school level. But covering football takes me back to my (relatively) youthful days, when I thought I was either going to be the world's most dashing sports writer or foreign correspondent.

Or maybe walking the sidelines with high schoolers every Friday night just helps me forget that I'll be 40 in three years.