Three-And-Out

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This weekwill feel more like futbol, than football. On Friday, one game ended in a draw and another ended early because of a bench-clearing brawl near the end of the game. English Premier League, you got nothing on the SGV.

Onto Three-And-Out.

First Down: Ties, they are only good as an accesory, not as a final result. Charter Oak 14, Damien 14 is a horrible result. I can’t believe coaches are given the option of overtime or not before a game. It should be a statewide rule that there are no more ties. The pros don’t do it, the colleges stopped doing it a few years ago and it’s about time the high schools did the same. Ban the tie.

Second Down: Duarte laid down the smack, literally. The Falcons (4-1, 1-) didn’t make any friends last week by beating Ganesha 85-0, and they made even fewer friends this week by going for two with a 34-3 lead in the fourth quarter against Gladstone (1-3, 0-1). The game was stopped early by the officials with 3:28 left because of a benches-clearing brawl. The SGVT has a tremendous report on the account, and it has great comments from both coaches going at it. ‘He’s a coward,’ Duarte Coach Wardell Crutchfield said about Gladstone’s Albert Sanchez. ‘And you can put that in the paper.’ Hope Solo thinks Crutchfield comments went too far.

Third Down: Diamond Ranch (3-1). Are they the best in the SGV? Are they ready for Oaks Christian (2-2)? Roddy Layton has one of the toughest schedules in the SGV and things don’t get any easier this week when they host a Lions program that has lost two in a row. The Panthers started the season with a hard-fought loss to Edison, then a terrific win against Chino Hills, but have tailed off in back-to-back close victories since. Are they the best in the SGV? Are they ready for Oaks Christian? IMO, those questions will remain unanswered until this Thursday.

Punt: ‘As you can see, we don’t have a lot of bullets,’ Los Altos Coach Greg Gano after his Conquerors lost, 35-21, to St. Francis, ‘but we’ll bounce back.’

Los Altos faces Western in Anaheim next then will host South Hills after that.

- Jaime Cardenas