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L.A. high school football: What is it about this valley?
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The 118 freeway branches off from the 405 and runswest through the San Fernando Valley, parallel to the 101 and about 12 miles north of it. I'd never followed it past Topanga Canyon Road until last Friday's football game at Thousand Oaks, and I learned that, well, it's beautiful. Shortly after you pass Topanga Canyon, you get almost out of the valley and into some mountains, and I suppose then you are in a different valley, Simi Valley.
Anyway, through my own geographic ignorance, I thought of Westlake Village, home of the Oaks Christian football team, considered one of the best in the country. Actually, Westlake Village is 12-15 miles south, along the 101--I would pass it later that night on my way home. But the point is, I drove past Woodland Hills and out of the city of Los Angeles, and I felt like I descended into football country. There's Oaks Christian down on the 101, but back on the 118 where I was driving, 4-5 miles west of Simi Valley (and just before the freeway turns south to join with the 101 near Thousand Oaks, just northwest of Westlake Village), there's Moorpark.
So right there, you've got two of the best four teams in all of Southern California--this according to calpreps. Now, you only need to follow the 101 west from there about another 30 miles to reach St. Bonaventure, the No. 1 team in So. Cal (after Bonaventure's win over Long Beach Poly last week); and you only need to drive 30 miles east on the 101 to reach Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks, No. 7 in the region and the team Moorpark beat to attain its own lofty ranking.
So I was driving out on the 118 once again today (this time to visit a sick family member out in Santa Barbara), I found myself wondering: what is it about this region that leads to great high school football? I mean, I read Friday Night Lights, so I know some places are especially football-hungry, but this place doesn't look on its surface like it would be such a place. I mean, really, it's just a suburb of Los Angeles, isn't it? Why this particular suburb?
But I know it isn't just this particular suburb. After all, close as they may be geographically, Moorpark and Westlake Village are different suburbs. There are different suburbs all across this country, and each one has its own football team. The bigger suburbs have two: one a private school (and if it's ranked in the top ten in the state, it's probably one of these privates) and one public. Actually, the bigger suburbs have more than two. (I just tried to look up, on wikipedia, a couple of these suburbs to see how many high schools they actually have, and while wikipedia failed me on that particular information, it did provide me with this nugget: "Moorpark High School's football team lost 51 consecutive games to Carpinteria High School, a national record that ended in 1997 en route to the school's first football CIF championship. The two teams have not played since." It seems that Moorpark may be one of those rare public-school football juggernauts.)
So anyway, like I said, I don't think there's anything in the crops they grow out here making the kids good football players; they're not corn-fed boys from Iowa or anything like that. But there are enough football fans to keep plenty of programs well-provided, or plenty of rich families keeping plenty of private school programs well-outfitted with equipment and assistant coaches and scouting.
In conclusion, I have nothing really new to say here. I basically just wanted to say that the 118 freeway runs through some beautiful terrain, especially around the time of sunset. That's about it.
Also, tomorrow (Friday) i'm headed east, to see one of those public-private rivalries. This one's in La Canada Flintridge, where the private school (St. Francis) is hosting a nearby public school (Crescenta Valley is in the Glendale school district, but some La Canada Flintridge kids go there). And actually, it's a stretch to call it a rivalry, since the private school has beaten CV annually every year for which maxpreps has records (they show five years of games over on maxpreps).
Did I say "in conclusion" two paragraphs ago? Okay, better stop. Bye.
