Football Update
Westlake High School football is out of the Marmonte League! The program has gone downhill since head coach Jim Benkert left (or was forced out). Ironically, around the same time, the district changed out the principal of Westlake High School … and under his watch, three coaches in 8 years. They gradually got worse every year, bottoming out in the last 2 years under their current coach. Last year’s record: 2-8. I am surprised they kept the current coach. With multiple delay-of-game penalties on the coach himself, he really seemed lost … I’ll go out on a strong limb and say that with Westlake not starting weight training as of the end of March, they will not be competitive again this coming season. If you don’t train in the off-season, your chances of winning diminish …
It is a little crazy. CIF has Westlake in Marmonte this year (and did not win a league game), and next year they move out? Why wait a year? Westlake’s season opener — which the coach scheduled — is against MaxPreps CA-ranked #775, Taft High School. This is nothing short of embarrassing … Taft lost to Birmingham last year 47-0, and Westlake beat Birmingham 32-12 … Is anyone actually expecting a competitive game? They scheduled a slightly better team for the Homecoming game: #366 Paraclete, who had a stunning 1-9 record last year … Now we know Westlake has a chance to win two games.
On a better note, thanks to a great coaching move a couple of years ago, Newbury Park (NP) will be the team to beat in our area … NP with solid coach, Joe Smigiel, should make a good run with his exceptional sophomore QB — his son, Brady! I see great things for NP for the next few years … I bet Coach Smigiel has had his team in the weight room since the end of last season. Hey, bad coaches out there, you win championships in the off-season. Train to compete! Don’t look for awful teams to play to make your poor coaching look good or to save your job. 2-8 doesn’t cut it!
Lacrosse Update
Lacrosse is about halfway over … Westlake is ranked #1 in Marmonte League. Oh, what a difference a good coach makes. Westlake lacrosse has been in the gym all off-season, and it shows. And they have been scheduling top teams in the state to play during the season … They should win the league this year. The only team that stands in their way is Agoura … Not a very good team this year but well-coached, and Agoura was last year’s Marmonte champions.
Sadly, with every league game Westlake or Agoura plays and wins … they go down in the rankings?! That’s because CIF is forcing them to play uncompetitive (league) games. Marmonte lacrosse has those two teams playing in a league that is not a bit competitive. How can you beat a team by 20 and still drop in rankings? Unlike in football, strength of schedule is a big factor, as it should be … Everyone should want competitive play. In sports, nobody wants to play a game where you blow out the other team. That is not competing … The two top lacrosse teams in Marmonte are Westlake and Agoura. The other league games should be in Division 2 … Let them be competitive, and let good teams have a competitive league. Playing three teams in league games twice during the season, and beating them by scores of more than 20 points, is not a contest. It has been happening ever since CIF got involved with lacrosse a few years ago …
In the past few years, Oaks Christian has been awful at lacrosse, and it’s not hard to figure out how they got so bad so quickly … They lost their JV team. If you don’t train your athletes, your team is doomed to mediocrity, and that is what is happening to Oaks lacrosse … My guess is they will poach the Agoura coach for next year to make a comeback … Yup, it is just possible that Oaks will take the head coach from Agoura, just like they did years ago when they poached Westlake’s football coach, Jim Benkert. Agoura will fall, and Oaks will buy a championship … Public schools can’t compete with what private schools pay their coaches …
2023 Westlake League games vs.
· Calabasas 20-1 (*mercy rule)
· Agoura 13-6
· Newbury Park 20-4 (*mercy rule)
· Oaks Christian hasn’t played yet … but I guarantee (*mercy rule) Newbury Park beats Oaks 12-11
*Mercy Rule: After the first half, anytime the score differential reaches 12 goals or more, a running clock will only be stopped for a team time-out, an official’s time-out or an injury time-out. All penalties that occur during a score differential situation will be on running time. In this situation, running penalty time begins with the next whistle resuming play.
