Monarchs solid at Strathmore Tourney

STRATHMORE — Exeter football coach Ben White knows his team won’t need much of this.

They’ll likely attempt fewer than 10 passes a game.

But while the Monarch wide receivers will spend most of their time blocking this fall, they got to have some fun at the 11th annual Strathmore Passing Tournament, Saturday.

The Monarchs edged the Lindsay Cardinals 11-4 in the consolation game and finished in third place.

Josh Gary caught the game’s only touchdown in the back of the end zone (the other points came from sacks and interceptions).

“Passing’s not our thing, but we came out here and competed and had a good time,” White said.

The majority of teams upon entering passing tournaments use them to hone down the timing between quarterbacks and receivers. White was more concerned with how his defense stopped them.

“We’re just trying to get better on basically defense because this is not really part of our offense,” he said.

Exeter’s new quarterback, Austin Albison, threw just two interceptions in the six games.

Defensively, White said Colton Pacheco and Jaycee Totty also had standout days.

The passing tournament format consists of seven offensive players — quarterback, running backs, receivers and tight ends --— against the defense’s linebackers and secondary. 

No shoulder pads or helmets; just T-Shirts, shorts and cleats. Five games went on at a time on 50-yard fields marked on Strathmore’s practice fields. 

Exeter, which finished 9-2 in 2008, went 5-1 in its five pool games and one place-determining contest. 

The Cardinals (3-8 in 2008), however, may have been the surprise of the day, going 4-2 to finish fourth, beating Valley runner-up Corcoran in the process.

“Our skill guys are excellent,” Lindsay coach Robert Hurtado said. “We got receivers, quarterbacks, running backs, we’re good there.”

Adam Gamboa, who rotated at quarterback with Gary Baker last season, quarterbacked Lindsay by himself while Baker manned the slot. Hurtado is still unsure as to who will start the season under center.

This was the third of five passing tourneys Lindsay plans to attend this summer. The Cardinals return all of their skill-position players and look to add a potent passing attack to go with perennial all-league running back Jonathan Duarte.

“We normally don’t do many passing tournaments, but because we were predominantly a running team last year, we really want to open it up more this year,” Hurtado said. “We plan on throwing the ball a lot more. We still got Duarte in there at running back and everything else we had last year. So we’re just gonna add to it.”

New safety Victor Villarreal notched several interceptions in the Cardinals’ six games. He looks to join third-year starters Gabriel Rubalcava and Ron Cortez in the secondary.

Dinuba, which was the only team to defeat Exeter, won the tournament by defeating Woodlake in the finals. Woodlake topped Lindsay 21-20 in pool play.

Granite Hills finished 3-2 in its pool, beating Porterville (17-1), Delano (23-15) and Misson Oak (19-15). The Panthers defeated Misson Oak (18-13) for their only win of the day.

The host school took a less conventional preparation approach to the tournament. 

Coach Jeromy Blackwell organized a team campout near the five fields, Friday night. Once there, the players ate dinner and watched “Rudy” for motivational purposes. However, the plan backfired as the Spartans slumped to a 1-4 record the following morning.

Blackwell, who came up with the idea back in January, cited a lack of rest as the primary reason for the sluggishness.

“It was a horrible idea,” he said. “It was definitely a bonding experience for the kids. But I’d never camped out with them before. They didn’t sleep; they were joking around all night. None of us got any sleep.

“You could tell they were tired and they weren’t finishing the plays. I’m not making any excuses though.”

Blackwell didn’t need to make excuses for his linemen. They finished second (51 points) to Exeter (59) in the Lineman Competition. 

The Monarchs’ line, which will consist of mostly the same players that led Cameron Loeffler to a 2,000-yard season, dominated the six events, winning four: the bench press, rings, six-man sled drive and tug-of-war.

Strathmore won the tire flip and the one-man sled and finished second in the bench press, rings and six-man sled. 

Nelson Flores led his team with 21 repetitions with 185 pounds.

Hurtado said trying to match Exeter’s linemen in bench press was a lost cause.

“Competing against Exeter in bench press ain’t gonna happen,” he said. “They got like two guys that probably had as many reps as our whole team did. They got some beasts over there. That’s why they are what they are.”