The impressive feat that took place on Saturday night at the
NorCal Championship between the Central Coast Barnstomers and the
Sacramento Wolverines was not specifically the five turnovers the
‘Stormers caused
The impressive feat that took place on Saturday night at the NorCal Championship between the Central Coast Barnstomers and the Sacramento Wolverines was not specifically the five turnovers the ‘Stormers caused; it was not specifically the three points the ‘Stormers defense allowed; and it was not specifically the overall shellacking the local Central Coast squad delivered on Sacramento.
The impressive feat that took place on Saturday night wasn’t specifically everything mentioned above, but then again, it was everything mentioned above.
The Barnstormers 23-3 romp at Gilroy High School gave the Wolverines, if anything, a lesson in idleness.
Sacramento played its previous game on Aug. 4 in the Golden Coast Football League Championship, upending the Clovis Wolves 48-14. They had approximately seven days in between games, which would be considered a normal layoff.
Central Coast played its previous game on June 16 in the Northern California Amateur Football Federation Championship, edging the Richmond War Angels 21-20. They had nearly two months off in between games, which would be considered a normal layoff … but only if this was college football. The ‘Stormers just wrapped up their Pac-10 season in November, and they’re awaiting for New Year’s Day so they can play in their BCS Bowl game.
Of course, that wasn’t the case.
The simple fact that the Barnstormers came out after nearly two months off, matched the intensity of the Wolverines, held them to 215 yards of total offense, and kept them to a single field goal is, for lack of a better word, impressive.
But the reason for these epic layoffs that last nearly as long as the season themselves is because of the three amateur football leagues in Northern California: the Northern California Amateur Football Federation, the Golden Coast Football League and the Central Valley Football League.
They’re all on different schedules, but this just may be the last time this has to happen.
According to Jose Rodriguez, who plays the center position and the owner position for the Barnstormers, the three leagues have met up, and will begin their respective seasons at the same time starting next year.
“This year was the last year it was going to happen,” Rodriguez said. “For Northern California, we’ll all start at the same time, so there’s no delays.”
The Northern California amateur football season is slated to begin next year in late March, with all three leagues commencing at the same time. With this in place, the two-time NorCal Champion Barnstormers won’t have to wait two months to defend their title.
Two months? Really, doctor?
Of course, now the bigger task is getting Southern California on board. Rodriguez said officials from both ends of the state will meet up in one month to discuss a plan of having both NorCal and SoCal begin their season at the same time.
“We’re all trying to get together to start at the same time so there’s not such a long layoff for everybody,” Rodriguez said.
As champions of NorCal, the Barnstormers will play the state title game against whomever is left standing in SoCal. I say whomever, because Southern California hasn’t even begun its season yet.
That game will be on Dec. 8 in either San Diego or Los Angeles, Rodriguez said.
Of course, the layoff for the NorCal Championship didn’t seem to bother Rodriguez.
“I knew (Sacramento’s) offense was not good enough to beat our defense,” he said.
But the team will have to deal with another layoff for the state title game. The Barnstormers have already set up a pair of scrimmages against the Northern Valley Lions of the NCAFF and the North Bay Rattlers of the GCFL to hopefully break up the nearly four-month layoff between now and the state title game.
“There’s still another waiting period,” said Barnstormers Head Coach Dave Clapham last week. “That doesn’t help our cause.”
Hopefully, next year, everyone will be on the same page, and the ‘Stormers can show where they stand when there’s a level playing field.
