EL SEGUNDO HERALD August 31, 2017 Page 5
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Eagles Football: Offense
Filled With Promise
By Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo Eagles football team’s past
success with its high-scoring offense will be
put to the test this season when the bulk of its
stars on that side of the line graduated. Jake
Palmer, Taz Tauaese, Ashton Saltz, Haamid
Brooks and Billy Brasher led an offense that
scored 312 points. Gone is the two-pronged
quarterback approach that threw for over 2,000
yards and a running back that rushed for over
1,000 yards and accounted for 17 TDs.
Yes, the Eagles will have a different look
this season--but head coach Steve Shevlin, who
is also the offensive coordinator, believes his
offense will have plenty of promise. “We’ve
had a productive summer and there’s plenty
of potential for us,” he said.
Junior quarterback Matt Romero takes over a
prolific offensive scheme. He saw limited time
last season working behind Jake Palmer and
Kobe Lagarde. He has given the coaching staff
enough confidence with his leadership skills,
athleticism and understanding of the playbook
to give Romero the keys to the offense. “Matt
has a big arm and has been running the offense
all summer long. He looks confident and we’re
confident in him,” says Coach Shevlin. When
transfer Dariush Sayson becomes eligible, he
too could see action at quarterback.
Romero will have plenty of receivers and
options in the upcoming season. Senior tight
end Taj Balogun should see plenty of passes
coming his way. He has the speed and size to
give opposing defenses fits. With his athletic
ability, this three-year starter should draw
double-team coverage.
With Balogun garnering so much attention,
the passing game should open up for Romero
to find his other weapons. Scott Melton, Mike
Gonzales, Chris Charles, Tyler Villalobos,
Danny McEntee, Hunter Lynch and Kyle
Freeman are all speedy receivers capable of
stretching the field.
The running game that had one of the South
Bay’s top backs the past two seasons will be
tested with unknown adversity. Taz Tauaese was
one of the premiere running backs for the past
two seasons, rushing for 39 touchdowns in 20
games. So how will this year’s running game
reset with experience that will be a challenged?
McEntee and Joey Gorte should see most
of the carries. McEntee has matured into a
slashing-type running back much like Tauaese
was. Gorte filled in nicely when Tauaese went
down with an injury last season and looks to
build on that this year.
Kyle Freeman and James Amerault will see
action at the fullback spot. Both have what you
need in a fullback with good blocking skills
as well as another option for Romero. Sayson
is another possibility for fullback if he’s not
at quarterback.
The strength of the offense could be the
experience and talent on the line. Senior center
Jess Caravello is a three-year starter and looks
to lead the offensive line. In his two seasons
under center, Caravello has had no fumbled
snaps and was one of the team’s best blockers.
Caravello will be joined by other returning
seniors Tim Flores and Mason Susich, as well
as juniors Gunnar Rogers, Kaden Langlois and
Ben Rojas. Sophomores Justin Delgado, Jose
Aceves and Michael Romero have shown they
Mayweather/McGregor
Melee Motivated by Money
By Adam Serrao
At the end of the day, what everyone in
the world knew would happen, happened.
The boxing match--or circus, if you prefer--
between arguably the best boxer of all time and
a fighter who had never boxed professionally
for a day in his life ended in favor of the
former rather than the latter. Floyd “Money”
Mayweather, Jr. strategically allowed mixed
martial arts star Conor McGregor to come
at him early in the fight that took place last
Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las
Vegas. By the eighth round, McGregor was
gassed. It didn’t take long after that for the
fight to end by TKO in favor of Mayweather,
giving the two fighters what they had sought
after all along--the biggest payday in the
history of the sport of boxing.
Mayweather knew what he was doing
throughout the entirety of the boxing match.
That means purposefully letting McGregor
waste his punches on him in order to make
the fight more compelling and entertaining
to the audience--which has been rare in
Mayweather fights throughout the years. “I
think we gave the fans what they wanted
to see,” Mayweather said in the ring after
his victory. “I owed them for the Pacquiao
fight. I had to come straight ahead and give
the fans a show. That’s what I gave them.”
Mayweather was never in any jeopardy of
losing the fight. He knew that he wouldn’t
be ever since the rivalry with McGregor was
manufactured. Though passionate UFC fans
won’t like to admit it, even they knew that
their star had no chance in a boxing match
against one of the greatest to ever live. That-
-and the exorbitant ticket prices--was the
reason why the T-Mobile arena didn’t even
sell out for the fight. Mayweather, however,
was more than happy to end his retirement
after two years to collect one final exorbitant
paycheck for one hour of controlling what
may have been the easiest boxing match of
his entire career.
“Our game plan was to take our time,
go to him, let him shoot his shots early
and then take him out down the stretch,” a
calculated Mayweather explained post-fight.
Throughout the first three rounds of the match,
Mayweather landed a total of nine punches
to his opponent. In the 10th and final round
alone, Mayweather connected with nine shots
to the face of McGregor, forcing the referee
to jump between the two and end the fight
within the final minute of the round.
The only controversy surfacing from the
night was from McGregor and his fans
claiming that the referee stepped in to stop the
fight too soon. “Let the man put me down,”
McGregor stated after the fight with a plastic
cup full of whiskey in his hand. “That’s
fatigue, that’s not damage. Where was the
final two rounds? Let me walk back to my
corner and compose myself.” McGregor is
lucky that he got out of the ninth round, let
alone the 10th, while still on his feet. Because
of his self-proclaimed fatigue, he was unable
to defend himself against Mayweather, let
alone throw anything slightly resembling a
punch back. The referee stepping in “early,”
as they do in boxing when someone is getting
pummeled, did McGregor a favor. By allowing
him to leave the fight while still (wobbling)
on his own two feet, the ref not only saved
McGregor from the embarrassment that would
have surely happened two seconds later of
being knocked out cold on the canvas, but
also gave the first-time boxer an excuse for
what was already an inevitable loss in the
ring that night.
Despite the loss, McGregor is poised to
quadruple his net worth, which of course
was the plan from the outset for an event
that could be said to have been more of a
contest of promotional antics than anything
resembling a professional boxing match.
Mayweather, who knew that he would win
from the start, will likely be walking away
from the match with more than $300 million
for his one hour of work. That being said,
the fight was at least much more entertaining
than Mayweather’s previous bout against
Manny Pacquiao. And despite McGregor
never really having a chance at all, he still
lasted 10 entire rounds in the ring with
possibly the greatest boxer ever, showed a
ton of heart, and landed 30 more punches
(111) than Pacquiao (81) did in two fewer
rounds. Mayweather out-landed McGregor
130-60 in rounds six through 10 once the
former finally decided that it was time to box.
UFC fans are a pretty passionate bunch,
there’s no doubt about that. And despite how
easy it is to hate Mayweather for things he has
done out of the ring, this fight has made it easy
to appreciate the boxer that he is inside of it
because of his fighting IQ. A fighter, who is
normally defensive by nature, won the match
by attacking and formulating a game plan
against a bigger, more aggressive opponent.
In the end, the fight concluded in a way that
everyone knew it would. Mayweather won,
fans were entertained, and the two participants
who were completely and solely motivated by
money made enough of it to set themselves
up for the rest of their collective lives.
– Asixlion@earthlink.net •
Junior quarterback Matt Romero will lead the offense this season.
He looked sharp in the scrimmage against West Torrance.
Jess Caravello is a three-year starter and anchors a talented and
experienced offensive line.
#5 Danny McEntee is a duel-threat running back who will see
plenty of passes coming his way.
See Eagles, page 13