Taft Football Program About To Get Burned Due To Bercovici Shenanigan
Taft High School
Well, as previously reported, Taft played hard and fast with the City Section transfer rules this season, and got burned.
LA Times’ Eric Sondheimer writes:
Woodland Hills Taft’s football program is facing City Section punishment for allowing ineligible transfer quarterback Michael Bercovici to participate in the program in violation of rules, City Section assistant commissioner John Aguirre said today.
Aguirre has asked Taft administrators to write up an incident report, which will be forwarded to the City Section rules committee for possible disciplinary action.
Bercovici was declared ineligible last month by City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege after transferring from Westlake, making him ineligible to participate in practice or games. But Bercovici allegedly has been at games on the sideline, participating with the team.
At this point, Taft’s disregard for the rules is pretty staggering. And it’s also sort of hypocritical considering the fracas that was made last week by Taft’s Koach Kerstetter over an official’s ignorance of a tripping rule.
I wonder where the next stop is for Bercovici?
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Taft Hopeful Bercovici Will Gain Eligibility, Hearing Set For Nov 12
Eric Sondheimer writes for LA Times:
Woodland Hills Taft continues to hope that junior quarterback Michael Bercovici, a transfer from Westlake, will gain his eligibility from the City Section.
Sondheimer also told me in a Twitter message this week that Bercovici has a hearing set for the issue on November 12th.
In other Woodland Hills football news, El Camino Real recovers from its loss last week to Taft and defeats Cleveland 19 to 7.
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Taft Coach Kerstetter Gets Ejected, Must Sit Out Season Finale Next Week
Taft got a little complacent after last week’s big win against El Camino Real and lost what should have been a relatively easy game against Birmingham on Friday. Tempers flared up due to a missed ‘tripping’ call and Kersetter ended up getting a post game ejection, which means he has to sit out the game this week.
It was shocking enough when Birmingham of Lake Balboa upset heavily favored Taft of Woodland Hills 44-32 on Friday.
But the aftermath is even bigger.
So upset was Taft coach Matt Kerstetter that he berated an official after the game and was ejected, which technically didn’t mean anything at the time – but now Kerstetter must sit out Taft’s finale Friday at Cleveland of Reseda, per section rules whenever someone is ejected.
Check out the full article for more details.
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Racap of Taft vs El Camino Real on October 30th
It was a tough game in which El Camino Real lost its QB to a concussion. Those interested in a game recap should follow this link to the Daily News.
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Eric Sondheimer Reports: Taft 28, ECR 21 – Final
In what must certainly be disheartening for El Camino Real, which went into tonight’s game with a perfect 7-0 record, they have been defeated by their Woodland Hills rival Taft, 28 to 21.
Source: @latsondheimer on Twitter.
I wonder how this will affect ECR Coach Kevin Williams’ plan to move El Camino up to Division I next year.
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LA Times Taking Notice – “The Battle of Woodland Hills” This Friday!
In the battle of Woodland Hills high school football bragging rights nothing so big has happened in almost 20 years. LA Times sports writer Eric Sondheimer has taken notice with a blog entry and a full detailed article on Friday’s matchup between Taft and El Camino Real. He writes:
In Woodland Hills, the two public high schools, Taft and El Camino Real, have each won national academic decathlon titles. But in sports, the similarities have been few and far between.
Taft has been a football and basketball powerhouse. El Camino Real has won five City championships in baseball and won a state title in boys soccer.
But something unusual is happening in football. El Camino Real is the team that comes into the battle of Woodland Hills on Friday night unbeaten. The Conquistadores are 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the West Valley League. Taft is 4-3 and 2-0. El Camino Real hasn’t beaten the Toreadors in a football game since 1991. The Conquistadores get to host Taft in a 7 o’clock showdown for first place in the West Valley League.
“It’s probably going to be the biggest game we’ve had with El Camino in the last 20 years,” Taft Coach Matt Kerstetter said.
This is definitely going to be interesting. The article also points out:
Taft, however, has played a much stronger schedule than the Conquistadores, having lost to Gardena Serra, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Mission Hills Alemany, three schools that have been ranked in the top 25 by The Times. El Camino Real’s best win came in the season opener against Newhall Hart.
The game is being played at ECR and adult admission is $7.00.
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El Camino Real High School Celebrating 40 Year Anniversary – Banners Around Town
LA Time’s Eric Sondheimer writes:
Woodland Hills El Camino Real is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a high school, and the school this past week put up 19 banners on lamp posts around its streets featuring photos of athletic and academic accomplishments.
It’s a classy way to document and publicize the school’s accomplishments. Pitcher Jose Cardona is on the baseball banner. Running back Ra’Shon Harper is on the football banner. There will be 19 more banners going up in six months.
The embedded video above features ECR assistant athletic director Vinnie Orlando.
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