Column: Loyola hosting first on-campus varsity football game since 1949
For the first time since 1949, Los Angeles Loyola is hosting a varsity football game on its campus. Tickets sold out in 54 minutes for the 7:30 p.m. Friday game against San Diego St. Augustine.
It’s been months in the planning. Portable bleachers that will seat 4,000 are being brought in. Portable lights are going up. Venice Boulevard will be closed adjacent to the school to help with parking.
And, in perhaps a first for a high school game in Southern California, Loyola is going to create a drop-off area for fans who use ride-sharing services such as Uber or Lyft.
If you don’t have a prized $15 parking voucher, you can take one of the free shuttle buses leaving from Pershing Square just to the east in downtown Los Angeles.
More than 80 security people will roam the area, and there will be food trucks. Plenty of alumni will be telling stories as Loyola takes a moment to celebrate its upcoming 150th anniversary.
Make sure you have a ticket if you show up, because none will be sold at the gate. The only remaining tickets are held by Loyola students and parents and St. Augustine officials. Scalpers are not invited.
Oh, and there’s also a football game to be played. Loyola is 2-0. Last week, running backs David Cooper, Daniel Tolbert and Drake Beasley each rushed for more than 100 yards in a 42-6 win over Lakewood. St. Augustine is 1-1.
“We’re putting on blinders,” Loyola Coach Marvin Sanders said. “It’s a great event for fans and alumni, but it’s a football game for us.”
Athletic Director Chris O’Donnell will be walking around with a walkie talkie and worrying about pulling off the event with few glitches.
“I will definitely be able to sleep the next night, but Thursday night, I don’t know,” he said.
Sanders isn’t planning to use Uber, because who knows if the driver might be an Alemany or Crespi fan and try to get info out of him on the drive to campus.
As for the players’ perspective, junior receiver-defensive back Jordan Riordan said, “I understand a lot of people are looking at this game as big history for our school. We just want to put a product on the field that people can enjoy. We want to give everybody a show to watch.”
Loyola usually plays its home games at L.A. Valley College in Van Nuys. Its campus field has a nice all-weather playing surface and a scoreboard, but the lack of permanent seating and relatively few parking spaces makes playing a home game challenging.
It’s a dress rehearsal for next season, because if everything goes well, the Cubs will hold another home game in 2015 to celebrate the school’s 150th anniversary.
Trying to do it five times a season doesn’t make sense, because the Southern Section would surely force the Cubs to switch sites for a playoff game because of a lack of seating capacity.
Still, the enthusiasm seems high, and it will be fun to see what it’s like playing a football game at Loyola before 4,000 screaming fans. Afterward, everybody better tune to KNX-AM (1070) news radio for a special traffic report.
Twitter: LATSondheimer
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