Hey Venice, don’t forget to finish

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If 16th-ranked Venice takes anything from its potential 35-0 laugher-turned-uncomfortable 35-27 nail-biter against visiting Taft on Friday, it should be this:

Never let down. Never let one’s concentration drift into the atmosphere.

The Gondoliers were cruising in the third quarter of the nonleague game when they
gave up a long touchdown run to Toreador tailback D.J. Morgan, followed by a two-point conversion, followed by a recovered onside kick and another Taft score.

Suddenly, the Gondoliers were surrounded by adversity and they didn’t handle it well. All-everything running back Curtis McNeal went to the sideline with a possible concussion and did not return to the game. The offense sabotaged itself with fumbles. The defense forgot how to tackle.

Taft nearly came all the way back from that huge deficit, scoring 27 unanswered points, but were finally subdued on an interception by Venice cornerback J.R. McConico with 38 seconds to play.

In the long run it may have been good for Venice to find out it is not as invincible as it may have thought. But Coach Angelo Gasca wasn’t interested in such perspective. He was too busy chewing nails.

‘We were fortunate to hold on and finish the game,’ Gasca said. ‘This was a good message for us about being focused. We were in control of the game and just lost focus. It showed how quickly a football game can turn around. ‘

‘Things happen in a game and sometimes it’s a little screwy. Good teams find a way to overcome that. Tonight we did, but I’d have to say there was some luck involved.’

- Mike Terry