“Back to work,” Brawley quickly turns attention to playoffs
After defeating Central for the first time in five years in the 78th annual "Bell Game," Brawley head coach Jon Self shifts focus to this week's playoff game.
BRAWLEY, Calif. ( KYMA, KECY-TV ) - It's the biggest game and rivalry across the Desert Southwest, the "Bell Game," played between Central and Brawley. This year, for the first time in the past five meetings, Brawley defeated Central to bring the bell trophy back to Brawley for the first time since 2016.
The history of the "Bell Game," includes many storylines, most recent is Central's four game winning streak over Brawley heading into this season's showdown. The talk was how Central, under head coach "Rookie" Pena, had never lost to Brawley since he took over the program. Four straight wins which included three Imperial League titles.
Brawley head coach Jon Self quickly reminds us who holds the overall series advantage and his program is no slouch when it comes to the big game at the end of the season.
"Don't look at it like, oh great, I finally beat Rookie, you know," Self said. "Everyone's gotta remember, I won it for six years previous to this."
Out of the 11 years Self has been the head coach of the Wildcats he's won the Bell Game seven times. The last time coming in 2016 before this year's 34-21 win at Cal Jones Field in El Centro.
"I've been a part of winning it 21 times out of the last 29," Self said. "So, it's the Bell Game, it's important, it's important to the community, it's important to me, it's important to the kids but the kids have been there and we've been doing our best every year."
No matter who wins the Bell Game, it's always filled with a lot of emotion. Self talks about the Bell Game hangover and the difficulty he and coach Pena have in getting their team ready for a playoff game the following week.
I try to be over it and I try to pass that onto the kids. Enjoy Saturday but get over it and don't let people tell you how great you are for that one game because the next game is do or die - Brawley head football coach Jon Self
"As an adult it's a lot easier than a kid," Self said. "I'm not a super social person anyway, as far as going out. I do like spending time with people but, when the game's over with, I enjoy it with my family. The next day it's back to work because I know I need to get prepped and ready for the next week, so, I try to get over it real quickly."
As soon as Saturday coach Self was already watching film on his next opponent, the Westview Wolverines out of San Diego. With Friday's win over Central and clinching the Imperial League title, the Wildcats earned a #6 seed and a home game in the CIF San Diego Section Division III playoffs, despite winning 10 games in a row.
"They {Westview} are kind of struggling in the run game a little bit," Self said. "I would say they probably throw the ball about 90 percent of the time. They're a spread team, they like screens, a lot of the same stuff we saw out of Central."
Self feels the Imperial Valley teams match up well with the San Diego schools when it comes to skill positions but the biggest difference is the offensive and defensive lines."
"The size of lineman that they get, the personnel and the athletic ability," Self said. "I think we match up well skill wise but we don't have 6'5 guys on the line. We do have some size, we do have some strength and we do have some senior experience. I think we match up well going into these playoffs."
The Wildcats will host Westview this Friday night at Warne Field in Brawley with kickoff set for 7:00 p.m. In the meantime, coach Self will continue to prepare his team's focus on a deep playoff run while listening to Kid Rock during practice.
