Running back: Area high schools rich in ball carriers

Why do SFS supporters continue to live in the past?Yes you guys had a nice run with those string of league titles,but thats old news.I played at MTB in the mid 80's and in case you did'nt know from the 70's through the 80's teams like ER. BG & MTB beat you like a drum and you don't here these schools bringing up the past.You guys have talent, just wait till the game is played before you beat your chest and proclaim yourselfs league champs.ER will be a solid team and they have as much of a chance as any team to take league.Remember no one expected them to have any succces last year and they sure surprised a lot of teams (just ask SFS & Cal).They very easily could have advanced past the 2nd rd if not for a TD Wesminister scored with seconds left in the game.I'm sure that teams are going to stack the box once Aldecoa starts ripping off yards but hopefully the coaching staff is able to make the adjustments to keep the defenses honest.But in the end Defense will be the telling point, last year ER gave up way too many 3rd and long situations, that definitely needs to change.

there will be "2" outstanding running backs this year ...1 at St.Paul > student/athlete transfer from MAYFAIR...Remember this will be HUGE for St.Paul running game...Also 1 at Santa Fe > Aaron Turner has hit the weight room.Size strength and quickness,not to mention his work ethic. He must stay 100% healthy or close to it....Remember this I said it 8/23/08

I see Del Rio Dominates the blogs, although on the other side of town you will see a new era of dominance, with the long awaited addition too tradition. LA MIRADA MATS!

EL RANCHO HAS ALWAYS BEEN KNOWN FOR WORKING HARD AND THATS WAT THEY HAVE BEEN DOING FOR THE SUMMER THERE DEFENSE MIGHT HAVE NEW STARTERS FROM LAST YR AYALA,COLINDRES,ALLEN A NEW FACE ON VARSITY WILL HAVE A BIG IMPACT ON THERE DEFENSE THIS YR GOOD LUCK DONS ONCE AGAIN U HAVE SUMTHING TO PROVE THIS YR AND THATS WAT MAKES THE DONS WORK HARD..

HEY EL RANCHO PEOPLE, WHAT DID YOUR BACKS DO AGAINST ST.PAUL LAST YEAR? NOT A THING ....YOU CAN BET YOUR ... THAT PIOEER WILL NOT GET BEAT (SHUT OUT LIKE YOU GUYS)

el rancho
If ER does beat Whittier, you won't hear me saying we should have, we could have, we would have.
and if Whittier beats ER, can you do the same.
remember the name Alex Gonzalez, and Daniel Enriquez.

Ok let me rephrase that best running back tandem in the league. Just because we run a formation that primarily only has one back does not change a thing big red. I did not say we will win all our games, but we will beat whittier's ass I can promise you that.

el rancho
In order to be the best backfield in league. Shouldn't both backs be in the game (in the backfield) at the same time. How can they do that if both of them are tailbacks. But thats ok because you SHOULD win all your games this year anyway. Good luck ER

Josh Perea will be ready to go at QB , dont worry about ER being able to pass, we will make it happen. We may have lost to Pioneer, but Marcus Aldecoa lit you up getting 215 yards on 22 carries. Did Botello even get 100 yards in that game? Remember the name Anthony Ayala this season...

EL RANCHO PEOPLE HOW ARE YOU GOING TO RUN THE BALL,WHEN YOU HAVE NO QUARTEBACK AND ARE SEING A 8 MAN FRT. ARE YOU FORGETTING ABOUT THE BACK A PIONEER (MATT) AND WHAT HE DID TO YOU GUYS LAST YEAR,NOT EVENING TAKEING INTO COUNT WHAT THE QUARTERBACK DID TO YOU GUYS.OH,WAIT I FOGOT YOU SHOULD HAVE WON THAT LEAGUE GAME ALONG WITH THE OTHERS YOU LOST.

Aldecoa was only given the rock all game against Pioneer, Cal and Westminster, prior to that he was getting less than 10 carries a game, some games less than 5 carries. Galan is a really good back also, alot of people are going to underestimate him this season. Best backfield in the league this year at ER.

why is everyone all over this aldecoa kid???
he only did good in wut 3 games??the only reason why he did good was bcuz everyone was keying on galan the kid who carried er for most of the season. so aldecoa only did good in 3 out of 10 games??why coulnt he do it all season???umm idk maybe bcuz he aint as good as everyone thinks

Ryan:

You go and bust St. paul because of the comments he amde and then you turn around and play the same game by making your comments.

Just like he doesn't know anything about the programs he is belittling, you don't know anything about SP's program. You fall into that same arguement that SP rents players. Sure, they get transfers who make significant contributions but the core and heart of the team are those guys who have been with the program a long time.

Regardless of when they came in, they are still part of the SP family. Once a Swordsmen, Always a Swordsmen!

It wasn't to long ago that La Habra played D1 champion Los Alamitos tough in a 24 to 20 loss, Los Alamitos went on to crush Mater Dei in the D1 championship that year 41 to 14, not bad for a school that was a D9 champ that year. I got a feeling La Habra would handle St Pauls schedule just as good and maybe even better than St Paul would this coming year, don't they have most of their cif championship team coming back this year? Didn't St Paul lose most of their team to graduation, if so I would say La Habra should be the pre season pick as top team in the area. I'm not a fan of either team just an outside observer.

Go West Covina Bulldog!

To St. Paul maybe you should stop using St. Paul as your name because your making them look bad. Big Red wasn't even talking trash about your program his comment was geared towards El Rancho. According to you St. Paul H.S. fans are the only ones that can blog on this thing anyways. Is that what they teach you at St. Paul to be arrogant. I know thats not what they teach there so why do you come on here and belittle other schools. None of the del rio schools got on here and talked trash after you season opener blow out loss to Servite last year. As a matter of fact i remember a quite of few bloggers coming to your guys defense. Maybe you need to take one from Tom Brady's playbook and eat a litte bit of humble pie. Of course fans are going to write about their teams on this blog. Thats what the blog is here for. Grow up and stop worrying about who can and can't compete with
St. Paul. In the end you guys steal everybody's players anyways. I bet all the other schools around here wished they could rent players from other schools for one or two years, have nothing to do with their development and then ride the shirt tails all year. I just feel bad for the kids that they are supposed to be developing since their freshman years. what loyalty.

big red r u a whittier fan cause if u r you have no right to talk in any of these discussions..whens the last time whittier has won anything..i dont know why u hate on other schools that actually win titles

hey drl watcher how do you know the er qb cant throw its his first year..u should know since u "watch the drl"

Anonymous,

Wow, finally someone with some common sense. Thank you for not bashing a program and making an informed opinion.

SP Dad:

Hey Pops, relax a bit. I'm as much of SP die hard as you but before you popping off and making us Swordsmen faithful look bad, you might want to tone down your rhetoric down.

Yes, we do compete at a higher level of competition but that doesn't mean the local teams are bad. Schurr, Santa Fe and Cal (to name a few) usually play some good football year in and year out. Have you seen La Habra's schedule? They are playing D1 Los Alamitos and San Clemente this year...both of who are good teams.

Personally, I think La Habra should be in a higher division but until CIF moves their league up....it ain't going to happen unless La Habra leaves their league.

You know, we should all be embracing our local teams. People in the SGV and the OC say the Whittier Area has bad football teams. With local teams like SP and LH winning CIF championships and Cal and others going deep in the playoffs, I beg to differ. I think there is a lot of good football played in the area,

St. Paul plays on a higher level of competiton. Non of the area schools such as Santa Fe, Rancho, Cal, LA HABRA could compete with the schedule SPHS has. Loyola, Notre Dame, St. John Bosco, and Servite...4 division 1 schools on Preseason schedule..all preparing them to play the tough St. Francis, Chaminade, and Alemany. Dont you start saying other schools would want or COULD play with that schedule.

Hey Observer:

The SP "big time linebacker" is going to Cerritos College. You know, that school where your "big time quarterback" (Chris Morales) is going.

More importantly, both are continuing their educational careers and playing football. Go Falcons!

THE CHIEF PEOPLE STOP YOUR CRYING ABOUT THE ST.PAUL TRANSFERS, WHEN YOU AND EVERYONE IN THE AREA KNOW THAT ,HALF OR YOUR ATHLETES DONT LIVE IN YOUR AREA.WHO KNOWS WHERE THEY COME FROM.AND EVEN WITH THEM YOU CANT WIN A CIF TITLE.

Hey St. Paul Dad,
Solid program??? Transfers, starting halfback barely graduated, and your big time linebacker went to Minnesota where????
Give me a break. La Habra has a program.

Yo, SP DAD: "SPHS is the only solid program in the area." Hmmmm, not sure what you mean by "solid," In any case, there figures to be nearly at least a dozen local teams that might disagree with you. And rightly so.

SP Dad:

I'm encouraged by what I see on the D Line. Hard to replace Diaz, Rosenthal and Marshall though. LB's might need some more work. DB's are small but fast.

Enough with all these other area schools. SPHS is the only solid program in area. Look for QB Lopez to have a great year also RB Luis Garcia, and on Defense look for DT Mario Obando. Other Guys to look for at SP: Darius Bratcher, Donte Webb, and Andrew Canales.

Ray Madrid was the best reciever in the leauge, how can you say we were not able to throw???

Hey El Rancho,
Your running game better be as good as you think it will because everyone is going to put 8 in the box and make your qb throw. That didn't work out for you last year. I watched as your team got killed by LS and your ground game only worked after you were getting blown out. Pioneer and LS have the only two qb's that can throw. All of the others in the league can't. I watched SF, Whittier, ER, and Cal and none of them can throw the ball down field at all for 2008. As the game gets tight and qb's have to make plays, I will take those 2 everyday of the week.

If you think Zepeda is the answer to El Rancho problems then think again. He has never won anywhere he has gone (LB Jordan, ELAC, ER) unless it was frosh football.

yo murray...when are we gonna start talking about what realy matters?...the o-line/d-line...

Green Machine,

The "culture" at the ranch changed years ago. With three coaches in three years, the program is trying to find its identity again. It is the hope that Zepeda will bring back that strong sense of committment, determination, and zeal for El Rancho football, that has existed for decades, and has experienced a lull in recent years.

There are quality pico players at other schools. It happens. It is difficult for a public school program with budgetary difficulties to compete with strong private school programs that offer money to kids under the guise of "scholarship." That is the name of the game, and El Rancho will have to do without those wonderful athletes who will get go elsewhere and "ride the pine." For as Uncle Pete has made known by his recruiting actions...the "culture" of that program wont allow these kids the opportunity they deserve.

My thoughts,
LAP

PIONEER WILL BE HAPPY TO TAKE ANY TRANFERS,THEY NEED TO TO RELINE THE BOUNDARIES THEY ARE AT A DISADVANTAGE

Yo, yo, elrancho: Marcus Galan was mentioned in a July 9 blog concerning the area's best running backs.

This ER varsity is loaded with talent, lots of unproven talent, but the cupboard is definitely fully stocked and we are ready to display it. I expect Bryan Turner to absolutely explode this year at LB and perhaps he will get a chance to bulldoze that rock on O. Nobody is even mentioning Marcus Galan, when its all said and done everyone is going to know his name. Everyone already knows what Aldecoa can do, last year he was not the go to guy on the O, I really dont know why, but if he leaves off where he left off after the Pioneer, Cal and Westminster game then LOOKOUT!!!!!!

elrancho
La Serna and Pioneer can't say they beat you , because you SHOULD HAVE beat them.
La Habra should give you there rings because you COULD HAVE beaten them.
Hey St.Paul give elrancho your rings because they SHOULD HAVE beaten you also.
Someone call Long beach poly and De La Salle because elrancho SHOULD HAVE and COULD HAVE been the world high school football champions.
Sorry to hear about your panties.
LA Preps your sister has done it again.

Lapreps,

Apparently the culture of ER has changed as well. All of the real Pico Rivera football players are attending all local schools except ER! ER will go no better than 4-6.

I never put my foot in my mouth, we should have beaten pioneer and then beat Cal to win league I said what I said and thats that. We have the right to bring up last year until whittier attempts to shut us up by beating us this year..... Just like La Serna can say they beat us just like Pioneer can say it also, im not going to say "ohh dont bring up the past now my panties will get all up in a bunch"

El Rancho
Just got back from vacation thats why I haven't got back to you
I new you would bring up last years game. I guess thats what you do, talk about the past. Oh by the way never did I make a excuse about last years game. Forget the Pioneer game. You guys SHOULD HAVE gone to the championship game, and you COULD HAVE beaten La Habra. Oh but you didn't.
LA Preps
Is el rancho your little sister. Why is it everytime he puts his foot in his mouth, you come along and tell everyone what he means to say. When I said "they should be good" thats talking about present and or future. When el rancho, said should have he is talking about the past. They must have some real good history classes at el rancho, cause you guys love to talk about the past.
Now that Iam back I will head to Whittier high and see how they are doing. Good luck to the Del rio this year.

ToC used have quality teams when it began now they go after all the small schools, it is mediocre at best. Heard alot of complaints this season.

Swordsmen alum class of 83,

The changing of the "culture" at St. Paul has begun! D1 is the goal, and i guess the consensus is that changing the culture is the only way to get there.

Good luck!

~LAP

Anonymous (Pioneer Post)

And it's done wonders for their program over the years!!!!!

The goal of that is to try and reduce the possibilities of injuries. But the TOC is also one of the only tournaments that I know of that awards point on the defensive side of the ball as well. All in all it’s a great tournament with quality competition.

St Paul received 3 transfers from Lakewood Mayfair HS........Their speed will be a huge help for St Paul. Winning a title has helped get new, talented skill players to St Paul, the Swordsmen should be very tough.

I HEAR THE REASON WHY PIONEER WAS NOT IN THE TOC.THEY DONT LIKE THE RULES OF THE TOURMENT,RECEIVEING A POINT DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU CATCH THE BALL.THEY PREFER TO PLY IN TOURMENTS WHERE YOU HAVE GAME LIKE SITUATIONS,WATTS SUMMER GAMES,COVINA TRMTS WHERE THEY TOOK 3RD PLACE IN BOTH

Or get an education, get a good job, buy a house get gas and eat well. And still send your kid to a private school. Learn your priorities.

SP lost a few this year to due to financial considerations. Send your kid to a private school or fill up your car with gas and eat and pay the mortgage.

Once in awhile I read these blogs...and since I am a Jr All American Coach I sometimes comes across some of the boys I've coached. I did coach Josh Elkington (his 8th grade year)-I just remember his hair- he looked more like a surfer than a football player- and boy did we tease him for that- but he has skills and could hit hard. I remember how polite, quiet and well mannered he was and he was the only one to get the 4.0 Academic Award.

we called him "The Elk". I can't believe St. Paul let him go...Who let that happen?

Good Luck Elk !!

German Ramirez he is a good baseball player. He never started at SP in football so I wouldnt be to thrilled on getting him, he is an academic casualty.

On the subject of of St. Paul transfers -the only one that I heard about (my daughter was his classmate) was Josh Elkington. He's at La Habra. This kid has skills - I watched him at The Bishop Amat game- I just remembered he played both ways..impressive.and my daughter told me he was freshman of the year(4.0) and freshman captain. Thats the kind of boy a father whats his daughter to know...hahaha -- hey murray do you know if he is playing at La Habra?
Hey this kid is young - I predict by his Senior year we will be hearing a lot about this kid. This must be a hard lose for St. Paul.
Kids study hard!!!!

The DRL is loaded with good backs this year the way i would rank them is: 1. Turner the best back, 2. Enriquez, 3. Aldecoa, 4. Urquiza, 5. Botello(tho he is probably the best receiver in the league and best athlete)

Condor Mom

Nice shot!! 8Þ…..it’s all good!

Hey, CAL looked really good as well did Whittier at the TOC this weekend. It should be another interesting season in the DRL. It would have been nice to see the other 3 teams come out and show their stuff.

Yo Murray,

Interesting how you didnt comment on the Bishop Amat transfer. Anyways, from what I understand, Guillermo Ramirez, a linebacker from St. Paul is now at El Rancho. He played at St. Paul as a freshman, I am unaware if he is currently going to be a sophomore or junior. Murray, time to get a new source...;)

BIG RED,

I think most everyone at one time or another plays the shoulda coulda game. In fact, you were very bold on here speaking of the power of the Whittier program,and what they should be doing during the season before they ended their season like they did in 2001, 2002, and 2003...dead last in the del rio league. Yes, you can talk about how El Rancho was last in 2006, but everyone has a bad year. But a BAD DECADE? Their best year was 2006, when they came in third place. So what do we have to show for this decade? 6th, 6th, 6th, 4th, 5th, 3rd, 6th. Cmon Big Red, show me the money! ;)

BTW, I expect Marcus Aldecoa to get 1500 yards this season. Will see how the season progresses...

~LAP

Yo, SPHS alumni: Actually, I realize you were questioning a post by LAPreps, but this is for all the folks who are quick to spread news about St. Paul: From a highly creditable insider closely connected with El Rancho football, the Dons HAVE RECEIVED NO TRANSFERS from St. Paul for the coming season. People, there will be lots to talk about this season without jumping on unverified hearsay.

Could have, should have would have last october huh big red....

el rancho

Here we go again. Would have, could have, should have, but didn't.

Thats is some funny stuff rich in backs. Maybe one or two maybe could start for a pac 5 team but i really doubt more than that once again DRL teams should have plenty of of scouts cramming the stands looking at all that rich talent please.

yo murray...

i dont know if you remember but it was me that said it first...Aaron Turner will be amazing and records will be broke!...and stuff is realy starting to happen...he will go for over 2000 yards easily especialy with the no-name line that is going to be with out a doubt the best in the the DRL and among the top in the area and division...aaron will go D1 and should be on the cover of the news paper come all area time...

and elrancho: even attempting to compare aldecoa with Arron turner is stupid....while Aldecoa is a ok RB he is no where close to Turner on an athletic level...speed...strength...or heart so if your gonna write about a player that you probobly didnt play against or never will...its probably smarter to keep your opinion to yourself cause you are waaaayyy off on this one!

LAPreps..

What transfers has El Rancho gotten from St. Paul?

el rancho people the only reason why you came back against pioneer, they had some of the 2nd string people in on defense

LAP:

Alright, I see where you are going BUT if that was the scenario, then Cal might have played a different game. Granted, they wanted to go undefeated in league and at that point, throughout the season; however, it a moot point for them in winning league that night.

The head coach was not that concerned with the game and was already concentrating on play-offs the following week (something I could NEVER agree with!). He even said a few days before the game that it might be good for them to lose so they would come back with a vengence!?

So El Rancho did win but Cal still had league wrapped up--and the rest is history.

Condor Mom,

I think what El Rancho means is that had the Dons not missed a late field goal against Pioneer, they would have won the contest, and with defeating Cal Hi the following week, would have been the outright Del Rio League Champs last year.

As for me, I am not sure how things will turn out. Lots of question marks in comparison to last year. The Dons return lots of athletic players this year, but imho, I believe the majority of their talent are sophomores and juniors this year. Will see how quickly they develop. They have only five starters returning on both offense and defense. They also have some transfers that have come in from St. Paul and Bishop Amat. Most unproven players, but will see how things turn out.

My thoughts,

LAP

just curious...
let me explain it slow for you.
garcia , bratcher , looked fast.
they are the running backs.
i also mentioned if we have some blocking we should be good.
are you telling me you cant tell the quickness and speed of a player in passing league?

just curious or just stupid?

elrancho:

What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?

While El Rancho did beat Calhi in the last game of the season, Cal outright won league last year! And I'm not even going to bring up the year before and the league title (You're welcome, Chieftain Alumni! lol)

NOW, this year--I think it's up for grabs. The healthiest team will probably win. But even with Pioneer's offensive possibilities, they will still crumble under the pressure.

Turner was the focus of that offense thats why he had a good ypc avg, Aldecoa was the focus of the offense only the 2nd half of the season, in those last few games he averaged more ypc than turner. Aldecoa is the best back in this league, Aldecoa goes for over 1000 easily this year in a very balanced ER offense. ER will win league this year, claiming what should have been ours last season had it not been for a missed field goal.

Tres......how does a passing league tell you how good a teams running game can be?????? Running passing routes and running the rock don't even compare. Just curious

Thanks Condor Mom for the info and clearing that up for Area Football Fan. I wasn’t sure of his name but I did get to see him in the JV game last year vs SF. While being smaller than Nick I thought he was pretty athletic and someone who could progress into a very good back.

elrancho – stop the pouting already. I’m sure Murray’s option, and it is his opinion and you are welcome to yours, comes from talking to the coaches around the area and from what I have heard as well Turner is considered among the best by most staffs. While SF struggled last year to find a balanced offence due to a young team and young o-line Turner showed signs of brilliance and as senior should only get better. If SF can mount even a minimal passing game to keep defenses honest Turn should run wild this year!!!!! But in my opinion the DRL has a number of good back and it should be an exciting year. ER will be tough as always.

Here’s to wishing everyone stays health and August come quickly!!!!

st.paul
at thursdays passing league,garcia ,bratcher,and dante looked very impressive.
very fast
if our small offensive line can open up some holes,we should be very tough at the running game.
TE- duff and QB- lopez ,also looked very good.

GO ST PAUL!!!!!

Area Football Fan said:
To Chieftain Alumni: Mr. Grigsby has since moved on to better and bigger things in life, He's a running back at the University of Arizona Wildcats of the PAC 10. This upcoming year will be his Sophmore year.

Dude, he's asking about Nick's younger brother.

Chieftain Alumni:

"Little Grigsby" is named Terris Jones and is called TJ. He is a Junior and should still be at Cal but he was even smaller than his brother, so his playing time might be limited by that fact. He was brought up for playoffs last year but the other JV running back, DJ Gamino, was in front of him.

Area Football Fan:

The above statement should clarify for you who Chieftain Alumin was referring to in his post.

Yo, DVE: To have a ground game that 'will be even better than last year,' the Cardinals need to come up with a replacement that is better than Jonathan Quezada was. And that's a tall order. However, Daniel Enriquez may be good enough to do his job AND make up for the loss of Quezada. Only time will tell.

Yo, elrancho: Turner was one of the area's best a year ago, even when he wasn't 100 percent healthy. This year, he's bigger, stronger and faster, hence 'arguably the area's best RB.' On top of that, he has as good a work ethic and commitment to training and preparation as anyone around. And it's paid off for him.

To Chieftain Alumni: Mr. Grigsby has since moved on to better and bigger things in life, He's a running back at the University of Arizona Wildcats of the PAC 10. This upcoming year will be his Sophmore year.

Murrary,

Watch out for the WHITTIER ground game they will be even better than last year! I'll call you in August!

Arguably the best RB..... because hes from Santa Fe right murray....

Yo Murray

Why no mention of little Grigsby at Cal? Is he still there?