Area teams: Beware of pitfalls
Joshua Quezada returns to key La Habra's always potent ground game
The majority of area high school football teams begin their seasons Sept. 12 in Week 1, but five local schools open play a week earlier, Sept. 5, in Week 0.
Getting the quick jump on the season are El Rancho (at West Covina), La Mirada (against visiting Tesoro), Montebello (which travels to face Norwalk), St. Paul (with a crucial opener against Servite at Cerritos College), and Whittier Christian (playing host to Alberta Canada's Cochrane High School).
Four of those games begin at 7 p.m., with St. Paul playing at 7:30.
In putting together the schedules that will run in this newspaper's annual football editiion that will be published later this month, some interesting points came to light.
-- Defending Del Rio League champion California plays four Thursday night games, giving coach Jim Arnold and his staff an opportunity for first-hand scouting future opponets, while providing those opponets equal opportunity to check out the Condors.
-- Cantwell Sacred Heart plays four of five non-Camino Real League games on the road, including a major test against St. Paul Sept. 26.
-- El Rancho might prefer to have its bye week (Oct. 03) after facing St. Francis rather than meeting the Black Knights (Oct. 10) just before opening league play.
-- La Habra faces a huge challenge in Week 2 against host South Hills, gets a 'breather' against Westminster, then takes on visitiing Los Alamitos before traveling to San Clemente.
-- La Mirada begins against Tesoro, which has become a perennial Orange County contender.
-- La Serna opens with four games at home, then is on the road for four before facing biggest arch California in Week 9.
-- Montebello's biggest challenge is whether the Oilers can rebound from a two-win season, but their schedule appears better suited to make it easier than more difficult.
-- Pioneer has four road games among five nonleague games, and the fifth is against playoff contender Cypress. No break there.
-- Santa Fe has four road games in league play, although the one with Pioneer is on their common field which is like a home game for both.
-- Schurr's six road games include three in Almont League, one of them against co-preseason favorite Alhambra, against crosstown rival Montebello, and then always-scary Bell Gardens.
-- St. Paul, nothing new here: With Servite, St. John Bosco, Loyola and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame leading up to the Mission League opener with visiting St. Francis, the Swordmen's road is the area's most treacherous.
-- Whittier's schedule takes on added import with the replacement of Firebaugh by San Gabriel Valley member Paramount, which should help prepare the Cardinals for a league stretch that finishes with three road games.
-- Whittier Christian opened last season with an eight-hour trip to play Mammoth. This year, the Heralds will prep on the road against division champion St. Margaret's and San Luis Obispo's Mission Prep before making the jump from the Alpha League to the more difficult Olympic League, where they'll face Cerritos Valley Christian, LA Baptist and Village Christian.
sf people how are you going to run the ball when you are seing a 8 man frt ,without a proven quarterback and about your so called all league te what did he do last year,nothing thats what i thought
Big Tex,
Mr. Murray is correct. Tesoro is going to be a good early test for the Mats.
I got to see La Habra play Tesoro at the Edison Passing Tourney. Tesoro is pretty sound. They seem to have a plenty of talent.
Yo, Big Tex -- It won't take La Mirada long to find out where the program stands under its new leadership. The visiting Titans, who won back-to-back CIF Southern Division (IX) championships in 2004 and 2005, moved in 2006 from the Pacific Coast League to the South Coast League and the Pac-5 Division (Div. I) and slipped to 1-9 and 0-5 in 2006 but recovered last season to finish 7-4 overall and 5-0 to win the league title before losing to Mater Dei in the first round of the playoffs. Actually, Tesoro is a solid program in nearly every sport. A big challenge for La Mirada, but a great opener for the Mats.
what other standout besides Aaron Turner is coming back??? Crouch was a decent player but he has not been a standout the way Turner has.
Any word on how La Mirada stacks up against Tesoro. I have heard a lot of positives with the new coaching staff.
so according to ....Mr. big shot "elrancho"
SF has only one standout player comin back this season...but dont worry ladies and gentlemen he probably just hit his head a little too hard as a child...not only will SF bring back the DIVISIONS BEST offensive weapon in aaron turner but they return 4 o-linemen that will be without a doubt the BEST! and return 3 D-linmen that will also be the BEST! but no one knows about adrian lopez....and if you dont well it wont be for long....he will be all area on defense at line backer or strong safty and will be one of the top recievers in the DRL....they have nikolai crouch at TE/DE and will make all leage in both and all area in one
NO ONE will be able to keep up with the chiefs in leauge this year so start talking about the playoffs because thats what realy matters......who wants to brag about winning leauge at the end of a season? you can talk and talk and talk some more but at the end of the day not one leauge team even compares to SF and its not being cocky its being truthfull so all haters can talk but remember....football is played on the feild not a keyboard
SANTA FE WILL RUN AWAY WITH LEAUGE!
so TRY and prove me wrong!
Hey "hmmmm",
I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be talking about St. Paul and their transfers if whatever school you root for got any transfers. Stop being bitter.
Here's what Fred Robledo has to say about the Southeast Division(on his blog):
Southeast Division (Div. VII)
1. South Hills, 2. Diamond Ranch, 3. Charter Oak, 4. Muir, 5. California, 6. West Covina, 7. San Gabriel, 8. Pioneer, 9. La Serna, 10. Schurr, 11. Los Altos, 12. Pasadena, 13. Alhambra, 14. Bonita, 15. Wilson, 16. Burroughs, 17. Santa Fe, 18. Arcadia, 19. Whittier, 20. Bell Gardens.
Fred's take: Just what we've been talking about, the East San Gabriel Valley starting 1, 2. 3, and if I added my two cents, Bonita would be in the top five.
Mr. Murray--what's your take?
It's amazing how la serna can not only get one but two tranfers in one year for one sport ?.I must remind everyone about the jordan scam that everyone including cif turned their backs on. he transfered for football only and then ran back to schurr for the baseball season,how does that work when he already played varsity in both sports,oh thats right maybe hardship or bullship. who is in charge of the la serna recruiting or is it friends of la serna financed.
el ranchos is the REAL DAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jonathan Montoya - Started all year at Center as a Sophomore.
Victor Hernandez - Started a few games at Guard as a Sophomore.
Albert Arias - Started half the season at Guard.
Edwin Sanchez - Got a good amount of playing time on the line.
We will be ok on the line, we are not going to be small like most of you think, there is some really good size coming in this season.
We graduated Berney, Carrillo and Schaefer, they were good linemen with good size, but they were always inconsistent.
Yes yes yes, keep saying that I am delusional and moronic, you guys told me the exact same things last season and when it was all said and done we knocked off the champs in their home field. Im sure Drew Harris remembers getting his ankles broken by Marcus Aldecoa.
El Rancho is 5-1 all time against Schurr high school... next!!!!
ER has just as much talent returning as anyone else in the league. Santa Fe's only standout returning is Turner. Cal Hi only has Urquiza and Avila. Pioneer has Palacios and Botello. La Serna has Burke. Whittier has Enriquez. ER has Aldecoa, Galan, and Harshbarger returning. Just like all the teams in the area, we all have some good returning players and a lot of unproven talent.
Marcus Aldecoa is going to run wild on this league, had he been given the chance to carry the rock last season he would have ran wild against everyone, too bad he only got the rock against Pioneer and Cal High. Gone are the days of ER having only 35 players on the team, we have a lot of talent that will shine. Adrian Sanchez has become an absolute beast, Bryan Turner is going to explode this season. Anthony Ayala is going to make a great impact. We were young on the lines and we were young on defense. I expect Josh Perea to shine at QB. Our past couple of Freshmen classes have been excellent, that talent will come through this season.
Ok here we go
hmmmm
nice picks but heres want I think this early.
SF- Good call
Cal hi- One RB and LB does not put you next to SF
Pioneer- All offence. One defensive player returning. This is there last chance to get in playoffs.
El Rancho- 4 out of 5 OL gone. #1wr gone, QB gone, 1/2 def gone.
La Serna- Burke and two returning WR'S, two big fullback type RB'S, OL and DL lost a lot.
Whittier- More to come.
Swordsmen Alum
Stop calling out Div-7 schools. You are a Div-3 school. Why don't you call out you call out some Div-1 schools you can beat. Oh yea there are none. Yes we know you have the toughest preseason and league, thats why you are Div-3. Is Servite's homecoming, game one.
elrancho
Aldecoa will run wild.
He's going to have to with that little line in front of him, he won't be able to find a hole.
elrancho. the real one the fake one...whoever...
lets keep it realistic, any program that goes through that many coaching changes suffers. Giving my prediction of 4th and above La Serna was being nice, I think most if not everyone, including your own fan base will agree that there is no way ER wins league this year. Too much talent on other teams in league.
and yes St. Paul always plays the toughest if not one the toughest schedules around. Good for you, but I pose a question, who replaces at least 10 starters and defense and wins back to back titles. Lets not forget that the defense won that title and they are all gone, along with the two players who were CIF players of the year in RB Haynes and LB Flores. Or did SP get more tranfers to replace last years tranfers that carried the team?
Yup, that’s the real “elrancho”! You can’t fake those moronic and delusional statements!!!!
EL RANCHO IS OVERRATED THEY BARELY BEAT MONTEBELLO BY A POINT AND THERES NO WAY THEY BEAT CAL HIGH BOTTOM LINE SCHURR WOULD TAKE EL RANCHO NO PROBLEM GO SPARTANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You dam imposter, I didnt write that. No way do I give any team other than ER the #1 spot in league.
Del Rio league predictions
1. El Rancho - Aldecoa will run wild!!!
2-6. fight it out kiddos, you cant touch us...
Lets not forget about the Defending 2007 CIF Champs: St. Paul. They play the toughest Preseason: Servite, St. John Bosco, Loyola, and Notre Dame Sherman Oaks. Those are four Div. 1 teams. Then the toughest League: Alemany, St. Francis, and Chaminade. Lets not forget about the Division 3 contenders: Dominquez Compton and Culver City who should compete with the Swordsmen for the 08 title. So please dont start saying these area schools have tough schedules. BTW I would love to see some of these area schools WANT to schedule St. Paul for a preseason game. Only EL Rancho and Pioneer have stepped up but then again they are great homecoming game blowouts.
Here are my predictions:
1. Santa Fe (The best talent in the league, year in and year out. If they had any coaching they would have 5 rings by now.)
2. Cal Hi (Too much experience and talent in the backfield.)
3. Pioneer (QB is good and they play a tough preseason schedule.)
4. ER (Good kids, but 3 head coaches in 4 years is difficult on any program.)
5. La Serna (When was the last time in any league a passing team was consistent enough to be good?)
6. Whittier (Don't get down more than 10 points in that offense because there is no coming back.)
So La Serna is going to finish second to last???They return 11 starters and a qb. They have 2 returning wide receivers and burke's brother who scored over 15 td's as a freshman. All of there receivers are over 6 foot tall. I also heard they have a transfer tailback from the Inland Empire and a wr/db from La Mirada. They return a 6,5 and 320 lbs linemen. Replacing Jordan at tailback is based on what offense they run. I doubt they will give anybody the ball that many times. They are big, fast and experienced at the skill positions. I think this is the year they win it just like they did as freshman. Cal returns a good back and a linebacker but no linemen. Eight in the box and good luck passing. Santa Fe will be good again based on there undersized and inexperienced qb, along with Pioneer and maybe El Rancho. Sophmores do not win league seniors do. Follow the seniors and you will find the favorite.
1. La Sena
2. Santa Fe
3. Cal
4. Pioneer
5. El Rancho
6. Whittier
Wow, Cal preps has it like this
1. cal
2. la serna
3. Pioneer
4. Santa Fe
5. Whittier
6. El Rancho
I would like too see some of the Blog's predictions. what are your predictions Murray?
here are mine and why.
Tie 1. Santa Fe and Cal- Santa Fe best O-line and D-line along with the best running back in the area in Aaron Turner, as long as QB manages the game wisely and avoids mistakes when called upon SF should regain what the perenial power at the top of DRL.
Cal- not too many returning starters but very good players returners at RB (moving to FB) and the LB who was all-area last year. Also a solid running game TJ jones, this team is very capable of repeating
3. Pioneer- Palacios and Botello will keep the Titans in the chase but this Pioneer team is at least a playoff team.
4. El Rancho- El rancho followers would say this team is better than last year, when they (according to "elrancho") would have won league, they may surprise people again, or maybe this year the DRL will not take them likely.
5. La Serna- Will have a great passing game with Burke returning at the helm. The question is who steps up and fills the huge hole The Jordan Family left behind.
6. Whittier- Great Returning RB, but One player can't win them all.
Condor Mom
Thanks for the info update on TJ Jones. I actually saw him a couple of times at SF's passing league and he looked pretty darn quick. He also looked like he bulked up a bit from last year as well. In seeing him this summer I was a bit surprised he wasnt mentioned in that backs blog.
Del Rio League Followers:
Thought you might be interested in this assessment of the league!
http://www.calpreps.com/2008/9_Del_Rio.htm
Hey Chieftain Alumni:
Just wanted to give you an update on info from previous blog topic on running backs:
TJ Jones (aka Grigsby's lil brother) is the starting tailback for Cal with Matt Urquiza as fullback.
Of course, all could be subject to change when the pads are put on, but I think the Cal staff already knows the type of player TJ is, so it probably won't change much. Cal has several pretty small tailbacks (and for that matter fullbacks too) but TJ beats them all on speed. So the job is pretty much his to lose.
We"ll see how it all plays out!
Yo, SP; Paramount's record over the last seven seasons is not impressive (22-49 overall, 8-23 in league including 1-9, 0-5 and 2-8, 1-4 and 6-4, 1-3 last place finishes the last three years), but the league (San Gabriel Valley) the Pirates play in, is. As for 'used to be a bruising program,' Paramount's still is. The Pirates figure to be bigger physically than Whittier, and from that standpoint, hopefully the Cardinals won't pay a physical price that would jeopardize their season goals, including a chance to compete in the Del Rio League.
Its St.Paul-area FOOTBALL that is playing the toughest FOOTBALL around. lol ;)
Hey Murray, how has Paramount fared in the SGVL recently? Any idea? They used to be a bruising program.
AGAIN! Whittier area FOOTBALL is playing some of the thoughest FOOTBALL around! GOOD luck to all the schools and especially WHITTER HIGH my Alma. Co.92 GO BIG RED!