Football coaches around the Valle Vista League take on a certain tone when addressing Pomona High School’s prospects this season. As was the case last season, the growing amout of talent at the school is aknowledged but the lack of results rings true as well.
Of course, 2011 will be just the second season at Pomona for head coach Anthony Rice, who won CIF titles at Colony in 2006 and 2007. The results in year two will be a much more revealing indicator of where the Red Devils are headed as they try to break a seven-year postseason drought.
“Our expectations are to be better than last year,” Rice said. “We want to make sure we’re in the running for the playoffs. I hope we’ve got a good shot because we’ve got a pretty good team.”
Pomona finished with a decent looking 5-5 mark last season but went just 2-4 in the Valle Vista League. To their credit, the Red Devils lost by just a touchdown to league champion Covina before winning their final two league games albeit against the teams that finished at the bottom of the league.
Pomona will be integrating a pair of transfers at key positions as former Rancho Verde running back Caris Yarbrough and former Hacienda Heights Wilson quarterback Brandon Schrieman step into starting positions in the spread offense.
It is a defense returning seven starters that Rice hopes will carry the team to its first playoff appearance since 2003. The linebacking corps that was already the strength of the team with Fabian Abraham and Donovan Weldon added Colony transfer Michael Todd to the mix.
