During the first half of last week’s Rosemead-Monrovia game, I walked the home sidelines keeping stats. During halftime, I headed over to the visitors side and talked with a few people before the second half got underway.

Some quick observations:

For one, there were WAY too many people on Rosemead’s sideline. Among the masses there I saw three Schurr football players, some assistants from San Gabriel and Alhambra and way too many fans that needed to be in their seats.

Walking the sideline was also St. Paul head football coach Pete Gonzalez. But what struck me as odd was St. Paul defensive coordinator Gil Jimenez on the rise with a Rosemead assistant coach. Jimenez was yelling down plays to the Panthers D-coordinator. I, along with my colleague Andrew J. Campa, saw Jimenez relay plays for the better part of the second half. Others from the Mid-Valley News also saw him and it struck them as odd, too. We wondered if there was some sort of CIF rule barring coaches from other teams helping out. We couldn’t think of one but brought up whether it was unethical. It’s one thing for a former coach walking the sideline to yell out plays but it’s another thing when a coach is up on the high-rise just short of putting on headphones. So if Rosemead wins does that mean St. Paul gets credit for the win, too? That was the initial thought when I found out Jimenez was a coach at St. Paul, but then the Mid-Valley News guys and I figured Jimenez was probably an old friend of Koffler.

I brought up the subject with Rosemead coach Matt Koffler earlier this morning. Turns out Jimenez was part of Rosemead’s 1982 championship-winning team, the lone year the Panthers won a CIF football title. As an alumni, Jimenez simply was helping out the school where he once played. Well, that explains it, I guess.