FOOTBALL: Early primaries are in for CIF football

Philly B

If you are talking about last year (2006)... TC beat La Canada...not by much, but they beat them.

PhillyB

I was at the Monrovia Game and what I wittnesed was a much better team effort than last year. The defense at least swarmed to the ball on every play. Last years team beat Montclair 20-0 haveing made the final two scores in the last five minutes with supposedly much better talent. Duarte has a pretty good squad but like always they've been exposed. My sources from their game said that the offensive line and defensive line needed 911 this year and he's a real Duarte Fan. I think if all 11 players on the field play well against 2 Duarte players we will see simillar results from last year. The Falcons still have Chris Harris but the Wildcats have everybody else.

New York,
I cant believe Im saying this but.... I really think that this week will actually be a good rivalry game at least the first half. Dont knbow how many starters duarte will have from last years squad but if its alot than this game could make a real good statement of how duarte can hang with the big dogs of the rio honda league (No I am not saying the rio hondo is a tough league) But the way they took care of la canada when they were runnning all over people with peterson, remember its was the same la cananda that beat T.C. but lost to monrovia. So I think if Duarte has returners in the line and basically the offense it might be a real good showdown between the two schools. At first I wasnt interested in going, but a friend of mine pleaded his case by saying that this is sort of our own turkey tussle in the mon-duarte community. So I was convinced and I will be there friday night. I wasnt impressed watching the game on Kgem against Montclair, Duarte is way better than that I think. they are some big questions at the Qb position and our defense can be better

This was a good warmup for Monrovia. Duarte will be tougher than Montclair. We'll take the win though.

I was right. PHS was all hype.

GOOD JOB M-Town. I knew you guys where tough. Anyone that doubted them, made a mistake. They'll get Duarte for sure, but I hope they lose to my apaches.

Tha Stang Fan,

Negative!

If MHS played HS tonight, I will go for MHS as a COACH, but deep inside if PHS would beat MHS, it would make me happy as a Bulldog. For example, when my son played at Arroyo HS a few seasons ago, Arroyo beat PHS 3 out of 4 times. I was happy for my son, but I was happy when HS beat Arroyo in 2004 at PCC because I heard the crap at home by my wife (stang) and my son for 3 years...

hahaha, I had the last laugh.

DAWWG

I promise you won't hear me defending HS often, however, I believe mr. mustang and Anonymous 2:25 are completely wrong about HS. Of course they won't beat Muir, but they will win more than three games and they will make the playoffs. I guarantee it. They do have some semblance of talent over there, that I can assure you.

As I have mentioned in other posts they will beat H-W tonight, West Valley, Hoover, Glendale, CV, and Burbank and they will lose in the first round of the playoffs.

As far as "slaying demons" and doubters goes, well good luck with that dawg 87 style. If six wins is a "glorious season," what superlative could you possibly use for a deep run into the playoffs.

Dawwg:

It must be an awesome feeling to see PHS' finest up on the blog. I've got to assume that even if you didn't coach at MHS you would probably still root for them to beat HS if the two happened to play. What a classy following the dogs have.

Pasadena high school will not be able to tackle Willie youngblood.he will rush for over 200 yrads.He is a proven player.who does pasadena have thats proven.The best player they had in a long left do to graduation but honestly their record was4-6 last yearare something like that.To me if your losing games your not a proven player( gamebreakers win games).T he have talent but the players are not using it.I have the most respect for coach Mills and his staff they have changed alot from recent years.but still not playoff contenders....!!!sorry!!!!!

pasadena will not win more then 3 games and will never see the bell again.they will only hear it ring after muir take it back home

burbank sports, why would la salle start supporting the frontier league? WE BLEED RED AND BLUE. lancer pride!

I just received an e-mail regarding one of my son's teammates Todd Golper with an article on Scout.Com

here it is:

Because their 2008 class is filling up, UCLA is starting to develop relationships with the top prospects in the class of 2009 and one who they will keep a close eye on is Arcadia (Calif.) fullback/linebacker Todd Golper, who is close friends and teammates with UCLA's newest commit, Kevan Walker...

With UCLA’s recruiting class of 2008 almost entirely booked solid, the Bruin staff has begun to focus attention on the class of 2009, already securing a verbal from cornerback Marlon Pollard and having offered quarterback Matt Barkley.

A prospect that they’re beginning to keep close tabs on is Arcadia (Calif.) fullback/linebacker Todd Golper (6-1, 225).

Golper played on the defensive line as a sophomore for the Apaches and will play tight end this fall, where he’ll be a target of newest Bruin commit, Kevan Walker, but Golper said the UCLA coaches have talked with him about coming in as a fullback, though linebacker isn’t out of the question.

“They said they want to watch my junior year (at linebacker), but right now, they’re looking at me as a fullback because fullback is more natural for me,” said Golper. “Fullback would be a great spot for me. But I think they are open (to recruiting him as a linebacker). I talked to Coach (Chuck) Bullough and he said he was glad I came out as a linebacker at the UCLA camp. Honestly, it doesn’t matter, as long as I can get on the field.”

Golper camped at UCLA for the 1-Day Camp, his first real exposure to the UCLA coaches, though because of his relationship with Walker, one of his closest friends, he knows DeWayne Walker quite well. The camp, in fact, was Golper’s first real heavy action as he paced himself coming back from back pain.

“That was my first day I came back from being cleared,” said Golper. “I gave everything I had and actually did pretty well. I hadn’t run in two months. I went up against Derrick Coleman a lot and I have a lot of respect for him. I got to meet him at Anthony Dye’s and we talked about going against each other.”

Golper attended a BBQ at Dye’s, where Walker felt the nudge to flip from Minnesota to UCLA, and being around the future recruits of UCLA gave Golper even more of a desire to come to UCLA.

“It was great there. I talked with Damien Holmes. We played against Colton in the playoffs so we talked a lot about that game. I talked with E.J. Woods, Nelson Rosario, Derrick Coleman. Anthony Dye and his dad are just great people.”

Golper’s father attended UCLA for law school and his brother is starting law school in Westwood as well, and he grew up a UCLA fan, going to games at the Rose Bowl and bowl games on the road. So an offer from the Bruin staff would mean a lot.

“I’d have to say I’d take a couple of weeks to think about it (if they offered) but I definitely think I’d jump on board,” said Golper. “It’s my dream school.”

UCLA isn’t the only school that Golper is hearing from, as Colorado, Texas, Washington, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Syracuse have all been writing and Harvard has also been sending a lot of mail, the most according to Golper.

Having watched Walker go through the recruiting process has been eye-opening for Golper.

“Watching Kevan, it’s nice to have someone there, to say the right things and do the right things,” said Golper. He’s been like a brother to me and he’s also been helping in getting my name out there. It’s nice to have someone to look out with.”

And the two are developing some chemistry on the field, now that Walker has moved to quarterback from receiver and Golper to tight end from fullback.

“Its kind of funny, I really wasn’t his favorite target, but our Santa Fe passing tournament, at the end, like 90% of the passes were coming towards me. We seem to be connecting well and seem to know exactly where we want to go. We have the connections.”

The Apaches begin practice on Monday, and opens with longtime rival St. Francis of La Canada, and Golper said he’s feeling as good as he has all year.

“My back’s completely healthy,” said Golper. “I’ve been working out twice a week with a lot of explosion and plyometrics. I was out for two months but I feel great, and I’m real excited about practice starting. I’ll play both ways, kind of an H-back role at tight end, where they can get me in open space. And I’m staying at linebacker. I’ll play middle, but I have to know all of the positions and all the spots.”

Golper was a Second Team All-Pacific League selection as a sophomore in 2006, and finished the season with 66 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.

Academically, Golper has a 3.5 GPA and will take the SAT for the first time this fall.

Philly B, I'm not sure what point they wanted to make but that was sure a dark/frustrating time for us alumni. That debacle ruined what likely would have been the most talented Jr/Sr class combo ( a year later) in a very long-time. A couple seniors went to Muir, some juniors dispursed to Duarte, Claremont and who knows where else and a sophomore went to Fremont. Some guys sadly just stopped playing at all. That was a huge blow overall.

I hope no school ever has to go through something like that.

The Daily News top 20 in the SFV/SCV area. with one SGV team.

1. Notre Dame (11-1) -- Loaded from top to bottom

2. Hart (8-5) -- Get ready for the Delano Howell show

3. Birmingham (11-3) -- Very difficult nonleague schedule

4. Oaks Christian (15-0) -- Has won 46 games in row

5. Crespi (6-5) -- Best Crespi team since Russell White era

6. Canyon (12-2) -- Coming off CIF State Div. I Bowl championship

7. Westlake (12-1) -- The Marmonte League will be tough this year

8. Palmdale (9-2) -- Lots of Div. I-caliber talent

9. Chaminade (9-4) -- Will new coach Harris pass as often?

10. Rio Mesa (10-2) -- Should make a major impact

11. Newbury Park (4-6) -- Vying for first league title in eight years

12. Thousand Oaks (7-3) -- This team scares people

13. Harvard Westlake (10-3) -- Another 10-win season likely

14. Saugus (6-6) -- Will go as far as RB Zirbel takes them

15. Alemany (4-6) -- No team will be more improved

16. St. Francis (6-5) -- 12 consecutive playoff appearances

17. Oak Park (12-2) -- Must find a way to defeat Oaks Christian

18. San Fernando (7-3) -- Ready for a return to the glory days

19. Loyola (4-6) -- Coming off 1st losing season in 26 years

20. Agoura (6-4) -- Can beat anyone on given day

Good. Keep drinking it.

WOW!!!! Everyone is so feisty!!!!! All I want to say is Pioneer WILL ROCK YOU!!!! THEY WILL ROCK YOU!!!!

Dawg house read please...

PHS likes to play come from behind football. That's how they do it. It worked against westlake last year only, but PHS needs to play 4 quarters in order to make it somewhere this year. Last year arcadia jumped to a 21-0 lead at half. PHS fought back to make it respectable, however spotting 21 points is just too much to handle. Until proven otherwise, PHS is just hype. And, Dawg house 07, when PHS get their teeth knocked out how are they going to respond constructively? TELL ME... in english please, not 'Dena talk. Tell me KEY players that you think that will step it up. No nick names please. People around here don't hang out enough at Victory to know who Tutu, LuLu,YoYo, Big Pimpin, Bingo, Smokey, Hold'em, Pork, Bacon, Mustard, Grease, Nasdaq, and Porsche are.

Who's are gamer? Honestly, you guys really beat yourselves b/c you run hat stupid empty set offense and 4 wide all the time. Crockum runs around like a chicken with its head cut off and then he throw hail mary passes that float like ducks in the sky.

In '05 arcadia beat you 53-3, teeth got knocked out, and PHS tucked their tails.

BTW, Monrovia would have destroyed you last year. Arcadia is a common factor. Sorry to burst your bubble. Reality does bite, huh?

now that's what i'm talkin about dawg 87 style. i been trying to tell these knuckleheads to be on the look out for some dangerous dawgs roaming the streets of pasadena! they dont know. its are time baby! T, TRump, TUTU, Ray yall gonna bring home the ship back where it belongs at the Dawgs house. ive been waithing for some REAL dawgs to jump on this blog and run these stangs, cats and fake dawgs outta here. yeah 'dawwg' i'm talkin bout u. stay over in monrovia, u aint welcome over here with are new mentalitty, that nice guy nonsense dont work. whatchu wishin the stanks luck 4 anyway. u a buster, dog. and stang fan always talkin that crap i can't wait for nov. 8 oooweee its gonna get ugly for yall. ARR!!!ARR!!!ARR!! oh and new york the kool-aide is deicious and its as red as the blood u will bake in (thanx 4 that one '87 style)

The Kool aid is just about right! It's on! No need to talk play starts tomarrow!!!!!

Either they are serving some VERY strong koolade at Victory Park or PHS football has undergone a MAJOR transformation. It would be great if PHS becomes competitive. It would only be a good thing for the WSGV to have another strong program.

Frank P....
Burroughs got hammered in the opening round last season-no question about that. The IE schools are similiar to the Foothill League teams we used to face and neither Burbank school fared too well against those.
"On paper" Burroughs looks like the team to beat in the Pacific, but I'm not sold on them. I'm looking forward to seeing how Pasadena does against HW and the other opening games before I'll wave the Indian pom poms.

also, i've been meaning to ask what happened to burroughs in the playoffs last year. going into the playoffs as the #1 seed and losing in the first round. they lost to eventual champ Colony but wasnt the score like 41-7?

im glad your back burbanksports. its gonna be another fun year with the burbank side of the pacific league well represented.

Stang Fan,
The DOGS are ahead of Muir because, you guys have a first year varsity player at QB (Ruben aka Bingo)! I seen the Stangs practice and they have a good squad, but the Dogs are better at key positions. I understand the Muir mentality but, I assure you with "Bingo" at QB he will never beat the Dogs! That's why he transferred! Mills, tried to put the young man on varsity last year and he couldn't handle it and I'm not saying he wasn't good enough. He is very undisciplined and I know how you Muir people think he will change and I believe he will too, it just won't be to the magnitude of winning the Pacific league. There is no need to talk smack because, we haven't beat Arcadia in 10 years so I can understand you being upset about our #13 ranking which doesn't mean anything. We have a lot of demons to slay and I'm glad we have doubters, "but in your own blood you'll bake and we won't stop until we put you Stangs and Apachees in your freakin graves"! We are for real it's going to be a glorious season!!!!!!

burbanksports,

25 returining seniors, i understand that but how do you expect to replace the RB in Wiggins sp? and #32. Also, wasnt the offensive lineman of the year from Burroughs also?

how do you expect to replace those critical spots? Wiggins and #32 won a lot of games on their own.

Well you did not expect the reigning Pacific League champ to be a pushover, did you?

Some Burroughs info...
After finishing 9-2 last season and gaining the top seed in the Central Division before stumbling in the first round of the playoffs, Burroughs has 25 seniors on this year's squad, which should mean a wealth of experience.

Quarterback Corey Howard, a 6-foot-3 pocket passer, will direct the offense after throwing for 1,487 yards last season. Howard is hearing from several IvyLeague schools as well as Portland State and UC Davis. Howard's main targets will be Andrew De La Loza and Chris Morris, a terrific athlete
according to Knoop. Linebackers Kyle Budrick and Jacob Meza will lead the defense and massive Sebastian Valenzuela (6-3, 300pounds) will anchor the line with Garrett Roland

I hope so fan. You clearly have an insider's view. I hope Griff sticks around a while.

Eventhough M-town is not ranked, they are number 1 and 2 in the midvalley. Let's not kid ourselves... Monrovia still has the best home grown talent in the East/West SGV and good coaches like Damon Griffen who will make a huge impact this year.

Well BigA,
I'm sure Arcadia is much improved over last year with their key guys having more experience (although walker is not an experienced QB). I think this will matchup will turn into the great rivalry that it's suppose to be.

Sorry..I meant their are still spaces on the Frontier Bandwagon available. Drove by Pioneer HS today and it was stuck on the brain.
I know the La Salle fans will support the Frontier League this season....

Good to see Bell Jeff at #9. I'd love to see a Maranatha vs Bell Jeff playoff game here in Burbank.

Hey Philly B- long time no see here...
How about that Pioneer League....Spaces now available on the bandwagon.
Fillmore will sink the fastest-Villanova Prep will beat them and grab their playoff spot. Santa Clara is a little too high as is Bishop Diego.

New York,

Well thats good news for Monrovia! Bad news for the Apaches. That's a great point...I don't have a copy of the game but I do remember the D-line being blown into the backers before they even had a chance to read the play. (Great O-Line play by Monrovia)

I'm hoping for a great game between the cats and apaches.

I cant believe Monrovia is ranked 12 in the division, but I guess thats something monrovia can look at as motivation, because when we were ranked up high I think you could see aliitle bit of not having to worry about much, with the ranking as it is, I cant wait for monrovia to get duarte and beat them. I mean Monrovia hasnt lose to Duarte since 2001 when a bunch of wildcats went to the falcons to prove a point to garrison. but they did come close I think it was 2004-05 at duarte but other than that Duarte has been hyped up but I doubt that monrovia will have trouble with the falcons, I think they got that high ranking for what they did to La canada. But I can respect the fact of Temple City being ranked that high they did win league and all, and plus this week 0 Im sure this we'll change dramtatically before the league play, because we'll play La Salle by then and hopefully beat them, I dont wanna make predictions I cant back up but in that game monrovia should be undefeated. I've never heard anything about beckman out in Irvine but we'll see

I cant believe Monrovia is ranked 12 in the division, but I guess thats something monrovia can look at as motivation, because when we were ranked up high I think you could see aliitle bit of not having to worry about much, with the ranking as it is, I cant wait for monrovia to get duarte and beat them. I mean Monrovia hasnt lose to Duarte since 2001 when a bunch of wildcats went to the falcons to prove a point to garrison. but they did come close I think it was 2004-05 at duarte but other than that Duarte has been hyped up but I doubt that monrovia will have trouble with the falcons, I think they got that high ranking for what they did to La canada. But I can respect the fact of Temple City being ranked that high they did win league and all, and plus this week 0 Im sure this we'll change dramtatically before the league play, because we'll play La Salle by then and hopefully beat them, I dont wanna make predictions I cant back up but in that game monrovia should be undefeated. I've never heard anything about beckman out in Irvine but we'll see

One of my favorite movie lines of all time was from the flight instructor in Top Gun, "No points for second place." I know a bunch of guys who still can't live down second place finishes from ten years ago.

dguerrero-
now you see why MHS parent is so happy, second place in our division in really only 3 years!

good luck on your season. can't wait for 10/5 to see if we have made any progress.

BigA

If you think that Monrovia will miss a beat at the running back position you will be very dissapointed. The guys that are comppeting for the job this year are every bit of capable of having the 1,500 yrd seasons, and what is even scarier is that the passing game is in much better shape. We never saw the true potential of our recievers while Potts was in the Backfield but Haggard has great field vision and the Recievers are some of the Fastest guys in the SGV. We have a couple of Stud Running backs that maybe Sophmores and Jrs. but they will play like second yr starters. James Davis and Shawn Sparks will surely be missed but their game was their game, everyone knows Monrovia never lacks a few quality running Backs.....

BigA,
Our schools have played eachother just once for you to see. As good as Davis and Sparks were, we are blessed with RB tandems like that every year. They just have different names: Lowe/Montanez, McGhee/Lee, Waters/Aikens, Waters-Yuille/Turner, McNealy-Buckley/Harris, Harris/Fisher, Gabriel/Grable, etc. What we do with them has been a bit volatile but the players are always there.

Our line play against Arcadia was very impressive. Our inside guys won the offensive battle all night. Arcadia's D-tackles were pushed into the backers most of the night. If you don't remember it that way, I can send you a copy of th DVD.

Frank P,

Arcadia didn't lose to TC? IF that were a real game they won that 35-7 in their scrimmage last year. Monrovia lost their studs at RB which was a HUGE part of their team.

ohboy -
it's a whole different division. If rhp were still in division 13 it would be #1 for sure. besides, look at the teams ranked ahead of the kares in the east valley, they've been at that level for years now. i personally am satisfied with their ranking, top 10 in only their second year at that level is a good sign for any team.

RHP No. 8 and MHS No. 2? There will be hell to pay when finchamp finds out about this.

It is what it is. We'll let the scoreboard determine where we should be ranked.

Don't get me wrong, I've always known these opening CIF polls to be an absolute joke and I've never really paid it much mind, but...............HS is in the poll ahead of Muir and Arcadia? Now that is just HILARIOUS! For a team that hasn't reached the playoffs in a decade that is quite a vote of confidence.

I guess passing league is a lot more important than I thought.

switching gears to the psn top 10, i like us at 3 to start the season. dont get me wrong, i want the apaches at #1, no doubt, but we havent beaten st francis in about 5 years and i can deal with muir ranked ahead of us until our showdown.

what made you choose the apaches, 5-6, over the likes of tc and monrovia, who we lost to? for a preseason poll, i would have had no problem with monrovia ahead of us.

But, Monrovia not ranked is a joke though. These CIF people are a joke.

Frank P,

In regards to your last post on the other thread, I am glad we are not ranked or mentioned. No hype is actually good.