FOOTBALL: All-Rio Hondo League

League MVP Devin Fuller, what college or university is he attending?

League MVP Devin Fuller, what college or university is he attending?

waht or you doing at home or mom and dad i aym jessica moreno

Monroiva has a lot of talent. The coaches their just have problems they must deal with. They had two very special players this year in #21& #22 marquise williams and the hard hitting safty Kendal Boggs. Those two alone can make a great football team Kendal Boggs needs to play both sides of the ball next year if they want to win big and give the ball to williams and let him work

Merry Christmas to everybody. Best wishes for a prosperous 2008.

NY

one of your finest commentaries of the year...when pissed you excel at making your point.

Focus and mindset are staples of any enduring and successful program. Enjoy the holidays!

So has the pie gotten so small that we fight over crumbs? Sports banquet? WSGV all-star team? Gimme a break guys. I hate to state the obvious, but if we ever win a big title there will be plenty of individual awards to follow: Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, All-CIF, All-...

The foundation is clearly cracked and needs repair.

Maybe all this crap and lack of leadership is why we have not gotten close to the third round since 1999 (oh yeah, we almost came from behind on Paraclete who lost the next week), and most RHL "championships" have been tarnished by the Co-branding.

By the way, all the buzz about the lower level championships is nothing new. In 1992 our Freshmen were 9-0 and our varsity 3-7. In 1993 our Frosh were undefeated again and JV were 9-1 (yep lost the last game of season) and varsity was 3-7. In 1994, we had championships Frosh and Soph and varsity was 6-5 on the field but a forfeit made us 5-6. Get the picture? Converting lower level championships to varsity is far from automatic.

Maybe we need to focus more on how close we are to having a ticker-tape parade up Myrtle Ave and what we need to do to make that happen, rather than bickering and pointing fingers down and up the organization.

Thank goodness Scott.I knew it wasn't true(about the all-area team).Can't wait to see their pictures in the paper.Keep up the good work!

Whoever is using multiple names and bogus E-mail addresses, could you please refrain?
And, yes, there are Monrovia players on the All-Area team.

Monrovia players and parents, loved the brawl after the Banquet.
You are bunch of classless A$$e$ an embarassment to the school and community.

CC,
Keep up the good work. Don't forget to strengthen the core.

I may be moving back to the frozen tundra of beantown. I like the championship vibe up there with the Pats, Sox, and Crimson. I think cold weather makes ballplayers tougher anyway. Maybe you should send some of your troops out here for a crash course. Obviously, I'm not talking only o-line.

What type o changes can we expect between seasons?

What's up coachescorner? Been a while on the blog. Good to hear from you.

Are the hawgs lifting and running hard?

Monrovia Fans:

Just be patient and wait. Next year it may read that Monrovia has taken all of the spaces on the first team CIF, RHL, and Star News....This was a bad year to judge many teams, so we will see who will ultimatley prevail in the coming years....stay tuned!

It would be nice to have a confidential interview with the umpire to the right in the picture of the Blair-CVC game to hear his take on the situation.

You're correct, Goldenarm. Situations like that demand the school's Principal to take action. For the Principal to take action, I'm sure the AD needs to layout a convincing argument. The key to getting anything done, though, is follow through.

Unfortunately, I think even with follow through, the losing team can always be accused of sour grapes, though, even if the complaints are legite. That's why it would have been very powerful if Blair had won the game and then immediately filed a complaint as well.

The other thing, though, is there may be a fear of retaliation. Anytime a school files suit against the CIF, I am sure they face risk of scrutiny down the road, or at least they probably are afraid of it. Either way, winning on the field is the best justice. All that crap should serve as more motivation during the non-game-playing season.

The one thing that comes to mind as "undone" in the RHL this year...was all the comments that came out after Blair's playoff loss.

I am referring to the purported racial slurs and insulting comments supposedly made by member(s) of the CIF officiating crew - and directed at Blair players. Several players and apparent members of the Vikings fan base posted statements outlining some fairly serious accusations toward the refs...at the minimum deserving a full blown review by CIF.
I don't remember if it was Hal L, Muddy or NY...but someone made clear it was going to come off as complete sour grapes and bullshit unless Blair backers somewhere in the food chain stepped up and formally complained. Apparently the roar has gone to whisper...but maybe an action was filed??

Scott,

There is no offseason with football. There is game-playing season and non-game-playing season...

Yes, Goldenarm, I'm still out here. Thank you for your kind words and outstanding comments this season. I will definitely keep on top of the football scene over the offseason and follow the teams in passing league like this past summer before I took over.

Yes. Thank you, Scott. Great job in 2007. Now...State in '08! Go Cats!

Scott G,

If you are still listening out there..THANK YOU for supporting this blog this season and please come out early and strong next year (even spring ball if warranted)and fire it up again.

This site has been fortunate to have a core of good folks who know the game and it has been a great outlet for me to listen, learn and spew my own thoughts into the mix. Of course, some aholes have chimed in, but even those comments sometimes shone light on issues, good or bad. I'm being optimistic here, an 08 resolution already taking shape.

This season hooked me again on prep ball and the anticipation of next year is abnormally adrenalin-pumped already. I know Backus and staff are going to exact a extensive off-season program and I look forward to our boys coming out strong and football smart in 08.

Since this pretty much wraps up 07 football - as Yoda would say. "A fine job did you".

Monrovia should have a good team next year. All they really need is a good o-line and they'll have everything. There returning alot of defensive people

3/5 starting lineman are returning
1/2 starting linebackers returning
and 3/4 starting secondary are returning

With an emphasis on nasty.

NY
Scary and dynasty.

O-Cat,

Wouldn't it be great to see a talented Monrovia team come out as disciplined and as well prepared as a Bishop Diego-type team. BD probably practices and plays and strategizes and trains throughout the year knowing that they need to really stretch themselves to play a nearly flawless game. Film review is probably all about fine-tuning and trying to gain an edge. If we could instill that type of culture of success we would be scary.

No doubt the kid has a bright future and a ton of potential. As far as TC QB, I predict we will have a battle for the signal caller job. The JV QB has a strong arm and is a good athlete. Hatch gets the nod as returner, but Smith may eventually end up behind center. We are going to need a passing game...

Having the horses makes all the difference in the world. M-town has those. BD did not. Williams Do chased down their fastest back...coming from at least 10 yds back. The thing is - they precision blocked, team blocked. You don't learn that in 1 or even two years...not with the repeated consistency they do. Basically I agree with your points - particularly the luxury of having multiple "go to" guys. One dimensional just does'nt fly well...bottom line as usual is you need those corn fed, nail hard dudes up front...with that in place games will be won.

GoldenArm:

Sometimes as well disciplined as some teams may be, it is much more difficult the prepare for a more athletic team. Especially if they come out bangin. Monrovia has been a great first half team this year when Williams returned they seemed to take the third quarter for some reason, but as the season progressed some of these players started to become finishers, In seasons past Monrovia has always had good production in the second half of games and I think that was due to the maturity of most of the upper classmen, I think that with next years team being more mature and much more athletic, Bishop Diego wouldn't have a chance. Not to say that they will not hold their own against teams that are not as gifted but when it comes to heads up football it becomes a matter of discipline and athleticism. I personally do not believe that the Great Oaks Christian would have had half of their success had it not been for Marc Tyler and his athleticism as proven when he went out with his injuries. As for Monrovias New QB, I made mention of him early this year in the Blogs and how gifted he is, He will be a sophmore next year and His best friend is Marquise Williams, Getting some JV experience coming out of the 8th grade is going to boost this kids confidence tremendously, He led the Duarte Hawkes football team to the Pop Warner Super Bowl where he became the MVP. He tossed 38 TD's on his way to this trophy. Matt Haggard was a good QB but I really believe that this kid will bring more to the table. He had an opportunity to get a couple of Varsity snaps this year and his first play was an 80 yrd TD pass to Darro Johnson. So thats why everyone is pretty confident of the next few years with this guy under the helm.

O-cat
Rare that we differ completely in opinion.
I base my BD appreciation on fundamentals,preparation, coaching and solid, disciplined defense with textbook pursuit angles. Remember also, BD was not big in the least and totally incapable of physically manhandling a team. It was an agressive, finesse butt-kicking...if such a thing exists. I saw many games this year - this squad took the bacon in the above categories. They had a huge pts for versus points against ratio.
Hopefully next year we get a chance to test your theory.

By the way, is Haggard returning? Your JV QB looked about 6'5..and had some skill. If your equip man runs out of RB shoulder pads come springtime, send us over an outside threat...4.75 will work. We will hook him up.

Is San Marino's Matt Hsu related to Ming Hsu? Ming was another all-league D-lineman for San Marino once upon a time.

Philly B,

Reallignment is not the answer. One more would put us in 8-man.

Time to man-up and play ball.

I Think that the RHL League season was a good one but, I wish like Goldenarm, on what else do we have to do to get far in the CIF playoffs. I mean I give this division two more yrs. and then ask for a change in the division

Sadly, this dearth of second round exits has become pretty common to the West SGV. The East SGV did not do a whole lot better this year.

The westside is interesting, because each town has a unique student composition. SouthPas, TC and San Marino have different needs than Monrovia. I still believe Monrovia could be a juggernaut in most of the lower divisions. Consistent plyometric training and proper diets throughout the year would be a good start. I'm sure some successful programs just take that stuff as a given.

It is also interesting to note that the first two years of the Mid-Valley division have culminated in championship games between two private schools. Good or bad? I do like the parity, though. So far there has not been a dominant team established.

Goldenarm:

I tend to differ on my opinion about Bishop Diego. I think that on Monrovias best day they could beat a team like Bishop Diego. But of course we will differ in this opinion, They were not that much better than Paraclete and certainly no better than Santa Clara, I know that they made an impression on you by running up the score on TC but that was the way the ball bounced for TC this year. In defence of the RHL I think that there was a lack of gifted athletes and on Monrovia's behalf lots of coaching decisions that could have changed the outcome of several games and lets not forget major injuries. But If Bishop Diego stays in the Mid Valley Div. We will see what they are made of. I think that Cantwell and Bishop Diego would have been a good match-up with Size discipline and speed Cantewll could have overwhelmed a team like BD. And looking at some of their losses makes me wonder what makes them so great?....I think that They were your average team and could lose to any good team on any given day.

NY brings up an interesting point saying "get bigger, stronger in the off season so we can compete".

In 07 retrospect, the SGV took a collecive slap in the face in round 2 of the finals this year. Many believed Muir had great promise in continuing further. The Moors were ranked high early on, Pasadena and Blair, if things had fallen just slightly different could have extended closer toward the finals. Not all was bad. TC and Monrovia were maxpreps underdogs in Round 1 and yet still came out on top, TC beat a tough LP team and the Cats hung tough downing Cantwell and nearly taking Paraclete falling just 3 short.
TC was steamrollered by B Diego, an impressive team that later fell to S Clara in the final..(a different outcome could have been the case by the laces of a dropped TD pass for BD)

My point here somehow is "what else can we do? We (SGV teams) need a direction and path to "break out" if we are striving to compete deeper into the bowels of CIF play. I saw B Diego play twice, they would wack any RHL team on that teams best RHL day. This is not even an arguable point. Maybe a Pacific leaguer could elaborate on what needs to happen for our Pac league teams to advance
When I see the freshman at TC, there are good athletes, but maybe 4 of 30 have played contact football. I had 3 years of pads BEFORE my freshman year, as did many others, some having 4 years. With the demise of Pop Warner (jr. all amer) what is the answer to weaning some fundamentals into the pre-HS age group?? Without this stage of prep, how else does the SGV compete?

Anon 929
Thanks for making my point..I am referring to the line players upcoming in 08, not 07, and no where did I say anything about "dominating" anyone. Ask your JV squad if TC was tough on the line of scrimmage, that is all my point suggests.

If any "non-Monrovian" has ever been fair and respectful to the Wildcat program on this blog - it has been I.
NY- great points on the Blair "neighbors"

NY is right.Blair Fan you might be excited about finally winning a league championship.We try to win one every year and not Co-Champs like I guess you guys will settle for.Co-Champs to us means we didn't get the job done somewhere during league(SAN MARINO).I don't want to turn this into a who is better then who.Just realize Blair Fan WE have been here for a while,Welcome to the Club hope you can hang longer then one year.I mean c'mon even So.PASadena were Co-Champs a while back.Remember 2nd rd.playoff games and Co-league champs means disappointment for US.But for teams that are new to the grind of being a Rio Hondo League favorite,I guess you might consider 07' a sucess.NOT US!

Blair Fan,

What point are you trying to make? Are you saying that Monrovia is not good because Blair supposedly dominated its way to a 12-point margin of victory? Aren't you also claiming, though, that Blair is a good team? So losing to Blair would not make an opponent bad, would it? You tell me. This was a very down year for Monrovia. Hopefully Blair can sustain its revival and give Monrovia another reason to stay focused throughout the year.

By the way, most Monrovians would love to have Muir on the schedule again. We split a two-game series with Muir about 7 years ago. Unfortunately, fans from both sides (probably not even affiliated with either school) started some trouble reminiscent of the 1980's and so school administrators decided to end the match-up.

Why doesn't Blair play its public school neighbors, other than Marshall? You all have the same enrollment as Muir. I bet if Tip sticks around games like that will eventually happen.

Good luck to the Vikings and other RHL teams in the off-season. Get bigger, faster and stronger so that we can bring home a CIF title next year.

NY and M-Town Diehard,
I remember playing against Fisher...he was a beast. Little Maurice Jones Drew if you will. If Harris wasn't at tailback Fisher would have definitely fit in nicely. His freshman year he broke a 60 yard run on us first play of the game.

monrovia is so overrated its a shame if the were really as good as advertised why not play Pasadena or MUIR. Blair dominated monrovia this year thats all that needs to be said

goldenarm,

i dont think the line will be able to dominate this year. well, not against Monrovia. Monrovia still has 3/5 members up front who DESTROYED your lineman this year

M-town... if it were not for a few turnovers in blairs territory the wildcats would have never scored. I belive the run game for m-town was non-existant. They do have a lot of weapons but they were all shut down vs the stingy viking D. So if you want to talk about people getting the mention vs one game look back at the viking game and the only one that should get a vote is the WR Gonzalez

So. Pas will not be in the hunt next year, they lose almost all of their starters to graduation.

Goldenarm,
As long as Hank Paulson is in office, the house of talent in Monrovia is very solvent.

hats off to Yang,Fry,GBL and the Seabass...

With Josh O and Gen Swarz returning next year, bolstered with several rocks upcoming from JV..and throw in the 3rd installment of the O'Malley legion...beware...Temple City is going to pound some ground at the line of scrimmage next year.
The 08 RHL is going to look different - and as level as it has in years. La Canada, SM and South Pas will be in the hunt, despite the big, unforclosed house of talent in Monrovia. Blair is on the map and TC is without a gamebuster...it could go any direction. By far, the early season preview has got to point toward Monrovia - based on returnees, JV performance, etc.

No way kesion sanders makes honorable mention. Wildcats all day. I guess grandfather being coach gets you far.

There is no way kesihon sanders should had made honorable mention. He didn't do nothing against us. I guess when your grandfather is the head coach your going 2 make something HUh.

We are so proud of our grandson Nick Fry. His hard
his hard work paid off.

your grandparents,

Arthur & Marie Fry

monroviadiehard,

Those kids were some good ballplayers. Fisher knocked the crap out of Paso's monster tightend (probably 2.5x his size). Too bad we did not move Bryce to QB earlier in the big game at Citrus. Paso's slow linebackers could not stop the broken-play offense. Don't get me started on the prior year.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear some exciting stuff about the next crop.

My bad NY "the fun bunch was a year after your brothers' year (Currie, Fisher,Moore,Johnson)

Since when do the victors not get the spoils? TC has three people among the players of the year. Monrovia has one.

Monrovia Fans:

Please do not address this PWT, He has smelled like Dookie ever since he came on here, think of him as dead Dog Sh*t...A menace to the Rat society. How's that for your illiteracy program........Like I said stay annonymous so that you can keep breathing

monroviadiehard,

I suppose the "fun bunch" pre-dates my following, but what you say sounds great. I've heard a lot of great things about the kids coming up as well. Truthfully, though, I don't remember a time when the underclassmen coming up did not generate a lot of excitement. I'm looking forward to another great season. Too bad it is so far away.

By the way, Coach Rycroft's Firehawks just finished an 18-0 season. They just beat a team from New Mexico. They play a team from Philadelphia in a couple weeks.

M-town, are you guys illiterate? Monrovia is such a joke. Grow up and read a book.

Congrats to all the players named, especially all the Vikings!!! Great season!!

Wow - some surprises in there.
LB of the year is deserved for Reasner - he was an absolute rock of consistency for TC - reminds me of the excellent baseball quote - - "oceans cover 3/4 of the earth - Ozzie Smith covers the rest - just substitute Reasoner's name where appropriate.
Congats to Becher as well - a beast who was double -teamed even before the snack bar opened. Williams Do was a multi-year, multi-talented, both sides of the ball athlete who single-handedly put "W"s on the board...he will be missed sorely.

Also deserved is Haggard from M-Town and workhorse Trawick from SM. I am surprised Josh Lowden from M-town is not penciled in, I don't know his stats - but against TC he was a stud.

6 returning all-league players coming back 10-11 all together this past year.I see why they had there problems early just young. WOW lookout SGV M-Town is about to make a move to the top and from what i hear this group next year might even be better then the "fun bunch" for any of you real Monrovia fans.One thing they do a like though is play w/passion and heart....M-TOWN 4 LIFE...pigeon eater...lol....Holla NY