Football tab coming Sept. 3

Miguel -

How is the football tab coming??? Looking forward to it!!!!

PHS BULLDOG O-LINES IS THE BEST IN VALLEY.
NOW THAT PHS BULLDOG O-LINES IS A YEAR OLDER AND THIS WILL BE SECOND YEAR TOGETHER.HOUSE OF PANCAKE TOP RANK OFFENSE TACKLE A.BOYKINS WILL HELP PHS BULLDOG RETURN BACK TO ONE OF THE TOP OF TEAM IN THE VALLEY!!!
GO BULLDOG!!!

Schedule for tomorrow??????

Week zero games? and locations?

Thanx,
DAWWGER

Best OL IS A KID AT MUIR AT 6''3 HE's A BEAST HE WEARS NUMBER 77 HE IS THE NEXT JAKE LONG.

What's up Miguel?? Do you agree with Max Preps that Flintridge Prep will win the Prep League championship this year??

Greart article on what it takes to win at the prep level...from FJR's casa. There are so many good points in here...hard to pick a favorite one

What does it take to coach a high school football team?
Who better to answer that question than Mal Eaton, one of the Valley's all-time great coaches.
"Well, I can tell you right now, you can't be successful without support from the administration," Eaton said. "When I came to West Covina High in 1955 to start up the football program, my principal was Maurice `Cat' Wooden, John Wooden's older brother. And Maurice had the same background, he had been an All-American basketball player at Indiana. He was both academically and athletically inclined and a great guy to work for.
"He was an enabler, in a good sense. He allowed me to operate the program, gave me full support. So that was a big key to the success we had at West Covina.
"It was the same way at Los Altos in the 1970s. Pat Mauch, the principal, and Dwayne DeSpain, the coach, worked together great, and the school had an incredible run of winning teams. You have to have the backing from your administration."
To continue reading, click thread.

Eaton also pointed out the need to be receptive to new ideas.
"You can't get stuck in the past," Eaton said. "You need to expose yourself to new ideas. Two of the best I came across early on at West Covina I got from the Anaheim High program, which was one of the premier programs of the 1950s.
"At Anaheim, they were using weightlifting and bodybuilding techniques long before most schools, and I liked the idea so I got a guy from Universal Gyms on campus and installed a weight room. I believe we were the first school in the Valley to have one.
"Another thing they were doing at Anaheim was a booster program. Again, I liked the concept so I brought it on board at West Covina. Now, I didn't use it as a fundraiser. I used it to give anyone who was interested in the team a chance to learn more about it and to have the chance to ask me questions. That helped build a fan base for us.
"You have to be receptive to new ideas. You can learn if you listen to those who are the best. I picked up a lot of information going to talks by guys like Lou Holtz and Ara Parseghian and John McKay."
Eaton, perhaps surprisingly, does not believe you need to be a genius with X's and O's to be a successful high school football coach.
"It is a game of fundamentals," Eaton said. "It all starts with blocking and tackling. You can teach anything else you like, but if you can't get your kids to block and tackle correctly nothing else is going to work for you.
"Blocking and tackling and proper conditioning. A team that excels in those areas is going to win, pure and simple.
"After that, it really helps to have a plan and a goal. Coaches make plans, the players set the goals. For us, our goal every year was to win league. Not to win every game, or to win a CIF title. To win league. It worked for us, because we won 11 consecutive league titles. A goal should be something that the players can achieve, but difficult enough that they will need to excel to do so."
Eaton also stressed the importance of gaining the support of the student body.
"I always wanted to involve as many people as possible in our program," Eaton said. "Some coaches may feel otherwise, but I always felt I needed the support of the students. To me, our pep rallies were very important. I wanted the students to identify with the team. It built support and also gave our players a real lift. Don't forget your fan base.
"At West Covina, we started with a field and nothing else. Everything we eventually had, the lights, the bleachers, the scoreboard, came about due to community support. It takes a total community effort to build a successful program.
"I admit, it may have been easier to gain that support back in the 1950s. West Covina High was the only high school in town, so we had that going for us. It was the same way at Pomona, where the city only had one high school back then. Same way at Covina. Same way at Alhambra. One high school. People identified more with the high school team back then.
"But that's not to say you can't build that kind of support today. I think it's a real plus that the current West Covina High coach, Mike Maggiore, is a hometown boy who played for Edgewood High and later on played for me at Mt. SAC. Same thing at South Hills, where coach (Steve) Bogan grew up here in West Covina and played at Edgewood.
"In fact, Bogan played for Kenny Wells at Edgewood, and Kenny played for me when I coached at Bonita High, so there is a continuity there. It's not necessarily that Bogan coaches exactly like me, but you see him using things he learned from Kenny that Kenny learned from me. For a coach, that is very gratifying."
So, for someone who coached football in our area for nearly 40 years, are there any facets of Mal Eaton sports fans might not know about?
"You know, there are a couple things I don't think I have ever talked much about publicly," Eaton said. "My greatest fear wasn't losing, it was having one of my players suffer a catastrophic injury. I feared that more than anything else. We always screened and prepared our players so that they were strong enough and properly conditioned to be able to avoid serious injuries.
"And, I am pleased to say, not once did one of my players suffer a catastrophic injury. But I am quick to acknowledge there is an element of luck in that sort of thing, and I was lucky - or blessed, however you want to look at it.
"The other thing people might not know, I always had my West Covina High teams say a prayer just prior to the game. We didn't do this out on the field, we would go back to the lockerroom. But we always prayed. My first team decided on the Lord's Prayer for our pre-game prayer, and we stuck with that. I never forced players to pray, they could refrain, but I can't remember that happening.
"I suppose if we did that nowadays I would be fired. But something about the Lord's Prayer just seemed to work. It is a universal prayer. We weren't praying for victory or even to play well. We were praying for protection and for guidance and for good sportsmanship.
"For me, I feel blessed to have been able to touch so many lives in a positive manner. I am a rich person because of that, not in terms of dollars but in terms of well-being and great memories."

jim.mcconnell@sgvn.com

(626) 962-8811, Ext. 2383

Posted by Fred Robledo on August 26, 2008 8:53 AM | Permalink

Matt - No worries I'm going to have a lot to say i know a few of the top players since pop warner ball. To see them all big now and running thangs. It's all GOOD! I'll Holla =P

Gridiron Princess, I agree with you on the excitement factor. I was just joking with you on your post coming up four times. I look forward to seeing what you have to say.

Matt come on now don't hold back, U have to be excited on what's coming this year! There's going to be Alot of talent out there to talk about and as a female i will be expressing my thoughts and opinons. So don't be shy!

Miguel, will the jv/frosh schedule be up as well? it would be really helpful

Miguel, do you think you can add the jv/frosh schedules as well? it would be really helpful

Gridiron Princess,

Go easy on the caffine.

Sounds good! I like the outline. I LOOK forward on it coming out!!!

Sounds good! I like the outline. I LOOK forward on it coming out!!!

Sounds good! I like the outline. I LOOK forward on it coming out!!!

Sounds good! I like the outline. I LOOK forward on it coming out!!!

Football tab sounds great.

Maybe you can convince the PSN to run something similar in every Thurs issue as a preview of Friday games?

Miquel - THANKS and keep it coming.

MIGUEL,
I HOPE YOU LIST TOP FIVES OR TEN OFFENSE LINEMAN AND DEFENSE LINEMAN.QB,RB,WR COULD NOT GET ALL THE PRESS.WITHOUT BIG GUYS UP FRONT, THE SKILL PLAYER WOULD NOT DO WELL.JUST ASK ANY QB,RB,WR THEY ONLY DO WELL OR GOOD BECAUSE OF THEM!!!!