All because I’m a man of the people…..
STAR-NEWS FOOTBALL RANKINGS EXPLAINED
1. ST. FRANCIS (3-0) — (Previously No. 1) The Golden Knights are holding strong to the No. 1 spot. They played impressive against Burroughs last week. Aside from having a great coaching staff led by Jim Bonds and a superb running back in Dietrich Riley, St. Francis has a great supporting cast in quarterback Justin Sciarra who completed 11 of 15 passes for 103 yards and one touchdown. Evan King is another solid back. He doesn’t have the speed like Riley but he is a heckuva strong player, like when he ran over two or three defenders at the goal to score. Chris Sember played well at receiver and Malik Speed gives the Golden Knights another speedster. Don’t be surprised of St. Francis blows up Rio Mesa.
2. MUIR (2-1) — (Previously No. 2) The Mustangs probably played their toughest games in the nonleague season. Beating the likes of Diamond Ranch and Venice helps Muir make a strong case for the No. 1 spot. But lets be honest, I think they’re at least half a step behind St. Francis. Muir will probably go unbeaten the rest of the season. They had a week off so expect Muir to light it up against Glendale. It’ll be close to start but the Mustangs pull away big time in the second half.
3. ROSEMEAD (2-1) — (Previously No. 3) Lets be honest, in this area there is St. Francis, Muir and then everybody else. Besides those two teams, I think the Panthers can compete with just about everybody else in the area including a healthy Arcadia team. Rosemead is very physical up front, arguably the most physical team aside from the two teams above. Tra Sumlar did not play last week but to see Rosemead get blown out was a bit of a surprise. The Panthers are the kind of team year in and year out where you can always count on them to have a 7-3, 8-2 season. Rosemead will prove to be too much for Temple City on Friday.
4. SAN MARINO (3-0) — (Previously No. 5) So the Titans beat what is supposed to be a good La Salle team but aside from that San Marino has not been tested. Hoover was a nice confident-booster so expect the Titans to finally get challenged when they host Cantwell. Still, it should not go unnoticed the fact that this Titans team is a much different team we almost sadly were beginning to get used to. San Marino can put up some points and if they can do the same against Cantwell, which I think they can even though Robledo doesn’t think so, then we’ll find out how good these guys really are. It won’t get any easier for San Marino the following week when they take on San Gabriel, the supposed football program sponsored by yours truly and the Star-News. Ha, hilarious.
5. SAN GABRIEL (2-2) — (Previously No. 8) The Matadors move up three spots from last week. The Matadors rolled through South Pasadena but had a hard time against Cathedral and Serra. The true measuring stick was going to be Temple City which had just come off a tough loss to Alhambra. San Gabriel proved its worth when it initiated a 90-yard drive which proved to be the winning drive. I said the TC-SG game was going to be close and that the Matadors would pull away. People called me crazy but that’s exactly how it turned out.
6. ARCADIA (1-2) — (Previously No. 4) The Apaches proved that when healthy they can compete. The team we saw against St. Francis and Lynwood is clearly not the same without Todd Golper. Fortunately for Arcadia they play Hoover so they should record a W and build its confidence with plenty of scoring. If the Apaches struggle WITHOUT Golper, who is not expected to play, then Arcadia is in much more trouble than it thinks. If Golper returns healthy by the Glendale game then don’t expect Arcadia to miss the playoffs. It should be noted that Golper has not played since St. Francis and won’t play this week. My feeling? I feel sorry on the first running play by Glendale. That RB is gonna get KO’d.
7. MONROVIA (2-2) — (Previously No. 7) We all knew Marquise Williams was talented. And with a new coach it was only a matter of time until Williams felt comfortable with the new offense and schemes. It’s looking like he, Nick Bueno and Kendall Boggs are finally feeling comfortable. And it’s looking like Monrovia and SM will be vying for the Rio Hondo League title. It might be premature to say such a thing but at this point my money’s on those two programs. A lot of guys don’t know about Beckman but having previously worked in Orange County I can tell you Monrovia shutdown a good offensive team in the Patriots. I feel that victory was when the Wildcats finally turned the corner.
8. MARANATHA (3-0) — (Previously No. 9) Maranatha had a bye but still they moved up largely in part because of TC’s loss and yet another come-from-behind victory by Alhambra. I would bet that if the Minutemen played against Alhambra or TC that would be a close game. Maranatha needs to take care of business on Friday against Mojave if it wants to stay at No. 8. Last year, the Minutemen were humbled when they traveled to Mojave and lost. To put it best, Coach Joel Murphy said it was embarrassing.
9. ALHAMBRA (2-1) — (Previously No. 10) These boys need to get their act together. They’ve been having to come-from-behind in their last two wins. Mitchell Crockom, as good as he is, is proving to be prone to fumbles. Dude needs to hold on to the ball tighter. Alhambra is an OK team right now at best but if they can find a way to add a running game to its attack then they can become a superb team and a force to be reckoned in the Almont League. Silly mistakes, fumbles and penalties will hurt much more when they run into more disciplined teams come league.
10. TEMPLE CITY (1-2) — (Previously No. 6) I’m not one to question any coach’s decisions on the field. I’m more curious than anything as to why Joey Stewart was not carrying the ball as many times as he did in the first half. Things seemed to be working when he had 18 carries in the first half and from what I’ve read and heard he had only four carries in the second half. And then you ask Stewart to give you a first down on fourth and 2 at midfield? Not sure about that. The Rams no doubt are a battle-tested team. I’ll go on the record here and say that if Temple City loses on Friday that won’t be enough to drop them from the polls. But to suddenly be 1-3 after such an impressive start will be a bit of a mystery.
