WESTMINSTER — The last time Rio Hondo Prep won a CIF-Southern Section football championship was in 2005.

At the time, Antonio Alanis, Tim Esguerra, Eddie Garcia and Julian Hernandez were playing on the freshman squad.

They witnessed the glory that is high school athletics.

Three years later, Alanis, Esguerra, Garcia and Hernandez found themselves at the center of it all when they attended Monday’s CIF-Southern Section football press conference and luncheon at the Rose Center in Orange County.

Some teams came in shorts, polo shirts and tennis shoes but the Kares players looked gentlemanly and royally, wearing white collar shirts and a tie tucked inside their black, cotton vest that had an “RHP” crest on the left pocket-side.

Rio Hondo Prep coach Ken Drain has been to quite a few of these. One of his assistants, Mark Carson, also attended but, along with Esguerra, couldn’t contain themselves from taking a picture of the guest speaker.

USC football coach Pete Carroll took the podium and out came the digital cameras. Carroll’s presence in the podium commanded attention, enough for Esguerra to put down the brownie ice cream sundae and take a picture of Carroll.

A surreal experience it was for the seniors.

“Pete Carroll was here so that was pretty special,” Drain said. “It’s always kind of the same routine but for the kids it’s a fun experience.”

But Monday’s luncheon wasn’t the ultimate stop. It was just the beginning of what lies ahead.

The Kares will play host to Riverside Christian on Saturday night at 7 in the CIF-Southern Section Northeast Division championship game.

The road to the title game wasn’t all glitz and glamour. There were some squalor times, too.

The Kares endured a see-saw of emotions in their schedule.

After opening the season with a resounding 34-0 win over Mojave in the dessert, the Kares lost on a last-second field goal to Brentwood, 28-26. After soundly beating Sage Hill, 56-0, Rio Hondo Prep lost two in a row to Maranatha (14-7) and Chadwick (20-7) to open Prep League play.

Five weeks into the season and the Kares found themselves with a 2-3 record after such a promising start.

But through the rubbles, Rio Hondo Prep found its form and are on a 7-game winning streak and they’re hoping to make it eight by the weekend.

“I think it shows the commitment to work and improve every week, that’s what it comes down to,” Drain said. “After that loss to Chadwick the kids pulled together and said they were better than this. They worked harder every week and that’s what it takes.”

When Carroll spoke to the teams his words rang true to Drain’s ideology and it’s what he hammered home during a stretch in which the Kares may have had some doubts as to how good they were.

“I think it’s exactly what Carroll was talking about,” he said. “You have to take care of your own business. You can’t worry so much about the other team or who you’re playing. You have to take care of yourself and what you can control and what you can do to make yourselves better.”

ESGUERRA READY

Rio Hondo Prep running back Tim Esguerra suffered a mild concussion early in last week’s game against Linfield Christian. He did not play the rest of the game.

Esguerra, whose rushed for 738 yards and nine touchdowns this season, is expected to play Saturday.

“We’re going to keep him out of practice and without the contact, all week” Drain said. “But he’ll be ready to play on Saturday.”