Football: Finals trip a common bond for coaches


Above: From left to right, Monrovia High principal Dervin Jackson, Rio Hondo Prep coach Ken Drain and Monrovia coach Ryan Madddox. They met Monday morning in the 34th annual CIF-Southern Section Football Press Conference and Luncheon at The Grand.

LONG BEACH – It was a brief meeting, but when Rio Hondo Prep football coach Ken Drain walked over to introduce himself to Monrovia coach Ryan Maddox there was a sense of familiarity.

Both coached their teams to unbeaten seasons, are the top seeds in their respective divisions and play hosts Saturday night.

Beyond the surface, however, there’s some disparity in that one of them is the veteran with a wealth of experience while the other is the new kid on the block.

The meeting took place on a rainy Monday at the 34th annual CIF-Southern Section football press conference and luncheon at The Grand.

It was Maddox’s first such luncheon, but in this only his second season leads top-seeded Monrovia (13-0) to its ninth finals appearance Saturday night when the Wildcats play No. 2 seed San Dimas (12-1) for the Mid-Valley Division championship at Citrus College. The Wildcats withstood Whittier Christian’s frantic attack to escape with a 35-32 victory in the semifinals last week.

Drain, in his 11th year as head coach at Rio Hondo Prep, is back in familiar territory. He’ll try to lead the Kares (13-0) to their second consecutive CIF-SS championship when they host No. 2 seed Linfield Christian (13-0) in the Northeast Division finals. Rio Hondo Prep, winner of 12 CIF football championships, survived a 20-14 semifinal win over Salesian.

But nothing great comes easy, and now that both teams are here it’s certainly something they’ll remember the rest of their lives. That’s the message UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel wanted to get across as the guest speaker.

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“It was neat,” Maddox said of attending his first press luncheon. “It was fun to see the coaches and a great experience for the kids. Hopefully they’ll take some of that with them and share it with their teammates.”

Maddox is no stranger to the grand stage. As an assistant under West Covina coach Mike Maggiore, Maddox helped West Covina to a CIF title in 2004 with a 19-8 win over South Hills.

“You don’t forget the game,” Maddox said. “You don’t forget the excitement and all of that. It’s something you’ll remember forever.”

Monrovia made three consecutive finals appearances from 1997-99, but Maddox has not been to a finals as a head coach, and the players on the team also are venturing into uncharted waters. The same goes for San Dimas, making its first finals appearance ever in football.

The approach, however, remains the same.

“It’s not going to be any different,” Maddox said. “We preach one game at a time, and to live by that this week is truly it. This is our last game of the year.

“We’re going to prepare for it like we have all year. San Dimas is a good football team. We know they’re good, and our kids are pumped up to play.”

Rio Hondo Prep will focus on getting healthy this week. The Kares lost starting quarterback Chris Llamas (neck), wide receiver/backup quarterback J.T. Parker (concussion) and starting running back Charles Quintero (head).

“When we lost those guys we lost a lot of things,” Drain said. “We lost our long snapper for punts, a punter, our holder for field goals, two linebackers, a wide receiver and quarterback.”

Llamas was taken by ambulance to the hospital after a neck injury but mainly for precautionary reasons. He attended the luncheon and is expected to play Saturday. Parker is questionable and Quintero, who was knocked unconscious midway through the third quarter against Salesian, will receive further evaluation today.

“(Quintero) was a little dazed,” Drain said, “but he was fine after the game.”

Monrovia, the Rio Hondo League champion, had some problems of its own. The Wildcats battled turnovers, a barrage of penalties and a pesky Whittier Christian team that fought to the bitter end. Despite finishing No. 3 in the Olympic League, the Heralds were better than advertised.

After cruising through the first two rounds, including blowout victories by a combination of 102-6, Rio Hondo Prep faced a much more physical team in Salesian, and the Kares had to dig much deeper to pull out a win given they didn’t have many players (27) suited up to begin with.

“I was worried and concerned,” Drain said. “I wasn’t sure what we were going to do if we lost any more key players. I would say it was one of the most improbable wins in our history.”

miguel.melendez@sgvn.com

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