Miramonte League prediction
It's too bad my top two teams in this league will settle their score in seemingly anticlimactic fashion. Charter Oak and Diamond Ranch meet in their Miramonte League openers Friday night in what many perceive as a lopsided matchup.
Diamond Ranch won all of one game on its nonleague schedule while Charter Oak went undefeated. No contest right?
Wrong.
Those records don't include this fact: The four teams to which Diamond Ranch lost are a combined 18-2.
Or this one: Charter Oak (5-0-1) has defeated ONE quality team in six games.
I can't remember the last time Oaks Christian, the lone team on the Diamond Ranch nonleague schedule clearly out of the Panthers' class, DIDN'T win a CIF title. Diamond Ranch beat two-time defending CIF-SS Central Division champ Colony, 21-0, a win that will continue to look better as the season progresses. It lost to undefeated Chino Hills by a point.
Meanwhile, Etiwanda, which failed on three point-after conversion attempts in a 3-point loss to Charter Oak is the lone quality team a Chargers team that graduated 36 seniors has beaten.
Three of Charter Oak's victims are a combined 2-13. That doesn't include 3-2 Diamond Bar, which is far from an impressive win. That leaves Rancho Cucamonga, from whom Charter Oak was lucky to escape with a 14-14 tie when Rancho threw an interception deep in Charter Oak territory in the final 30 seconds of that game.
So, without further ado...I think Diamond Ranch will give the defending league champs much, much more of a run than the 48-7 blowout a deflated Panthers team absorbed last year, but Charter Oak will prevail in a low-scoring thriller.
Bonita has a dynamic offense and could certainly throw a wrench into Charter Oak's plans, but as far as the three playoff teams go, it seems fairly obvious in this league.
LEAGUE PREDICTION:
Charter Oak 4-0
Diamond Ranch 3-1
Bonita 2-2
Los Altos 1-3
Wilson 0-4