DON'T THINK. IT CAN ONLY HURT THE BALLCLUB

Angel Santiago is entering his third year as Etiwanda High School's starting quarterback. He has already accounted for nearly 6,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in his career.

Now he's going to show what he can really do?!?

"We're expecting a breakout season from him," Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce said. "Our expectations are really high not just throwing the ball but running the ball too."

Santiago passed for 2,449 yards and 19 TDs last season. In 313 pass attempts he was intercepted just seven times (a completion percentage of 59 wasn't too shabby either). And that's just throwing the ball...

The 5-foot-10, 173-pound senior rushed for 752 yards (at 6 yards per carry) and eight TDs last season while leading the Eagles to fourth-place in the Baseline League, good enough for an at-large playoff berth.

The running department is where Bryce expects the most improvement after Santiago joined the track team and led the Etiwanda 4x100 relay team to the CIF finals.

"He was already really good," Bryce said, "but he was lacking that extra gear that some kids have."

Now he's got it.

Santiago lost three-year starting tailback Vince Minor to graduation but Etiwanda has plenty of talent at wide receiver on an offense with seven starters back. Etiwanda has "more beef up front than we've had in three or four years" on an offensive unit that averaged 31.6 points per game in '08.

With Los Osos and Upland, last year's second and third-place teams behind Baseline and CIF champ Rancho Cucamonga, having lost significant talent to graduation, this could be a prime year for Etiwanda to make a run.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Upon first glance, the San Dimas High School football team appears to have missed its best opportunity (by a single excruciating point, no less).

The Saints graduated 320 rushing yards per game and the entire offensive line from a team that rolled up 46 points per game... but lost a 40-39 heartbreaker to Covina Northview for last season's Valle Vista League title (before surprisingly dropping out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals).

Head coach Bill Zernickow believes he's reloading this season. The new backfield running his Wing-T is even bigger that last season's talented trio of Nico Barbone, Daniel Joseph and Erek Brown.

Through not as fast, the likes of 6-foot-1, 225-pound Tre Evans will play a more bruising style than the old San Dimas guard.

"The kids know what they're doing," Zernickow said. "Evans is a big kid, and in fact we're bigger in the backfield. We don't have as much speed, but from a physical standpoint we might be more punishing. It's like going from a Ferrari to a truck. Different, but we think both can be effective."

Oh yeah, Zernickow labeled his new sophomore quarterback the best passer he's ever coached. And his "phenomenal" linebacking corps alone may be enough to lower the Saints '08 allowance of 26.8 points per game.

Northview returns stud RB Kamaron Germany but is unproven at QB and lost the coordinator of it's defense, the backbone of last year's team.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Football coach Dave Fleming's first season at Ganesha was a rousing success.

It consisted of two victories.

But when you haven't won a game on the field since the 2003 season-opener, winning not once but twice represents a mammoth leap. The former Diamond Ranch assistant ended a state-record losing streak on the field at 49 games (Ganesha won a couple of forfeits since the '03 season opener).

Had he switched the 6-1, 250-pound Justin Goytia from offensive line to fullback before the season, Fleming believes Ganesha could have improved exponentially.

"If I would have used Justin at fullback last year, we could have won six to eight games," Fleming said. "I'm not kidding, this kid has a chance to be special. It was my first year and that was a big mistake I made, not realizing that he could have helped us so much more."

In a year devoid of clear favorites in the Valle Vista League, the playoffs may even be a possibility for Ganesha. First things first... the Giants need to win a Valle VIsta League game, something they haven't done since a forfeit win over Baldwin Park in 2003.

I like Fleming's attitude. He doesn't fill the team with false hope (hopefully because they have real reason for hope). He blends tough love with a realistic outlook. And he's big enough to admit a mistake he thinks could have more than doubled Ganesha's win total last season.

Really, the Giants weren't too far off last year. They lost to eventual playoff team Covina 21-20. They went 2-3 in nonleague and two of the losses were to playoff teams. Tough to expect them to compete with San Dimas (10-2) and league champ Covina Northview (9-3). They hung in for the first half before Pomona pulled away and only lost to Baldwin Park 35-26.

I wouldn't bet on Ganesha making the playoffs this season but for the first time in a long while, it's not out of the question. San Dimas graduated its entire backfield. Pomona switched coaches. Baldwin Park's only league win came against Ganesha last season and Covina escaped the Giants with a 1-point win.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Don Lugo High School's George Uko, scout.com's third-ranked defensive tackle in the nation - "I'm still trying to move up to No. 1," he said - has pared his list of 14 scholarship offers to five: USC, Cal, Oregon, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

The 6-foot-4, 295-pound senior who runs a 4.93 40 has scheduled trips to Cal (next week), Tennessee (Oct. 10) and Oregon (Nov. 14).

"I'll probably make my decision after I take my trips," Uko said. "It's hard to believe all this is happening to a kid from Don Lugo."

Posted by Clay Fowler at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The defending CIF champs are flat-out scary.

A Rancho Cucamonga High School offense that averaged 30 points per game returns perhaps the best QB-WR combination in the country in reigning CIF-SS Central Division offensive MVP Greg Watson and USC-committed tight end/receiver Randall Telfer.

But that's not all. The Cougars' top two running backs return. As do three starting offensive linemen.

And Watson, who accounted for over 3,500 yards and 30 TDs last season, has a new reason to do even better.

The 6-foot, 195-pound quarterback (who runs a 4.4-second 40) had a scholarship offer from Oregon revoked by the school over the summer. Oregon offered Watson in April - albeit to play defensive back - but when Sacramento DB Terrance Mitchell committed on May 27, the Ducks pulled their offer to Watson.

"It was tough but it's a business, the recruiting game," Watson said. "I'm hoping a team will offer me to play quarterback."

Watson was scary enough without having a fire lit under him. "He should have the best year of his career, we hope," Rancho Cucamonga coach Nick Baiz said. "We think we'll have the best offense we've ever had here."

Contributing heavily will be 6-foot-4, 230-pound tight end Randall Telfer, who gained 15 pounds of muscle over the summer while lowering his 40 time from 4.77 to 4.65 courtesy of some speed training. After fielding offers from Stanford, Tennessee, Oregon, Arizona State, Vanderbilt and Washington during the spring, Telfer was offered by USC in April and committed two weeks later.

"If there's a bigger, stronger tight end in the country, he's not as athletic and if there's a more athletic tight end, he's not bigger and stronger," Baiz said of Telfer. "He's faster than linebackers and he's stronger than DBs, so I don't know who's going to cover him."

Rancho might average 40 points this season. But (and it's a big but) the Cougars have some "major holes to fill on defense," according to Baiz. Only three starters return to the unit that held opponents under 14 points per game last year.

"The offense was getting all the praise, all the accolades," Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce said. "But that defense was quietly shutting people down. That was the unit that was quietly winning all those games."

Telfer proclaimed the defense will be as good as it was last season.

He doesn't have to make any proclamations about the offense. He'll personally see to it that it gets better.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Had Terrence Charles been eligible last season, the Montclair High School football team could have made the playoffs - a season after going 0-10. This according to head coach Rick Ward, who took over last year following the winless 2007 campaign.

Well, Charles IS eligible this year. The Division-I talent will take over at running back for a Montclair team that "lost four games in the fourth quarter that would have put us in the playoffs," according to Ward.

The 5-10, 175 pound Charles' ineligibility expired in time for the final two games of last season. According to MaxPreps.com, he rushed for 52 yards on 16 carries in a lopsided loss to Colony. But, in the season finale against Garey he took his lone reception for a 56-yard touchdown and piled up 91 yards on just six carries. "He could have run for 100 touchdowns if I would have left him in," said Ward.

Charles won't represent the only increase in speed for a Montclair team that went 3-7 and finished fifth in the Mt. Baldy League last season. Returning 10 starters including wide receiver Tory Gilroy, who will play quarterback this season, the Cavaliers will switch to a no-huddle offense.

"We want to try and have 80 snaps a game," Ward said. "It can lead to a lot of points, but if you have a rough one, it can be a long night."

Ward was adamant about the main culprit for last season's shortcomings - conditioning. The Cavs let four games slip away in the fourth quarter. So, to prepare for the pace of the no-huddle, Montclair is "running mountains." Well, not literally (but it sounds almost as bad). Running the mountain consists of 2000 yards of sprints at a time.

Ward is looking for results now. If his goal of making the playoffs on the heels of an 0-10 season was any indication, patience isn't quite a virtue.

"If we would have won six games and gone 6-4," Ward said, "that would have been a huge turnaround."

Posted by Clay Fowler at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last year appears to have been the year for Ontario High's football team.

The result of a banner 2008 season: a second-place finish in the Mt. Baldy League and a swift exit from the playoffs courtesy of a 42-21 loss to Menifee Paloma Valley (to Ontario's credit, Paloma Valley lost their next game by just 8 to eventual CIF champ Rancho Cucamomga).

Ontario returns just three players that started a game last season, all of which are linemen. EVERY SINGLE SKILL PLAYER IS GONE. Ontario coach Steve Randall is saying all the right things about trying to prove he's built a program, but he isn't veiling understandably lowered expectations.

"We did a lot to turn the corner last year as a football program," fourth-year coach Randall said. "We might be able to make a run for the playoffs but we also realize there will be a lot of trial and errror. "

However, Randall proclaimed this year's team potentially more talented than 2008 squad.

Ontario is, undoubtedly, more talented at some positions this season than last, according to Randall. "But once you've been through the battles," he said, "you can't replace that experience."

The Jaguars aren't catching any breaks either. Their projected starting quarterback, Hector Ochoa, tore the meniscus in his knee in July. After surgery, he isn't expected to be ready for the season opener.

Defensive tackle Justin Randall, the coach's son, is likely the only player with college potential. The 6-foot, 263-pound senior is one of the three returning starters.

"Don Lugo was young last year," Steve Randall said of the 3-7 Conquistadores. "We might be in that position this year."

Posted by Clay Fowler at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was announced Tuesday that a matchup between defending CIF-SS champions will be televised at 7:30 p.m. by PRIME TICKET on Sept. 25 when Rancho Cucamonga visits Covina Charter Oak to settle a score.

A meeting between these two eventual undefeated CIF champions ended in a less than satisfying 14-14 tie in Week 3 of last year. That, it just so happened, turned out to be the lone blemish on each team's schedule the rest of the season.

Who could have imagined what a colossal game the rematch would turn out to be?

Rancho Cucamonga, the CIF-SS Central Division champion, was seemingly driving for the winning touchdown in its Sept. 26 game when Charter Oak, the CIF-SS Southeast Division champs, pilfered an interception deep in its own territory to preserve the tie.

The Rancho offense that averaged 30 points per game last year is loaded. Again. Charter Oak, however, brings back eight of the defensive starters that held Rancho 16 points under its average in last season's meeting along with two Division-I tailbacks including 1,900-yard rusher Adam Muema.

Here is FOX's high school football TV schedule for the season:
Sep 4 Fri Oaks Christian at Alemany 8:00 PM (D) FOX Sports West
Sep 11 Fri Long Beach Poly at St. Bonaventure 9:30pm (D) PRIME TICKET
Sep 18 Fri Crespi at Servite 8:00pm (D) FOX Sports West
Sep 25 Fri Rancho Cucamonga at Charter Oak 7:30pm PRIME TICKET
Oct 9 Fri Lakewood at Long Beach Poly 7:30pm PRIME TICKET
Oct 16 Fri Mater Dei vs. Orange Lutheran 7:30pm PRIME TICKET
(at Orange Coast College)
Oct 23 Fri Tesoro at Mission Viejo 7:30pm PRIME TICKET
Oct 30 Fri Wildcard: Match-up TBD** 8:30pm (D) PRIME TICKET
Nov 6 Fri Loyola at Notre Dame 10:00pm (D) PRIME TICKET
Nov 13 Fri Cathedral at Serra 7:30pm FOX Sports West

*All games live unless otherwise noted, D=Delay
**10/30 Wild Card Friday (Selections to be made October 12)

Posted by Clay Fowler at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

"They've got those two guys," Montclair coach Rick Ward said, "But two guys can do a lot of damage."

Those "two guys" on the Don Lugo High School football team are: defensive lineman George Uko (perhaps the most dynamic player to emerge from the Inland Valley in my three years here) and RB/FS Steven Bethley, a potential Pac-10 player.

A 6-foot-4, five-star defensive tackle who runs a 4.9 40 - he was 296 pounds at his last weigh in - Uko is rated the third best in the country at his position by scout.com. (He'll play defensive end for Don Lugo) He has already received 19 scholarship offers.

"He's getting recruited," Don Lugo coach Rick Martin said, "by just about every school in the nation."

Though they aren't charted for defensive linemen, pancake blocks were a specialty of Uko during the the one Don Lugo game I covered last season. The poor offensive tackle assigned to him ended up flat on his back seemingly as often as Uko desired.

"George is one of those kids who God has graced with some rare talents," Martin said. "Some kids think they know the game. He is all ears, very coachable."

Bethley, a 6-foot, 200-pounder who averaged 7.2 yards per carry last season will serve as the primary ball carrier in Don Lugo's three-pronged running attack. But he thinks he's a better safety than a running back. He has received offers from San Diego State and Colorado State.

Bethley is being followed closely by several Pac-10 schools, according to Martin, who may offer him depending on his early-season performance.

While Uko and Bethley rival Rancho Cucamonga's QB-TE duo of Greg Watson and Randal Telfer as the most highly recruited in the Inland Valley, Martin is counting on heavy contributions from the 10 sophomores he started last year.

"Last year," Martin said, "was just a 10-game preseason for this year."

The only pitfall for the Conquistadores, who finished fourth in the Mt. Baldy League last season, seems to be a passing game that totalled 446 yards ALL of last season. Martin's ideal run-pass ratio of 50:50 seems a stretch but if returning starting QB Matt Montgomery can simply keep defenses honest, Don Lugo can lean on Bethley and a strong offensive line.

Said Chris Brown, coach of reigning Mt. Baldy League champion Chaffey: "Don Lugo thinks it's their year."

Posted by Clay Fowler at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Garey High School hasn't exactly been a college football factory of late (it hasn't made the playoffs in nine years, among other shreds of evidence). But the youthful Vikings have, not one, but two Division-I recruits who could come into their own this season.

Junior wide receiver Dominique Williams (6-3, 180) and junior offensive tackle Chris Jimenez (6-4, 285) are drawing interest in Pomona despite a team that has produced seven wins in three years. The scholarship offers haven't begun to arrive yet but "I imagine it will happen real soon," says Garey first-year coach Leonard Hudson.

A Garey team returning six starters on each side of the ball has the talent to challenge for a playoff spot in the Mt. Baldy League. Whether that talent can be harnessed remains to be seen.

The bad news was Williams, Jimenez and a host of juniors were forced into action as sophomores when several seniors quit the team. The good news is Williams, Jiminez and a host of juniors were forced into action as sophomores when several seniors quit the team.

Garey didn't attend any passing tournaments this summer. The Vikings "just concentrated on ourselves," says Hudson. "We've got a lot of young talent, so you've just gotta be patient with it and develop it."

"You've gotta be careful with a situation like this," continued Hudson, who coached for 14 years at Pomona High School before coaching linebackers at Baldwin Park HS last year. "Kids come off a losing season, they're skeptical about buying in. They want to be sure about what's going on with the program. Being in Pomona, I've experienced kids quitting a lot, so I know you've got to be careful."

Posted by Clay Fowler at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The theories are numerous:
1. Colony's playoff division doubled in difficulty.
2. The team was young (just 15 of the 53 on the roster were seniors)
3. You can't win championships EVERY year.

Whatever the reason, Colony had a disappointing 2008 by the lofty standards set with consecutive CIF-SS Central Division championships in '06 and '07. The once-invincible Titans finished third in their own league after a streak of 12 consecutive Mt. Baldy League wins was halted last season.

"We don't want to make any excuses but we just weren't ready to play last year," says Colony's Anthony Rice who has two CIF titles in three years as a head coach. "It humbled us to become a 5-6 team."

Its safe to say there will be a new attitude emanating from south Ontario in 2009. Colony will employ a bevy of athletes. Again. Senior QB Travis Nelson, who was supplanted last season by then-sophomore Kori Grant (a transfer to Los Osos HS over the summer) is battling for the starting job with Rancho Cucamonga HS transfer Dominick Barnett. Rice insists he won't rotate QBs, rather will chose one by season's beginning .

Whoever wins the starting job will have a prime target in 6-foot-3, 205-pound Kenneth Scott, who verbally committed to Utah over the summer. Leading Colony's traditionally run-based offense will be Jered Bell, the Titans second-leading ground gainer while splitting time in the backfield last year.

A trio of Todd brothers will lead the defense. Edward, a 6-1, 245-pound senior linebacker/defensive end is the headliner. Greg, a senior 5-11, 270-pound defensive tackle will shore up the middle while little brother Michael a 6-0, 205-pound sophomore will join Edward in the linebacking corps.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chaffey High School has got to be one of the only places where offensive line may be a more glamorous position than quarterback... both spend the majority of their time blocking.

Famous for their gritty style, Chaffey's clock-killing ground game may be better this year than it was when the Tigers claimed the Mt. Baldy League title last season for the first time since 2005 because 12th-year head coach Chris Brown is returning four of his five starting linemen - and they're all juniors.

Oh yeah, QB Jacob Ahmad is back for his senior season... to double as a middle linebacker (only at Chaffey). RB Ronald Douglas, however, will be the focal point of the offense a season after rushing for 12 TDs and nearly 1,400 yards as the second option.

Chaffey may be the team to beat in the Mt. Baldy League, but you can bet Colony HS, which DIDN'T win a CIF title last year for the first time since 2005, will be ready when these two meet Oct. 30.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With high school football season less than three weeks away (Week zero games begin Thursday, Sept. 3) keep your eye out because I'll be previewing some Inland Valley teams in the next couple of weeks.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)