It's a four-way race for three spots in the Sierra League
Maybe three champions weren't enough last year.
There are four teams tied atop the Sierra League, but that hardly tells the story.
The Damien football team, which just two weeks ago had a single win to its credit appears poised to win at the very least a share of the league championship. Two of the league's three defending champions, Chino Hills and Ayala, could have set up a showdown this week for sole possession of first place had each produced a victory on Friday. They both lost.
Now Glendora, Damien, Ayala and Chino Hills are tied for first place with a league record of 2-1.
"I think this is about how I thought it would be," Ayala coach Tom Inglima said. "I'm just glad we're still in it."
Ayala seemingly has the toughest road to four league wins with games remaining against each of the two teams with which it shared the Sierra League championship last
season: Chino Hills on Friday and Glendora in the regular season finale. The Bulldogs (6-2) lost 17-7 on Friday to Damien.
Damien (3-5), which was battered by a brutal nonleague schedule that included two defending CIF champions, was welcomed to league play with a 38-6 shellacking on its own home field courtesy of Chino Hills. But head coach Greg Gano's team responded with a 21-0 win over Glendora before its victory over Ayala vaulted it back into a tie for first place. Now all that remains on the Spartans' schedule are Chino and Diamond Bar, who produced their first collective win this season when they played each other last week.
"It looks like Damien's schedule worked out the best," Inglima said. "I thought our schedule would get us some momentum in league like it did last year, but it turns out Damien got the wins they needed and theirs is setting up better."
The same Glendora team that lost 21-0 to Damien, beat the same Chino Hills team last week that stomped Damien. And Glendora's 24-23 win over the Huskies last week was without all-everything running back Andre Holmes. Go figure.
What's fun about this is that all four teams remain in control of their destiny. Only three of them are capable of running their league record to 4-1. If all four win their remaining games with Diamond Bar and/or Chino, it will leave two key matchups: Chino Hills-Ayala and Ayala-Glendora.
Ayala, obviously, is the team with the largest potential influence on appearance of the Sierra League picture in two weeks.
"You get on the bus and you get word that it's a four-way tie and you feel like you've got a second chance," Inglima said. "It's a race to three wins and we've got to find a way to win one of the next two."
In terms of simply making the playoffs, the fourth-place team from the Sierra League could potentially earn the CIF-SS Central Division's lone at-large berth. Given the way Los Osos is playing, I think that distinction, like it did last year, will go to the fourth-place team from the Baseline League.
This leaves quite the delimma for the Sierra League. Four quality teams are vying for three spots.
Leave a comment. Ask a question. Or e-mail me at clay.fowler@inlandnewspapers.com
Comments
D-High!!
Posted by: Spartan09 | November 3, 2009 9:47 PM
Clay, there are only two quality teams in the Sierra League and neither of them have Gano or Inglima as a head coach (press hounds). Glendora and Chino Hills have a bump in the road with A-Dogs and a easy sweep over Chino and D-Bar.
Posted by: Red Barron | November 3, 2009 10:58 PM
Ayala a big bump in the road barron?
Ayala wins the bone three years in a row.. on Friday.
YOUR TEAM IS TOO PREDICTABLE!!
Your goin down hard to a bigger team than you've played all year. Throw 11 men in the box and we'll still pound the ball down your throat.
Huskies Suck.
Posted by: AHSdawg | November 4, 2009 10:28 AM
Big talk AHSdawg... But I'm afraid your bark is a little more ferocious than your bite.
The reality is that your school was lucky to beat the Huskies the past two years. You know it, I know it, and the American People know it.
I can remember when the “Battle of the Bone” was first introduced; your school didn’t even want to participate because you thought it was a hopeless cause. Then in 2007, a bad snap by CHHS on a 26 yard field goal to win the game turned into 6 points for the Bulldogs and you guys paraded that bone around the field like some kind of miracle had just happened. The same kind of thing happened in 2008… a freak fumble, and suddenly you have 8 points to win. Once again, your school treated this as though it was some kind of miracle or something.
And it’s no wonder… The reality is, AHSDawg, that you know the Huskies are a way better team than you are. You’ve known that you’re the underdog in literally every match up there has been between the two schools. The trouble is, that if the BIG Dawg doesn’t take care of business and put the little dawg down, sometimes the underdog comes out on top. I hope to God that the Huskies have learned their lesson over the past two seasons and put this game out of reach early and keep it that way.
The bone goes back to the Huskies this year… The question is, will Ayala still participate in the “Battle of the Bone” once they take it away and hold onto it for years to come?
Posted by: Joe the Plumber | November 4, 2009 6:24 PM
I have big talk?
Beat a quality Ayala team with your overrated huskies then it'll be talk.
Here come the big dogs. Three years in a row.
Skill creates good luck.
Huskies suck.
Posted by: AHSdawg | November 4, 2009 9:06 PM
AHSSDawg, your puppies are so over matched you too will wonder why this game was even hyped. That sound you hear is your heart beating from the anxiety you are feeling from this game or maybe its the sound of the Huskies running over the bulldogs. Thump, thump! The only thing the Huskies suck, will be the life out of your fans from start to finish.
THIS IS HUSKY TOWN, and you're just a guest. Get over it.
Posted by: Red Barron | November 4, 2009 10:09 PM
We'll see.
It's all just talk.
The only thing that matters is the score.
And Ayala has won two years in a row.
Here Comes 3.
The only thing i'm nervous about is the number of players in green gonna need help off the field.
Huskies Suck.
Posted by: AHSDawg | November 4, 2009 10:36 PM
Ha ha... Ayala Sucks...
Posted by: Husky Fan | November 9, 2009 4:52 PM