August 2010 Archives

Greg Gano didn't define the exact breadth of Chino Hills' expected dominance, but the Damien head football coach made clear he thought it would exceed the Sierra League. "Chino Hills will be as good as anybody in this league and as good as anybody around," Gano said. "Chino Hills will be the best team in the area."

A season after Chino Hills lost a six-point semifinal to eventual CIF champion Upland, it returns 15 starters, including one of the most dynamic players in Southern California. In addition to his duties in the secondary, Ifo Ekpre-Olomu will move from slot receiver to full-time running back this season, a scary thought for opposing defensive coordinators. The 5-10, 190-pound senior with 12 scholarship offers, most of them to play defensive back, shifted to running back in last season's playoffs. After a 188-yard, five-touchdown performance in the quarterfinals, head coach Derek Bub isn't about to let him go back.

Ayala is just a year removed from sharing a league title, but the Bulldogs missed the playoffs last season courtesy of some late-season, nail-biting losses. The defense, as usual, likely will keep them in most games but head coach Tom Inglima is hoping to be less dependent on his defense for a change.

"Two years ago we had almost 30 takeaways," Inglima said. "I don't know if our defense needs to lead the way this year. We need to be balanced on offense and have no turnovers. We're looking for balance on both sides of the ball."

Senior first-year starter Caleb Carillo will quarterback an offense that returns running back Mauricio Reynoso, who rushed for 574 yards and nine touchdowns last season. Carillo was 17-3 as the junior varsity starter and the Ayala offense could use a boost after a averaging a deceiving 25 points a game - the Bulldogs eclipsed 40 against Chino (0-10), Diamond Bar (1-9) and South El Monte (3-8) but scored a combined 37 points against Chino Hills (10-3), South Hills (10-3), Glendora (7-4) and Damien (5-6).

INLAND DIVISION
1. Chaparral (Southwestern)
2. Vista Murrieta (Southwestern)
3. Corona Centennial (Big VIII)
4. Chino Hills (Sierra)
5. Charter Oak (Sierra)
6. Upland (Baseline)
7. Norco (Big VIII)
8. Redlands East Valley (Citrus Belt)
9. Redlands (Citrus Belt)
10. Rancho Cucamonga (Baseline)
Others receiving votes: Roosevelt (Big VIII); Murrieta Valley (Southwestern); South Hills (Sierra); Los Osos (Baseline); A.B. Miller (Citrus Belt); Corona Santiago (Big VIII).

WEEK 0
Los Osos at Colony
In his first game as a head coach, Colony's Matt Bechtel hosts the team for which he was offensive coordinator for seven years. This game could be a proving ground for Colony's new regime as Los Osos has won at least a share of the Baseline League title four of the last five years.
Other games to watch:
San Dimas at Bonita
Etiwanda at Summit
Upland at Miller

WEEK 1
Colton at Chaffey
If you like bruising rushing attacks, this is the game for you as both of these teams will compete for the Central Division crown. If this game involves more than 10 passes, it'll be a shock.
Other games to watch:
Damien at Diamond Ranch
Etiwanda at Vista Murrieta
Chino Hills at Corona Santiago

Each year there is a team loaded with college prospects. As has been demonstrated in the past, it doesn't mean that team will succeed, but a truck load of talent is a pretty decent starting point.

This year that team is Claremont. With no less than six Division I prospects, Claremont has more star power than any team in the Inland Valley. Defensive tackle Brandon Tuliaupupu already has 12 scholarship offers. Quarterback Daniel Kessler is the best at his position in the area. There are Division I prospects at running back and receiver... the list goes on.

The Wolfpack is coming off a rough stretch - it claimed two wins combined in 2007 and 2008 - but after a 5-5 season I think Claremont is well on its way back. It doesn't take long to turn a team around in high school football.

"If people really look at it, we played pretty well last year," Claremont head coach Mike Collins said. "It came down to the last quarter of the year with Upland to see who made the playoffs, and they went on to win CIF. But we don't think people have a reason to give us preseason respect. We need to go out and earn it."

"We lost everybody."

It sounded like a distress call on the other end of the phone. Greg Gano, however, isn't the distressed type. Yes, Damien lost 19 of its 22 starters from last season. I wouldn't exactly describe things as looking rosy for the defending co-Sierra League champs entering this year - and they don't look any better with Covina Charter Oak and West Covina South Hills in the league now.

But things didn't look too great when Gano took over a 3-win team prior to last season. They looked even worse when Damien started 1-5. But the Spartans won their last four regular-season games and ended up with the Sierra League's No. 1 playoff seed. (That landed them a first-round date with eventual CIF champ Upland, but that's beside the point) If there is something that does look good, it's Gano's coaching record. He's done this before and he can do it again.

"Last year our defense came around in the middle of the season and allowed less points than anybody in league," Gano said. "We're optimistic, but we don't have a lot of expectations."

Tim Salter wasn't as prophetic as usual when it came to predicting the Baseline League last season. But Upland's head football coach would happily trade his prediction for a ring any day. As usual, Salter professed that the team with the best defense would win a Baseline League that has now indisputably established itself as the best in the Inland Valley.

Upland, as it turned out, not only had the best defense in the league but in all of the CIF-SS Central Division. The Highlanders, however, finished fourth in their own league, earning an at-large berth in the playoffs thanks to a second-half comeback in the final game of the regular season. Upland, of course, proceeded to march through the CIF playoffs to a Central Division championship.

"Upland had one of the best defenses I've ever seen in high school football," 12th year Chaffey head coach Chris Brown said. "And I've seen a lot."

With just three starters back from that vaunted defense, Upland may revert to its offensive ways of 2008, when four college football players manned the skill positions. The star may not be the quarterback this time, rather, running back Donta Abron, who transferred from Alta Loma after gaining 1,350 yards as a sophomore. There may be more than one quarterback to contribute this season, according to Salter, as Justin Nunes returns along with up and coming sophomore Nate Romine.

Rancho Cucamonga graduated its own three-year starting quarterback after last season when the dynamic Greg Watson departed for Fresno State, but a defense that reminds him of the one that lifted the Cougars to the CIF-SS Central Division title in 2008 combined with a new dynamic quarterback will keep Nick Baiz's team squarely in the mix.

Aside from junior quarterback Dimitri Morales - I have never laid eyes on the 6-foot-2 dual-threat QB but by the end of our conversation Baiz had me itching to see him play - the Rancho Cucamonga offensive line averages a whopping 305 pounds a member in front of running back Sateki Finau, who rushed for 1,000 yards as a sophomore before serving primarily as a fullback and defensive player last season.

"He's not just a good athlete playing running back," said Baiz. "He can play running back."

If the Rancho Cucamonga defense at all resembles the one that allowed just 13.9 points per game two years ago on the way to a CIF title, I'd feel good about my chances if I were the Cougars. Offensively, they were a running team last season anyway, which is something they're entirely capable of this year regardless of Morales' rate of development. With Upland having won CIF and Los Osos and Etiwanda sharing the Baseline League title, it's easy to forget Rancho lost just three games last year by a combined 13 points and was two wins away from back-to-back CIF titles.

Attempting to replace 6,500 yards and 65 touchdowns will be no easy task for Etiwanda. Thankfully for the rest of the Baseline League, it took quarterback Angel Santiago three years to compile those numbers. Thankfully for Etiwanda, it is just one of four teams in the league with a new quarterback.

Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce is banking on first-year starter Larry Cutbirth, a 6-5 junior, to be heavily supported by a defense he thinks could be the best in the league this year. The Etiwanda defense was headlined last year by then sophomore linebacker Chandler Scott, who led the Baseline League in tackles at the end of the 2009 regular season but he is out for the season with two torn ligaments in his knee.

"We feel like we can be a little bit like Upland was last year," Bryce said. "Our defense is going to keep us in some games. That's what happened in passing league this summer. But we lost 34 seniors - the biggest graduating class we've ever had - so we might experience growing pains for a little bit."

Los Osos and Upland did it last year, but if Etiwanda can succeed after the loss if its largest graduating football class of the Bryce era, it will go a long way toward proving the status of its program.

Sept. 3 Serra at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 10:30 p.m.
Sept. 10 Crenshaw at Norco, 8:30 p.m.
Sept. 16 Thousand Oaks at Westlake, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 24 Edison vs. Servite, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 1 Westlake vs. Oaks Christian, 8:30 p.m.
Oct. 8 Long Beach Poly vs. Lakewood, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 22 St. Bonaventure at Thousand Oaks, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 29 Mater Dei vs. Servite, 10:30 p.m.
Nov. 5 Wildcard: Match-up TBD, 10:30 p.m.
Nov. 11 Edison vs Los Alamitos, 7:30 p.m.

Last year Los Osos had to endure the loss of QB Richard Brehaut (UCLA) and RB Arby Fields (Northwestern). All the 2009 Grizzlies did was end up in the school's first CIF championship. This year they're replacing 15 starters, but this is proving to be a solid program that isn't going to drop of much no matter who it loses.

When quarterback Kori Grant, who transferred from Colony prior to last year, started as a sophomore at Colony, then coach Anthony Rice said of him: "all he does is win."

He's only 5-foot-8 but he's extremely dangerous in the running game and from what I hear throws the ball very well. Grant will be running the zone-read a lot, according to Los Osos head coach Tom Martinez, in similar fashion to Brehaut. Grant will have a big receiver in the San Diego State committed Paul Pitts, who is 6-1, 190. And Cody Rogina, who rushed for 943 yards and 11 TDs last year, returns at running back. The major question, as it seems to be more often than not at Los Osos, is line play.

The family of former Garey High School defensive tackle Edward Acuna is suing Riddell, the official helmet manufacturer of the National Football League, after Acuna suffered an injury last season that led to extensive brain damage. This is not the first time Riddell has been sued over related incidents, but the Acuna family is hoping to finally tip the scales and force Riddell to make changes to its equipment.

"There is litigation going back 10 years over the front pad of the helmet not performing as intended and leading to head injuries," said Ilyas Akbari, Acuna's attourney, "Riddell has had many chances to use an available, low-cost alternative design that, we believe, would have prevented head injuries like Edward's. They just simply have not done so. The time has come to hold Riddell accountable and to demand a safer design."

Read the story in its entirety here on DailyBulletin.com

Current UCLA sophomore, former Los Osos quarterback RIchard Brehaut talks with the L.A. Daily News' John Gold after the UCLA Fall scrimmage about the state of the Bruins, some of his new weapons and how he is light years ahead of where he was last year at this time. He sounds like a pretty confident guy to me.

Ayala High School hired John Mounce as its boys basketball coach Friday, replacing Kenny Donavon, who resigned in July to spend more time with his family. Mounce was an assistant coach most recently at Chino, but has also coached at Newport Harbor and Mater Dei, where he played under Gary McKnight, one of the winningest high school basketball coaches in the state.

"(Ayala) principal (Diana) Yarboi and I were very impressed with his vision for our program," Ayala athletic director Steve Martin said. "He had a blue print, in writing, of where he wants to go with the program."

After Pomona received a few incoming transfers from Colony this year, now the school is experiencing a significant one of the outgoing variety. Fred Robledo of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune got comfirmation from Pomona coach Anthony Rice that Pomona running back Taj Teague is transferring to Claremont, the school he attended as a freshman.

Teague, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior already with a few scholarship offers, could be the missing piece to a Claremont team with plenty of talent on offense everywhere except running back. Claremont was prepared to shift their best receiver, Tanner Kuramata, to tailback in obvious running situations before Teague's transfer. Already with the best quarterback and one of the best receivers in the area in addition to a senior-laden offensive line, Claremont is loaded.

Pomona will not challenge the transfer, according to Rice. "Let him play," Rice said. "I don't challenge anything, if he wants to go to Claremont so be it. I wish the kid the best of luck and hope he has a great senior year. You hate to lose a kid of that caliber, but it's his choice."

Imagine going 0-10. Then imagine losing your best two players. Such is the case for Alta Loma High School, which is facing a steeper climb this season in a Baseline League that may have gotten more difficult with the addition of Glendora.

After not just going winless but allowing 47.6 points per game in league play opposite a scoring average of 13.8, Alta Loma's leading rusher and leading tackler both transferred to league foe and defending CIF champion Upland. In his second year as Alta Loma's head coach things are certainly not any easier for Jose Fuentes.

"Anytime a kid leaves a program its hard to absorb but (Abron and Powell) were our starting backfield," Fuentes said. "They were young last year so it's tough to know how good they could have been or would have been. We're just trying to rebuild a program here. (If players move), that's out of our control.

"We know this league is tough and every game will be tough. We just want to improve from last year and be fundamentally sound."

The third year of their tenure makes or breaks a lot of football coaches. And while Rick Ward doesn't have Jerry Jones looking over his shoulder in his third year at Montclair, he is confident that the discipline he's instilling in the program will be more evidenced on the field for everybody to see.

Montclair has won two league games the last two years combined - and six total games - but had the Mt. Baldy League had four playoff spots last season, the Cavaliers would have finished one game out of the postseason picture. Montclair has a large hill to climb considering it gave up 30 points a game last season but Ward may have found some solid founation to build on.

"The first year the weight room was non-existent," Ward said. "Last year we had some guys come in but they were just kind of punching the clock. This year it's all in."

Is Colony really that mysterious this season? I don't think so. Despite a new coach in Matt Bechtel, a new system in the no-huddle, spread offense and only two returning starters, this is a school well-known for the athletes that populate its halls. The new coach also happens to be the same guy who coordinated the offense that helped Los Osos to at least a share of four straight league titles. (The one season Bechtel spent at Chaffey College - 2008 - was the lone year in the last five Los Osos didn't earn a piece of the Baseline League championship)

Maybe if Colony were in the Baseline League I'd give it less of a chance to succeed while making such a big transition, but the Titans will likely have plenty to work with despite the departure of some of their better players and the return of just two starters. With such an inexperienced team, however, Bechtel is understandably cautious with his expectations.

"We could be a team that plays for a CIF championship or we could be a team that's scratching and clawing to make the playoffs," Bechtel said. "I love my team. These guys are young but they're eager and what they lack in experience they make up for in willingness to do what we tell them in order to be successful."

Compiling statistics as the season went along last year, Mike Mendoza and Christian Solis made themselves impossible to ignore. Then a sophomore and junior, respectively, at Western Christian, the quarterback-receiver duo kept topping the statistical charts we compile each week at the Daily Bulletin. When it was all said and done in 2009, Mendoza threw for 1,600 yards and Solis, who missed the final three games with an injury, had 35 receptions for 612 yards and five touchdowns.

Once these two had my attention last year, Western Christian entered Christian League play, which was not kind to their statistics. Coach Scotty Kirkpatrick is hoping that will change this year, though the new Ambassador League - which includes the former Christian League - is tougher with the addition of CIF champion Linfield Christian. If the Lancers are to enter the playoff picture after a 1-9 season last year, it will likely be on the strength of their skill players.

Ontario Christian lost five of its first six games last season, cycled through three offenses (and three QBs), scrambled to fill out a lineup thanks to a multitude of injuries and still the Knights reached the CIF-SS East Valley championship game. No matter the circumstances, it's hard to count out OCHS.

It's easy to count the Knights in this year. Despite returning just seven starters, head coach Laing Stevens thinks this team is faster, stronger, deeper and more athletic than the squad that lost the championship game by just six points to a St. Margaret's team Aquinas coach Nick Matheny labeled "one of the best small school football programs in California."

As tough as things were for Ontario during a one-win season last year, they just got tougher. Before the season has even begun, seven seniors who "didn't want to get along and didn't want to do what we wanted them to," according to head coach Steve Randall, are no longer members of the team.

"I know everything's optimistic this time of year but I'll be honest, those guys would have made us a lot better this year," Randall said. "We won't be as bad as we were last year but our league is also tougher."

A year after finishing second in the Mt. Baldy League, Ontario's one win last season came Week 1 against a La Verne Lutheran team that had just made the jump from 8-man football and folded before the season ended. The good news for Ontario is that eight starters return on offense, including Hector Ochoa, who was supposed to be the starting quarterback last season before knee surgery prior to the season.

Don Lugo may have graduated two of the most exciting players in the Inland Valley - behemoth defensive lineman George Uko now at USC and leading rusher Steven Bethley, who scored touchdowns about every conceivable way on offense, defense and special teams - but the 2010 Conquistadores may quite possibly be a better team this year. With the uncertainty of a new coaching staff for a Colony team that has won the league three of the last four years, some believe Don Lugo could be poised to move into the top tier of the Mt. Baldy League.

"Chaffey and Don Lugo," Ontario coach Steve Randall said, "are the top two teams in the league, in my opinion."

This season will go a long way toward indicating what kind of program third-year head coach Rick Martin has built at Don Lugo. If the Conquistadores can not only withstand the loss of a couple players the caliber of Uko and Bethley, but perhaps improve, it will prove a ton about the direction of the team.

Chino may have gone winless last season, but high school football allows for some quick turnarounds and the Cowboys may have reason to believe they can pull one off. First of all, they moved from a revamped Sierra League to the less competitive Mt. Baldy League. Secondly, there are four playoff spots and only seven teams in Chino's new realigned league.

Is it likely Chino will contend for a playoff spot? No. But in a league with only two teams who have made the playoffs at least two seasons in a row, the Mt. Baldy League is fairly wide open outside of Colony and Chaffey - one of which has won the league each of the last seven years.

In his first year as head football coach, Chino graduate Matt McCain (who will pull double duty as the Chino athletic director for the sixth year) will try and restore the pride to a once proud program that has won five games the last three years combined. McCain knows a little something about that pride seeing as he was an assistant coach for nine years during some of Chino's finest moments. He is optimistic, to say the least.

Here is a reminder of what the realigned playoff divisions will look like this year:

Inland Division (no at-large entries)
Baseline
Big VIII (4 entries)
Citrus Belt
Sierra
Southwestern

Central Division (1 at-large entry)
Mt. Baldy (4 entries)
Desert Valley
Inland Valley (4 entries)
San Andreas (4 entries)

High hopes and low expectations make for an exciting combination. Home to the best player in the Mt. Baldy League but also a 10-year playoff drought, Garey embodies both. After winning one game in 2008, the Vikings were one win away from the playoffs last season. And now that Chino has given the Mt. Baldy League seven teams, there are four playoff spots up for grabs instead of just three.

Leading a Garey offense that averaged 24 points last season will be 6-foot-4, 190-pound receiver Dominique Williams, who not only has the size but the 4.5-second speed. He has the scholarship offers to prove it. Boise State, Utah, Oregon State, Washington State, San Diego State and Colorado State, to name a few, have already offered with more likely to come.

"I'd dare to say that going into this thing he [Williams] is the best athlete in our league," Chaffey head coach Chris Brown said. "He was even making plays against Colony last year even though Colony was clearly the best team in league."

It came down to the Aug. 16, 9 p.m. deadline but former Upland High School pitcher Scott Frazier has elected to play baseball at Pepperdine for the next three years instead of signing with the Philadelphia Phillies, who selected him in the fifth round of the MLB draft in June.

The 6-foot-7 right-hander was expected to be drafted as early as late in the first round before sliding to the 171st overall selection. Accordingly, the Phillies likely would have needed to pay him more handsomely than a fifth-round pick. Frazier, the 2010 Inland Valley Player of the Year, was undecided as of Monday afternoon but ultimately thought he could improve his draft status - while receiving a top-flight education - by playing the mandated three years at a Division I school before re-entering the MLB draft.

"I decided (Pepperdine) would be the best thing for my future right now," Frazier said. "I'm still eligible to enter the draft in three years but I'm just excited for the next three years right now."

Frazier, whose fastball topped out at 96 mph last season, went 6-2 with a 1.16 ERA and 87 strikeouts in 54 innings his senior season.

Chaffey renovated its football field in the offseason but the largest things constructed on campus this summer are yet to be officially unveiled. Head coach Chris Brown, entering his 12th year at Chaffey, labeled his 2010 offensive line the largest he's ever had. If you are familiar with the Tigers' style - their run:pass ratio during a 2009 season in which they aired it out was still nearly 10:1 - a big offensive line is a big weapon.

Try this on for size. The Chaffey offensive line averages 268 pounds a person. Including 6-foot-2, 250-pound tight end Kyle Hoff, that's 1,590 pounds of beef set in motion on the snap. Also, Chaffey's line is not only its biggest ever, but its deepest ever. While the ankle injuries will assuredly be reduced by the new field turf, the Chaffey reserve line has plenty of size and ability when called upon.

"This is the biggest team we've had across the line," Brown said. "And they're mean. They just have an edge to them."

While the Mt. Baldy League's second-place team a year ago is replacing two-year starting quarterback Jacob Ahmad and running back Ronald Douglas' 223 rushing yards per game, behind this line it could be in line to top the feats of a 2009 team that came within three points from the CIF semifinals.

Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/Staff Photographer

We've proven the excuse of, well, the actual occurrence of games isn't needed in order to discuss high school football on this blog. But with the 2010 football season around the corner - it begins Thursday Sept. 2 - I will be diving into a preview of the upcoming season over the next two weeks. With new leagues and the realignment of playoff divisions, not to mention a new crop of talent, there is much to discuss. Here is what you can look forward to reading on this blog before the season gets underway:

• previews of each team in the Inland Valley
• a preseason All-Valley team
• a preseason top 10
• league predictions
• divisional playoff predictions
• a look at the marquee games on the 2010 schedule

Don Furnald, who was hired as Etiwanda's head baseball coach Thursday, spoke today about trying to spark an Etiwanda program that has one winning season in its last six and hasn't made the playoffs since Brice Sunderland become the athletic director in 1997.

"The biggest expectation is to change the culture of the program," Furnald said. "We're trying to bring in a whole new program. It's not like since I've been an assistant I'm going to come in and run the same program."

Furnald, 30, doesn't think the Eagles are far from being a playoff team.

"It feels like we're right on the brink," he said. "We want to be right in the mix in the Baseline League and that's where we were last year. We're trying to increase the positivity of Etiwanda baseball. We're trying to build a tradition. We haven't had that in a while and we're trying to start that now."

Diamond Ranch senior-to-be Rouric Bridgewater has verbally committed to Arizona State, who offered him a full scholarship on July 20. The third baseman chose the Sun Devils over offers from USC, UCLA, Oregon, Loyola Marymount, San Diego State and Costal Carolina, which was his second choice, according to his father Steve Bridgewater.

Bridgewater, a first-team All-Valley and first-team all-CIF selection as a junior, batted .580 with 10 home runs and 41 RBIs in just 26 games last season.

After serving as an assistant for four years, Don Furnald was hired Thursday as Etiwanda High School's head baseball coach, according to Etiwanda athletic director Brice Sunderland. Furnald, a Rancho Cucamonga High School graduate, replaces Shane Moses, who resigned in June likely due to a contentious relationship with the Etiwanda administration. Moses, who posted one winning season in his last six with the Eagles, temporarily resigned in April before returning after a two-game absence to finish out his final season.

"We are excited to see a longtime member of the Chaffey District family take over our baseball program," Sunderland said. "Coach Furnald knows the game, he knows our kids, and I am very confident that he will establish a new tradition here with the Eagles."

San Dimas head football coach Bill Zernickow, among others, provides some education on the Smudge Pot... and I don't just mean the annual rivalry football game between defending 2009 CIF champion San Dimas and Bonita that will be played Sept. 3 this year. That's 24 days from now!

As long as the two football players who transferred from Colony to Pomona High School were unaware at the time of their transfer of former Colony coach Anthony Rice's impending move to the Pomona sidelines, their transfers are legitimate. Both Makale McCobb and Gerald Kough, who played at Colony last season, transfered prior to Rice being hired as the head football coach at Pomona. Demetrius Counts, however, was ruled athletically ineligible for his senior year likely because Colony's second-leading rusher last season transferred to Pomona in June after Rice was hired in May.

"It would have to be proved that the 2 players in question knew Anthony (Rice) was going to be hired at Pomona prior to their transfers, in any event," CIF director of communication Thom Simmons said. "Had the two players transferred after Anthony was hired at Pomona, the office could possibly make a reasonable assumption that of prima facie evidence of a athletically motivated transfer. The same assumption is much more difficult when the transfer happens before."

Second-team all-Mt. Baldy League players in 2009, McCobb and Kough had their transfers to Pomona approved March 26 and Feb. 5, respectively. Rice resigned from Colony Feb. 3, accepted Pomona's job offer Feb. 25 and was hired in May.