TOP TO BOTTOM
Though they both suffered their first league losses last week, both the Bulldogs and the Huskies remain firmly in contention for the league title. The flip side of a league race with four teams tied for first place means the loser of this game is in danger of missing the playoffs, given that Damien and Glendora also have 2-1 league records.

"It's unbelievable, this league," Chino Hills coach Derek Bub said. "Back to back years like this, you never know what's going to happen each week. We'll see how it all plays out."

UNDER-DOGS
Ayala has won each of the last two meetings between these two teams, 18-17 last season on the departed David Quiroga's two-point conversion -- a gutsy call by coach Tom Inglima -- following his late-game touchdown catch; and 19-10 in 2007 on the strength of a blocked field goal Ayala returned for a touchdown.

Ayala, however, has compiled it's 6-2 record this season against a softer schedule than Chino Hills.

"We're gonna be the underdog; We're the underdog every year," Inglima said. "None of that matters. You've still got to play."

It only seems fitting that the underdog has won the last two seasons in a rivalry that grows larger each year in the Chino Hills community.

"It's everything football is about," Bub said. "There was so much riding on this game last year."

SIZE VS. SPEED
While Ayala got bigger in the offseason, Chino Hills got smaller. Chino Hills is relying on its speed to combat the size advantage of Ayala's offensive front.

The Ayala offense relied heavily on the running game last season but has found balance with the addition of Orange Lutheran transfer quarterback Ryan Orozco. The senior has completed 62 of 119 passes for 982 yards and eight touchdowns with six interceptions.

The Bulldogs' running back duo of Maurice Reynoso (79 carries, 493 yards, 9 TD) and Michael Trujillo (46-272, 5 TD) will provide the rushing attack.

"We've been very balanced this year," Inglima said. "If their defense is loading up the box, we'll throw the ball and if they spread out with us we'll run it."

CHANGING ON THE FLY
Chino Hills' offense looks extremely different this season than the glued-to-the-ground attack of last season. Quarterback Ryan Verdugo is 87 of 147 passing for 1,170 yards and 11 TDs with six interceptions.

Last season the Huskies ran the ball 72 percent of the time compared to this year's 63 percent. The shift in philosophy is in no small part because of receiver Ifo-Ekpre Olomu (26 receptions, 549 yards, 6 TD), an all-CIF safety as a sophomore last season.

"Ifo's become a big part of our offense," Bub said. "We're trying to take advantage of Ryan where as we would just hand it off to (running back) A.J. (Johnson) a lot last year."

PREDICTION:
Chino Hills 21, Ayala 17

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The 49th-ranked weakside defensive end in the country, according to rivals.com, has 4.5 sacks and 51 tackles, eight for loss, this season. His other scholarship offers included Arizona State, Hawaii, Nevada, Colorado State, San Diego State, New Mexico State and Idaho.

Washington, who runs a 4.7-second 40 and has a 40-inch vertical, gained about 25 pounds in the offseason but it is apparent he has a frame that can hold considerable more weight. He is 225 pounds but still looks like a skinny kid.

Here is a story I wrote last week about Washington, who is coping with the sudden death of his father eight days before this season began.

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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."

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.

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CHAMPIONSHIP IMPLICATIONS
"This game," Etiwanda coach Steve Bryce said, "is a lot bigger than it looked last week."

When defending CIF and Baseline League champion Rancho Cucamonga went down a week ago, Etiwanda-Upland became a battle for the inside track to win a league title.

"Whoever wins this game controls their own destiny," Upland coach Tim Salter said. "Whoever loses is going to need some help. So, in terms of winning a league championship, you want to come out of this one a winner."

Etiwanda lost to Upland by a point in overtime last season. The season before, the Eagles' 34-10 loss to Upland cost them an outright league championship.

"We want this game badly," Bryce said. "We took them lightly two years ago and they blew us out. We lost going for two in ovetime last year. We have been telling the team to learn from mistakes of the past or you're doomed to repeat them."

STANDING THEIR GROUND:
The speedy Upland defense may be the best Etiwanda quarterback Angel Santiago has seen this season. The Highlanders are, after all, allowing six points per game.

But Upland may not have seen a quarterback like Santiago. The third-year starter has completed 57 percent of his passes for 1,368 yards and 10 touchdowns with just three interceptions. The shifty 5-foot-10 senior has also rushed for 696 yards and 13 scores on just 83 carries.

"If I were Upland, I would make Angel beat me with the pass because he's proven he can do it with his feet," Bryce said.

Salter wouldn't allow that Upland's philosophy was primarily directed at stopping Santiago from running, but he is certainly concerned about the senior's scrambling ability.

"He's going to make you miss, you just have to hope you corrall him enough that other people can get there," Salter said of Santiago. "We think we're fast but we'll find out how quick we are (tonight)."

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After not only breaking a streak that was cutting into its seventh year last season, but winning TWO games in 2008, even considering Friday's victory it would appear Ganesha is taking a step backward this season.

That's not the case.

First of all, it is apparent Fleming is driven by his willingness to even take the head coaching job of a program fresh off consecutive 0-10 seasons; he could have just kept his assistant coaching job with a burgeoning Diamond Ranch program. It was easy to be upbeat as Ganesha made visible progress last season, but its a year like this one when Fleming's will has really been put to the test.

The Boston native - his accent is awesome - vented a little off the record after Ganesha allowed San Dimas to score on every single possession of that game two weeks ago. But he is already talking about next season, how much its going to benefit Ganesha to be part of a new league (and he's absolutely right about the Giants move into a league that will include many programs of the Giants' caliber).

Fleming is in this for the long run and it's that stability that can aid progress. He can't make kids want to come out for football and he can't keep them from quitting; he's got to make the program such there is a measure of pride in being part of the team. It's the student body's perception of the football team that is as important as anything.

Ganesha still has a long way to go but this win on Friday was no small step. Granted, Northview is having a shockingly horrible season but Ganesha took advantage. Speaking of perception, how does beating the defending league champions sound?

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Los Osos coach Tom Martinez didn't say the move was done an effort to get under the champs' skin, but he didn't have to.

During the week leading up to the game Martinez consulted the blue book, which stated the visiting team was required to wear "light" jerseys, not "white." Los Osos' powder blue home uniforms were close enough, in his estimation.

"I thought it would help us be a little more intense," Martinez said.

I personally don't see anything wrong with a little gamesmanship; I think the high school level doesn't have enough of it. Rancho Cucamonga and Los Osos, which are a mile apart, don't like each other from the coaching staffs on down to the freshmen. Things like this are innocent enough but help fuel a rivalry that has quickly grown into one of the area's best, impressive considering Los Osos has only been in existence for seven years.

As for the football implications, saying this win saved Los Osos' season may not be an understatement.

Los Osos was shutout by Upland in its league opener and had the Grizzlies lost to Rancho Cucamonga and either Etiwanda or Claremont, they were looking at a sub-.500 record that would have doomed their chances of being the at-large playoff selection.

As of now, I've got them in the playoffs. If they don't finish in the top three in league, they'll assuredly get the at-large selection given that they beat Colony and lost close games with Redlands and Vista Murrieta, the most difficult nonleague opponent of anybody in the Baseline League.

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