DON'T THINK. IT CAN ONLY HURT THE BALLCLUB

FIRST ROUND
No. 1 Colton over Don Lugo
Rancho Cucamonga over Glendora
Chaffey over Hemet West Valley
No. 4 Los Osos over Arroyo Valley
Chino Hills over No. 3 Wildomar Elsinore
Etiwanda over Cajon
Damien over Upland
No. 2 Colony over Menifee Paloma Valley

QUARTERFINALS
No. 1 Colton over Rancho Cucamonga
No. 4 Los Osos over Chaffey
Etiwanda over Chino Hills
No. 2 Colony over Damien

SEMIFINALS
No. 1 Colton over No. 4 Los Osos
Etiwanda over No. 2 Colony

FINALS
Etiwanda over No. 1 Colton

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Posted by Clay Fowler at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Colony cornerback Jered Bell verbally committed to Colorado this week after paying a visit to the campus in Boulder, Colo., on Nov. 6, according to Colony head football coach Anthony Rice.

The 6-foot, 179-pound senior is the 63rd ranked cornerback in the country by rivals.com and the 99th-ranked player in the state of California. Bell was drawing interest from Colorado State, among others, but Colorado was his only scholarship offer.

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

Bonita senior wide receiver Codey Sykes caught seven passes for 170 yards, including the 18-yard game winner with 27 seconds left in the Bearcats' 26-20 victory over Los Altos on Friday.

Colony running back Jamil Austin gashed the Garey defense for 268 yards and six touchdowns on just 12 carries in Colony's 55-7 win on Friday.

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Posted by Clay Fowler at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With Mt. Baldy League play getting underway on Friday, here is how I think the league standings will look after Nov. 12:

Colony 5-0
Chaffey 4-1
Don Lugo 3-2
Garey 2-3
Montclair 1-4
Ontario 0-5

At its lowest point during the Anthony Rice era, Colony still took Chaffey to overtime last season in a 20-14 loss. Chaffey went on to win the Mt. Baldy League title for the first time since 2005 and Colony dropped to third with a loss to Ontario.

The two years prior, Colony didn't lose a single game in the Mt. Baldy League (or the playoffs, for that matter). After a nonleague showing nothing short of shockingly good, the Titans (4-1) appear to have returned to their CIF title form. Whether or not they are equipped to win a championship in a revamped Central Division is another matter, but Colony appears poised for another run to a league title.

Chaffey is more dynamic this season, allowing QB Jacob Ahmad to throw it a little more, particularly to 6-foot-4, 250-pound tight end Christian Sanders. And the Tigers' clock-killing style is always dangerous if they get a lead. But Colony's defense is as big and physical as ever.

Entering league play on a three-game winning streak, Don Lugo is hoping to make some noise in league. The Conquistadores' wins, however, have come at the expense of less than stellar teams, leaving Don Lugo much to prove.

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

• I think Kaiser's Anthony Brown (above) should play running back in college, as opposed to cornerback. I saw the USC-committed senior play for the first time in Friday's 19-14 loss to Colony, during which he rolled up 199 yards on 27 carries with a pair of touchdowns. He plays a lot bigger than 5-feet-11, 180 pounds and I have no doubt he would make a fine cornerback given his athleticism and fondness for contact. USC has yet to indicate where it would like him to play but he has an ideal skill set to play running back: vision, burst, aggressivness and flat-out play making ability. Brown is one of those players too electric not to play offense.
• I think teams with difficult nonleague schedules are going to find themselves in much better standing when things get tense in about a month. Now, this depends on the difficulty of a given team's league but a team like Colony (4-1) needs to stack its nonleague schedule given the lack of playoff success of its own Mt. Baldy League. But a team on the rise like Damien (1-4) runs the risk of being so beat up after taking on four top-notch teams, including two defending CIF champs, that it may not have enough left for Sierra League play. I'm curious to see how Ayala, which has faced one high caliber team, will stack up with Chino Hills, which scheduled a much more difficult slate. Nonleague scheduling is a delicate thing given the fact it is done well in advance and there is plenty of unpredictibility involved. It'll be interesting to see how different philosophies effect the rest of the season.
• I think the Bonita-San Dimas game, being played on Friday, creates one of the two best atmosphere's I've seen in California high school football. Only the Redlands-Redlands East Valley game is comparable in my mind. I haven't covered a state championship game but Bonita-San Dimas is a more charged atmosphere than any of the CIF championship games I've been to. Both schools have bye weeks before the game so as to create as much hype as possible. They participate in non-football competitions leading up to the game, for example, seeing who can raise more money for charity. It's just a good old-fashioned rivalry that lives up to the billing.

Leave a comment. Ask a question. Or e-mail me at clay.fowler@inlandnewspapers.com

Posted by Clay Fowler at 7:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I had a nice conversation with Don Lugo High School running back/safety Steven Bethley yesterday for this story.

The senior with scholarship offers from San Diego State and Colorado State sent film of his first four games - Don Lugo has won two straight to pull to .500 - to Washington, UCLA and Fresno State this week at the request of the coaches recruiting him from the respective schools. The 6-foot, 200-pounder won't have much footage of his kick returning. After a 66-yard punt return for a touchdown in the season opener, Bethley has been kicked to twice in four games.... including punts and kickoffs. That, however, is just a small part of his story as you'll discover if you click on the link above.

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

Both of these teams are fast gaining confidence, CIF-SS Eastern Division No. 2 Kaiser (2-1) with a shutout of a Cajon team last week that entered averaging over 50 points per game and Central Division No. 5 Colony (3-1) with non-league wins over teams ranked first and second in their Divisions before the Titans knocked them off. Something has to give when these two clash tonight but their defenses aren't much for charity.

POINTS OF EMPHASIS
If points weren't already hard enough to come by, this game will likely be shortened due to the ground-oriented style of each of these teams. Of course that's probably a good thing... it's safe to say the shorter this game, the better for each team's health.

"Oh, yeah," Colony coach Anthony Rice said, "there will be some hitting."

Continue reading "Prep football game of the week: Colony at Kaiser" »

Posted by Clay Fowler at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"I was in the first graduating class at Don Lugo. So, how does it feel to break the so-called curse of the MIlk Can? It feels damn good."

- Don Lugo head coach Rick Martin after his Conquistadores ended a 17-year losing streak to crosstown rival Chino with a 35-0 win on Friday in the Milk Can game.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Albeit in a losing effort, Montclair running back Terrence Charles rushed for 284 yards on 33 carries Friday night. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound senior's lone TD gave Montclair a 7-6 second-quarter lead but Blythe Palo Verde Valley's 20 unanswered points dropped Montclair in too deep a hole during the Cavaliers' eventual 26-21 loss.

After he was ineligible for all but two games last season, Charles, a Division-I caliber talent, according to Montclair coach Rick Ward, is making his mark. The Cavaliers dropped to 1-2 on the season but that third playoff spot in the Mt. Baldy League could be within their grasp.

Runner-up: Damien's Phillip Sainz had 246 yards of total offense in the Spartans' 24-0 win over Claremont Friday. The senior running back rushed for 130 yards on 23 carries and caught two passes for 116 yards, including an 82-yard screen pass for a TD.

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

You do the math...

• Chino Hills is undoubtedly a CIF-championship caliber team.
• Colony beat Chino Hills, 22-6, on Friday.

By my calculations, Colony is, at the very least, back in the discussion. Friday was the Titans' second legit win in as many weeks. With a 25-20 win two weeks ago, they knocked Diamond Ranch from its perch atop the CIF-SS Southeast Division rankings.

"People thought we'd go 0-5 with this schedule," Colony head coach Anthony Rice said of a nonleague slate with Kaiser and Alta Loma remaining. "With what we're doing, I'm impressed."

Despite Colony's CIF-SS Central Division titles in '06 and '07, the question for some people is: would Colony have collected all that hardware had the Baseline and Sierra Leagues joined the Central Division prior to last season?

For the first time since their championship runs began, the Titans (2-1) defeated a Sierra/Baseline League team not named Alta Loma. Of course, a few things need to be qualified about the win over Chino Hills.

Continue reading "Is Colony HS back to championship form?" »

Posted by Clay Fowler at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

• I think this year's Chino Hills team is the best I've seen at the school in three years. The second-ranked Huskies may not have the Division-I talent of two years ago - Corey Harkey (UCLA), Michael Harris (Fresno State), etc. - but they're strong in the right spots. The defense is the strength of the team, for a change. And Chino Hills is better at the quarterback position with Ryan Verdugo than it has been in three years.
• I think Los Osos' Sean Alston is a flat-out football player. He's only 5-10, 185 pounds and he probably doesn't have a blazing 40 time, but the two-way player simply knows how to play football. In two games he has 12 receptions for 208 yards and two TDs but that hardly does him justice. He has already shut down the best receiver in the Inland Valley, holding Colony's Kenneth Scott to 19 yards Week 0. But his impact isn't limited to offense and defense, he returned a kickoff 97 yards for a score, the only touchdown in the second half of Los Osos 47-21 loss to a talented Riverside North team on Thursday.
• I think Chaffey might actually be equipped to add a passing element to its offense via the QB-TE duo of Jacob Ahmad and Christian Sanders. Tigers coach Chris Brown likes to talk about throwing the ball more but after watching the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Sanders haul in five receptions for 72 yards and a TD in Friday's 28-14 loss to Chino Hills, I think I actually believe him this year. Granted, Chaffey fell behind 28-0 but during the desperate comeback maybe the Tigers learned something about themselves when Ahmad passed for 105 yards in the second half.

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

Claremont High School junior receiver Tanner Kuramata caught 10 passes for 173 yards Friday night, including a 55-yard touchdown to set the tone in Claremont's 31-28 win over Bonita. Entering its season opener, Claremont had a combined two wins during its last two seasons while Bonita has made the playoffs three years running.

Runner up: Colony High School cornerback Jered Bell, who had two interceptions, including one that set up the game-winning drive in Colony's 25-20 win on Friday over the top-ranked team in the CIF-SS Southeast Division, Diamond Ranch.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This game's determining factor is clear to Chaffey coach Chris Brown. Of course, games involving Chaffey usually aren't wrapped in perplexity.

Chaffey throws the ball a handful of times on a busy night; the rest of the time "you know what's coming, but they get the whole student body moving in the same direction," Chino Hills coach Derek Bub said.

The heavyweights of the class will be leading the way - Chaffey returned the entire hulking offensive line that helped it to a Mt. Baldy League title last year - but Chino Hills has a way to combat that.

"It'll be our size," Brown said, "against their athleticism."

Continue reading "Prep football game of the week: Chaffey at Chino Hills" »

Posted by Clay Fowler at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Chaffey High School senior running back played just one half in Friday's 34-10 win over Alta Loma but still managed to pile up 229 yards and three TDs on just 19 carries. THAT'S 12 YARDS A CARRY. And he played defense.

Douglas' performance didn't come against stellar competition seeing as Friday marked the first game under new head coach Jose Fuentes for an Alta Loma team that went 4-6 last season. But Douglas was out of the game after the first possession of the second half. In other words, he was on pace for circa 400 yards and 6 TDs.

Chaffey's glued-to-the-ground offense is far from diverse, allowing Douglas to accumulate that many carries in two quarters. But the defense knows to play the run and still nearly a third of Douglas' carries went for over 10 yards. Splitting time as a junior last season, Douglas ran for 1,387 yards and 12 TDs. It'll be fun to see what he can do as the primary option this year.

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

• I think Los Osos HS is glad to have offensive coordinator Matt Bechtel back after he spent a year at Chaffey College. The Grizzlies' short-passing scheme was nicely tailored for QB Blake Loncar in his first start, a 31-12 win over Colony Thursday. The play calling was exemplary too, capped by a wide-receiver pass for the game-clinching TD.
• I think Rancho Cucamonga tight end Randall Telfer looks like a different person after adding 20 pounds over the summer. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound USC-bound senior defied logic by getting bigger and faster (via speed training). He only caught two shovel passes in Rancho's 27-14 win over Damien Friday but he glided through the defense for a 33-yard TD with one of them. He's going to have a monster year.
• I think Colony is a better team than the squad that went 5-6 last season. The Titans have a talented defense and a good enough running game. Their 31-12 loss to Los Osos on Thursday was closer than the score indicated. It was 14-6 in the 4th quarter and 17-6 with 6:30 left in the game before Los Osos scored two long TDs. Colony plays a brutal nonleague schedule but it'll contend for a Mt. Baldy League title and have a better showing in the playoffs this season.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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)

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.

Continue reading "Charles 'the difference in Montclair being a playoff team?'" »

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.

Continue reading "Ontario HS trying to get with the program" »

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

"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."

Continue reading "Don Lugo HS '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."

Continue reading "Colony HS 'not making excuses' for last season" »

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.

Continue reading "Chaffey High School in LINE to repeat?" »

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

Sorry for the delay...

Offensive MVP - Ronald Douglas, RB, Jr., Chaffey
Offensive MVP - Herman Huezo, QB, Sr., Ontario
Defensive MVP - Deveion Bauman, S, Sr., Chaffey

Continue reading "All-Mt. Baldy League football team" »

Posted by Clay Fowler at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The Baseline League cleaned house at the All-CIF football meeting Wednesday, claiming 19 of the 40 first-team selections.

To nobody's surpirse, Rancho Cucamonga's nine were the most from any single team. The Central Division champion Cougars also produced both the offensive and defensive MVPs.

Offensive MVP: Greg Watson, Jr., QB
Defensive MVP: Daniel Fonua, Sr., LB

Continue reading "All-CIF Central Division football teams released" »

Posted by Clay Fowler at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

He has been contemplating it ever since he received a scholarship offer from them on Oct. 23 - the same day he committed to San Diego State - but Colony defensive tackle/offensive lineman Josh Andrews has officially changed his verbal commitment to Oregon State, according to Colony coach Anthony Rice.

The 6-foot-3, 265-pound senior, who is being recruited primarily as an offensive guard, is yet to take any of his official trips but plans to visit Oregon State, Colorado State and Washington State, who is interested but hasn't offered.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Colony defensive tackle/offensive lineman Josh Andrews, who committed to San Diego State Oct. 23, said he'll probably rescind his verbal pledge this week after receiving offers from Oregon State and Colorado State.

"(San Diego State) was my first offer and I probably didn't check out other options enough before I committed," said the 6-foot-2, 260-pound Andrews. "I'm having second thoughts. I'll probably end up at Oregon State."

Andrews is being recruited as an offensive lineman, though he plays both ways at Colony. In the next month he'll take official visits to Oregon State, Colorado State and Washington State, who is interested but hasn't offered.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Colony High School defensive tackles Quayshawne Buckley and Josh Andrews verbally committed to Washington State and San DIego State, respectively, on Thursday, according to Colony coach Anthony Rice.

Andrews, however, may change his mind after receiving offers from Oregon State and Washington State hours after issuing his commitment.

Continue reading "Colony DTs issue commitments" »

Posted by Clay Fowler at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)