DON'T THINK. IT CAN ONLY HURT THE BALLCLUB

The senior running back needed only 14 carries to roll up 248 yards and four touchdowns in the Cats' 32-6 win on Friday over a Riverside Patriot team that is far from a pushover. (THAT'S 17.7 PER CARRY!) The USC commit, who also plays cornerback, had touchdown runs of 56, 48, 17 and 1 yards.

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

Posted by Clay Fowler at 8:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

With Sunkist League play beginning on Friday, here is my guess at how the league standings will look in five weeks:

*Kaiser 5-0
*Summit 4-1
*Riverside Norte Vista 2-3
Riverside Patriot 2-3
Bloomington 2-3
Jurupa Valley 0-5

* - playoff team

Yes, Norte Vista (5-0) enters league play undefeated while Kaiser (2-3) and Summit (2-3) sport losing records, but I think the Cats will and take home their 9th straight league title. In this smash-mouth league controlled by defense and the running game, USC-bound running back Anthony Brown and a historically stingy defense have Kaiser the best equipped in both.

A couple of Kaiser's losses were easily more impressive than Norte Vista's biggest win, a 28-21 season-opening victory over Riverside La Sierra. Kaiser lost tight games to Colony and Colton, two legit contenders for the CIF-SS Central Division title both better than La Sierra.

Summit is more of a threat to Kaiser than Norte Vista. With a beefed up nonleague schedule, Summit was a last-minute drive and last-second field goal from defeating Etiwanda and Redlands, each of whom outclass La Sierra in my book.

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

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

Rancho Cucamonga quarterback Greg Watson threw for 371 yards and five touchdowns in a 48-28 win over Temecula Valley on Friday. The reigning CIF-SS Central Division MVP completed 17 of 34 passes with no interceptions to keep the defending CIF champs undefeated. The senior more than doubled his previous season high in passing yardage.

Runner-up: Angel Santiago, Etiwanda, quarterback
Another Baseline League quarterback lit it up Friday night but Santiago's 410 total yards weren't enough as the Eagles fell 27-26 to defending Southeast Division champ Charter Oak. The senior completed 14-of-32 passes for 260 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He also rushed for 150 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries before Charter Oak's fourth-down 45-yard game-winning touchdown pass with 28 seconds to play.

2nd runner-up: Montigo Alford, Summit, running back
The junior set school records with 247 rushing yards and five total touchdowns in Summit's 42-20 win over Sultana on Friday. Alford carried just 14 times for four touchdowns and caught two passes for 28 yards and another TD.

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

Posted by Clay Fowler at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

• 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)

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 think Rancho Cucamonga High School's Greg Watson inspired me to believe he could play quarterback in college more last year than he is this year. The primary reason for that doesn't have much to do with Watson himself. Rancho Cucamonga is truly a running team this season; plus the Cougars graduated their two track-star receivers (No, seriously... Charles Saseun is at Cal on a track scholarship and Irshad Stoden is playing football at UNLV), in the process losing much of the opportunity to utilize Watson's most obvious passing strength, the deep ball. The reigning CIF-SS Central Division MVP hasn't had enough opportunity to find a passing rhythm, averaging five less attempts per game this season than he did last year. He is throwing for less than 150 yards per game whereas he averaged 189 last season. The good news is Watson's team appears it will have him on a big stage again this year but if he is to secure a Division I scholarship to play quarterback (in a quality program) some things are going to have to change.
• I think Kaiser cemented the fact it has successfully made the transition from legendary coach Dick Bruich to his longtime defensive coordinator Phil Zelaya with a 20-0 win over Cajon on Friday. The Cats' defense may not have produced a more impressive performance under Bruich than holding a Cajon team, then-ranked No. 2 in the Central Division, 50 points below its average. Yes, Cajon was averaging 50 points. Granted, Kaiser appears to have as much talent this season than it has had in recent memory (USC-bound RB Anthony Brown, touted LB Josh Shirley, etc.), but its hard to say Zelaya isn't maximizing it. It doesn't get any easier for Kaiser, who has Colony and Colton next on the docket before delving into an improved Sunkist League.
• I think I'm more than a little surprised Pomona is ranked No. 3 in the CIF-SS Mid-Valley Division. I realize the Red Devils are 3-0 but I think Pomona coach John Brown would agree that doesn't tell the entire story. Brown, in fact, was nothing less than disgusted with his team after a sloppy 14-0 victory over Alhambra Keppel on Thursday. Pomona's three opponents thus far have ratings on calpreps.com of -6.4, -13.2 and -24.2. Pomona's rating is 3.9 while the top-rated team in the Valle Vista League, San Dimas, is 16.6. Of course, San Dimas was voted into the No. 4 spot in the Mid-Valley Division behind you know who. The good news for Pomona is five of their final seven opponents have negative ratings on calpreps.com, including three Valle Vista League teams.

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

The Kaiser High School junior safety intercepted three passes in the second half of the Cats' 20-0 win on Friday over Cajon, then the No. 2 team in the CIF-SS Central DIvision. Awolesi contributed to a defensive effort that limited a Cajon team averaging 50 points per game to 125 total yards.

Posted by Clay Fowler at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Kaiser High School senior-to-be Anthony Brown verbally committed on Thursday to play football at USC.

The 5-foot-9, 180-pound running back/cornerback received an offer from USC after attending its football camp two weeks prior to committing. Brown, who doesn't know if he will play running back or cornerback in college, also had scholarship offers from Nebraska, Colorado, UTEP and San Diego State.

"He's always been impressed with USC," Kaiser coach Phil Zelaya said. "He decided he wanted to go there and compete with the best."

Brown rushed for 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns his junior season, helping Kaiser to a playoff appearance. He has started at running back for two seasons and started both ways as a junior.

"They offered him as an athlete," Zelaya said. "He isn't too concerned with where he'll play, he just wants the chance to compete."

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