Coach Bruich in CIF Semis ... REV's Kurt Bruich
Having a Bruich-coached team in the CIF semifinals is nothing new, in these parts.
But, always before, it was Dick Bruich teams. First at Fontana, then at Kaiser.
His teams made semifinal appearances in 1979, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1992 and 1996 (at Fontana); 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 (at Kaiser). The 1987, 1989, 2002 and 2003 teams won CIF titles.
This time, it's a Kurt Bruich team in the Final Four of its division, Redlands East Valley's Wildcats.
Kurt, Dick's son, has REV up to 12-0 and facing Corona Santiago in the Inland Division semifinals on Friday, probably at Yucaipa High School with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
REV and Bruich are riding a gifted senior class. "They were undefeated as freshmen, lost one game as sophomores (in the CIF quarters), four games last year and none this year," Kurt Bruich said of his senior core. "They don't lose much. I think they expect to win every time out."
REV never before has been out this late, but the Wildcats aren't exactly Cinderella. Not with Chris Polk at tailback.
Corona Santiago is 7-4 and lost to Norco, the team REV just rolled over, 38-7, in the quarterfinals.
"The more i watch them, i can't believe they lost four games," Bruich said tonight while looking at film of the Santiago Sharks. "They're really athletic.
"The last three weeks they started running this kind of 'fly-ish' offense. Mostly, they're getting the ball more to Anthony Dye. He's for real. He's committed to UCLA as a DB."
The fly offense involves lots of sophisticated faking and deception and usually is run by teams with marginal speed who need trickery to get yards. Santiago, however, doesn't have marginal skill, Bruich said.
Dye leads the Sharks in tackle from his safety position, and is the team's No. 2 rusher. But he is gaining, in prominence, on Santiago's other speed back, B.J. Iverson, who has 1,100 rushing yards.
REV was impressive its first eight weeks. The Wildcats defeated serious non-league competition in Riverside North, Compton Dominguez and Colton -- all of whom have made the semis in their respective divisions (Eastern, Western, Central).
Next came five Citrus Belt League blowouts against overmatched competition, including three successive shutouts (over Yucaipa, Fontana and Rialto).
Then came a narrow, 28-27 victory over previously unbeaten Miller, a game in which REV had trouble handling the Rebels' spread offense, followed by a 34-14 victory over crosstown rival Redlands and then a 60-53 shootout over Murrieta Valley in which the REV defense was awful.
Then REV shut down Norco, giving up an early touchdown ... but nothing else.
"Nothing changed," Bruich said of his defense's scheme or personnel. "Sometimes we get in bad modes, and we made some adjustments. Basically, our defense started listening a little more to coaching and playing assignment football. Sometimes when you're playing and shutting out people ... guys were doing their own things."
Kurt Bruich has coached in a semifinal game before, when he was running the Cerritos program, his stop before taking over the downtrodden (1-48 all-time) REV program in 2002. He played in a couple of semifinals too, in 1986 and 1987, when he was playing receiver and safety for his dad at Fontana. The 1986 team lost but the 1987 won and the Steelers finished 14-0 -- winning the Big Five (large schools) title at Anaheim Stadium.
Chris Polk, the tailback who verbally committed to USC, has been REV's biggest weapon. He has 2,159 yards on 178 carries, an average of 12.1 per carry, and has scored 28 rushing touchdowns. Dylan Cruz is a versatile fullback/tight end, and Tyler Shreve, only a sophomore, has been steady at quarterback.
Of Polk, Bruich said, "He's been phenomenal. He's doing what we asked and what we expected. It's nice to have a guy do everything you expect."
Bruich stressed the speed of Santiago's Dye and Iverson, but said he wouldn't say his team will be at a disadvantage, in overall speed.
If REV survives this test it gets the winner of Chaparral vs. top-seeded Corona Santiago for the Inland Division CIF title, at the Home Depot Center in Carson. And the Wildcats would have an outside shot at the state D1 title game, a week later.
But first things first: A Santiago team that is better than its 7-4 record indicates. Its defeats: 17-7 to Servite, 17-7 to Chaparral, 28-21 to Norco and 69-7 to Corona Centennial -- the game that prompted Santiago to change its offense.
Oh, and the four teams Santiago lost to? Three are still playing, Chaparral and Centennial in the Inland semis, Servite in the Pac-5 glamour-division semis.