Ray Maholchic leaves as Serrano football coach, but Diamondbacks will be OK

I wasn’t completely surprised that Ray Maholchic stepped down as Serrano football coach. He had been hinting that it was coming soon. After all, he was retiring soon from teaching and would have to retire as coach by then in order to collect his retirement. I’m a little surprised that it wasn’t announced until mid-February.

Ray Maholhic and the Serrano program are class as evidenced by his press release:

 

It can be jarring when a long-time coach leaves. Redlands is going through that with Jim Walker’s departure. It happened when Dick Bruich left Fontana, when John Monger left Chino and it will happen when Tim Salter leaves Upland. In many of those situations, the next coach doesn’t stay  too long. The coaching staff splinters and it’s up to a new coach to eventually start a new tradition.

I don’t think that will happen at Serrano, and here’s why: it’s not to take away from Maholchic’s greatness as a coach. In fact, it’s because of it. He is in a one-high school district and most of his assistant coaches are on campus. He expects some interest among those assistants. so it wouldn’t be surprising if most of the rest of the staff stays intact. Maholchic also said, coaching hires are made on-site, so they don’t need to go to school board approval. So he and the administration can pick his successor.

In addition, Maholchic isn’t going away. He’ll still be the school’s athletic director and is willing to be in the booth during games to help the new head coach. Some of the roles will change, but the winning shouldn’t change much.

In my original story on his resignation, I hadn’t reached Apple Valley coach Matt Rohrbaugh. The coaching staffs at the two schools are very close. So here are Rohrbaugh’s comments on why they are close. “I think we have very similar philosophies and hard-nosed football,” he said. “It’s about holding kids to a standard and I respect how they do things.”

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Blue Cut Fire forces Serrano football to miss prep time

Serrano High School football coach Ray Maholchic hopes his team won’t be at too much of a disadvantage next week.
Just more than a week away from their Aug. 26 season opener at home against Lancaster Paraclete, the team will miss five days of practice this week because of the Blue Cut Fire.
With the fire escalating quickly Tuesday, practice was cancelled that day and school has been cancelled for the rest of the week. Maholchic, who is also the school’s athletic director, said the Snowline Joint Unified School District’s policy is no practices can be held if school is cancelled for reasons such as a wildfire.
“This is kind of a first for us. We’re done for the week,” Maholchic said. “We’ve got limited practice opportunities. This sets us back a little bit.”
Serrano had been set to scrimmage at Redlands on Friday with the freshman team scheduled to host Redlands Thursday in a scrimmage.
Serrano will now go without the scrimmage and Redlands will join a scrimmage at Grand Terrace that includes Grand Terrace, Chino and Riverside Norte Vista.
“Usually, we have a scrimmage where we can correct some things, but we’ll go right into game week,” Maholchic said.
Maholchic, who was evacuated from his home in Wrightwood, where many of his players also live, expects to be back at school and practicing as usual on Monday. He also expects to be able to play next week’s game at home.
First, I hope that as many homes as possible can be saved from this brutal fire, and not just those who are with Serrano football.
That being said, you have to wonder how well the football players are doing emotionally, even if their families and homes are safe.
I hope it doesn’t have too much of a negative impact on them as they prepare for their Week 0 game. In addition, I hope there won’t be any issues with playing the game at Serrano.

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Serrano football forfeiting 63-0 win

A 63-0 win and a perfect record are gone after Serrano High’s football team agreed to forfeit one game.
Serrano had routed each of its first four opponents, including a 63-0 win over Palmdale Quartz Hill on Sept. 11.
Serrano logo
Ray Maholchic, Serrano’s athletic director and football coach said a player entered the fourth quarter of the Quartz Hill game who had originally had his transfer cleared.
But after the game, additional review of the transfer by the Snowline Joint Unified School District determined that the student should have been required to take serve a 30-day sit-out period. As a result. Serrano will forfeit the game.
“It (the player) didn’t really affect anything,” Maholchic said. “I guess we jumped the gun, but if there’s a silver lining, it didn’t happen in league.”
Serrano, is now 3-1, ranked No. 5 in The Sun Top 10 and No. 2 in the CIF-SS Eastern Division poll. The Diamondbacks have a bye this week before traveling to play Norco Oct. 2. Maholchic said the player is expected to play on the junior varsity this season.

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Many top cross country teams going to Woodbridge Invitational

Many of the top San Bernardino cross country teams will be to the Woodbridge Invitational at Orange County Great Park.
Unlike most invitationals, Woodbridge is run in the late afternoon and evening, featuring the girls rated and girls sweepstakes races at 8:54 and 9:34 p.m. and the boys rated and boys sweepstakes races at 9:14 and 9:54 p.m.
Chino Hills, Serrano and Yucaipa are in the boys rated race while Ayala, Bloomington, Colony and Rancho Cucamonga are in the boys sweepstakes.
Girls rated teams include Chino Hills, Colony, and Rancho Cucamonga, while girls sweepstakes teams include Ayala and Serrano.
The Serrano girls are currently ranked second in CIF-SS Division 2, but will not have a chance to compete against No. 1 Saugus in the meet. However, a good showing, including facing CIF-SS Division 1 No. 1 Temecula Great Oak, could move the Diamondbacks up to No. 1.
The county will also be represented by three girls running as individuals in the sweepstakes race: Sultana’s Stefani Gaskell, Citrus Valley’s Claire Graves and Summit’s Jennifer Sandoval.

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New Balance will sponsor the girls cross country team at Serrano

If you’re in San Bernardino County and a cross country fan, you know the Serrano girls cross country team has annually been one of the best teams in the county.
Now, others in the country are learning that.
Serrano logo
Coach Ken Quinn said New Balance contacted him recently and told thim that with the Serrano girls one of the top teams in the country (currently ranked No. 2 in the state in Division 2), they are going to be sponsored by New Balance. That means a bunch of new gear, including Serrano-designed uniforms.
Quinn said the Woodbridge Invitational on Sept. 19, is supposed to be the meet where they debut the New Balance stuff. That’s because Woodbridge is one of the top early-season meets in the CIF-Southern Section. Hopefully, we’ll get pictures of the uniforms to post here before Woodbridge.
“I’d always thought about what it would be like to be one of those teams that gets sponsored,” Quinn said. “Now we’re one of those teams.”

 

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Inland Division winner should get state berth

If you believe CalHiSports.com, (and I tend to believe them), the winner of Friday’s CIF-SS Inland Division championship game, Redlands East Valley or Riverside Poly, will advance to the CIF State Playoffs.

Right now, CalHiSports has REV No. 1 and Poly No. 2 in Division II South rankings. The top two teams will play next week in the Division II South Finals, with the winner of that going to the state finals.

Each CIF-SS Division is linked to a state division, and the Inland Division is linked with Division II. Teams must win a CIF title to advance to state, so both REV and Poly won’t be able to go.

More of the rankings: No. 3. Bakersfield Ridgeview (11-1), No. 4 San Clemente (12-1), No. 5 Crescenta Valley (13-0), No. 6 Menifee Heritage (12-1), No. 7 Serrano (12-1).

So, if you believe the rankings, the only way Serrano makes it is if Serrano wins and Ridgeview, San Clemente, and Crescenta Valley all lose. Heritage’s season is already over and ineligible for state.

State playoff announcement comes on Sunday afternoon.

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Bus issue didn’t derail Serrano football

A note from Louis Brewster:

Last Friday, on the way to its Eastern Division semifinal in La Quinta, a bus carrying part of the Serrano footballl team experienced a flat tire. Rather than wait until the district dispatched a repair team from Phelan, coach Ray Maholchic piled all his players onto one bus.
The cheerleaders stayed with the bus.
“We couldn’t wait,” said Maholchic. “We had three to a seat, we had to get there. In fact, the cheerleaders didn’t arrive until after the kickoff.”
Such potential issues was a major reason Fontana utilized an extra bus during its title runs in 1987 and 1989.
“We weren’t going to take chances,” said then-coach Dick Bruich. “It erased a major worry from the coaching staff and athletic director.”

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John Mackesy an all-timer for Serrano football

There’s just no escaping the history of their football program when Serrano High School players walk into the Bennett Fieldhouse that serves as home away from home.
“I’m kind of a history buff,” said Diamondbacks head coach Ray Maholchic, who decorated the unique building with photos and clippings of past seasons. In fact, to enter his office, players must walk under a photo of the winning touchdown in the 2004 title game against Palm Springs.
Interestingly enough, Serrano will host Palm Springs Friday night at 7:30 for the Eastern Division title. It will mark the third time in 10 years the teams will vie for the title, with each having one game. Serrano also played Citrus Hill in the finals in 2012.
John Mackesy is a link to previous championship games. As a sophomore, he started both ways against Citrus Hill in 2012 and was a sideline witness in 2009 when older brother Anthony competed against Palm Springs.
It’s been two years since the loss to Citrus Hill, yet it remains fresh in Mackesy’s mind.
“It was very frustrating and sad. You work so hard for something,” Mackesy said at the CIF Championship Luncheon earlier in the week. “When you lose it’s a terrible feeling, but we just have to keep working.
“I just couldn’t wait to get back in the finals.”
Younger brother Kevin is a Serrano sophomore this year and there’s talk 11-year-old Brian may be the best of Tony’s kids, who started the tradition while growing up in Redlands.
Maholchic leaves no doubt where John Mackesy stands.
“He’s like a coach on the field, he’s very mature,” said Maholchic of his 6-foot, 200-pound center/linebacker. “He thinks like the coaches; he has a lot of football sense.
“We always have this conversation when we’re drinking a few Pepsis with the coaches and ranking the top 10 linebackers or naming the 10 top running backs. But as far as overall player on both sides of the ball, he’s definitely a top fiver.”
That’s an impressive statement considering Maholchic has been at the school for 23 seasons.

–Louis Brewster

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A look back at Serrano-Oak Hills football

I love games where there’s a lot of extra stuff to talk about afterwards.

Oak Hills- Serrano had stuff that was fun to talk about, but also had plenty of stuff you hate to have to talk about.

First, the fun stuff:

  • Great crowd at Oak Hills on both sides. It was THE game in the High Desert on Friday and fans from all over brought a great atmosphere.
  • Serrano’s win was well-deserved with a defense that has been solid all year.
  • What is the fallout of the game? I haven’t seen newest CIF-SS football polls, but I know San Gorgonio is very interested. San G. should be the new No. 1 in the Eastern Division. Oak Hills was No. 1, San G. No. 2 and San G. is the only remaining undefeated team in the division. San G. will likely need to remain undefeated to earn the No. 1 seed for the playoffs.

Now, the not-so-fun stuff:

  • Oak Hills star RB De Zhontaey Flecher was injured on the first play from scrimmage with an apparent season-ending ankle injury. It was a blow to Oak Hills, certainly, but also affected Serrano. The Diamondbacks’ victory will be discounted by some because Oak Hills was missing its biggest offensive weapon. But Serrano still deserved to win. After the injury, Oak Hills rallied to take the lead, only to see Serrano rally for the win.
  • Penalties, penalties, penalties. Each team had over 100 yards in penalties. I spent a half on each sideline, and I can tell you neither coach was happy with the officiating. The call that drew particular ire of Oak Hills coach Robert Kistner was an unsportsmanlike conduct call that went against his team in the fourth quarter. The player had just recorded a sack that (I believe) would’ve ended a Serrano drive. He celebrated, but officials thought it was taunting. It did not appear so to this observer. The drive continued and while Serrano didn’t score on the drive, it limited the time Oak Hills had to try and score in the final minutes.

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