Montview and Valle Vista leagues lose their appeals …

The CIF-Southern Section playoff grouping committee has spoken and it’s not good news for the Montview and Valle Vista leagues.

The committee denied their appeals to keep the Almont League from joining the Mid-Valley Division on Wednesday.

Both leagues appealed on Tuesday before the committee and argued that the Almont League joining the division was unfair on two levels. The first being that the Almont’s schools are too big for the division. The Almont League has six of the seven largest schools in the division. The second argument was that adding the Almont while subtracting no other league hurts the chances of schools from both leagues being able to make the postseason.

Under the proposal, the Mid-Valley Division would see the top-two teams from each league earn automatic bids while the remaining four spots would be at-large berths chosen by the Southern Section. That’s tough to swallow because the Montview, at eight teams, and the Valle Vista, at seven teams, are the two largest leagues in the division.

Hagerty updates Amat QB situation and transfers …

Bishop Amat coach Steve Hagerty confirmed that former South Hills backup QB Brock Booth has checked in and is part of the competition for the open quarterback spot. However, Hagerty also said that the competition is six deep with Rio Ruiz, Tyler Pruszynski and three current freshmen all in the mix heading into spring.

If Hagerty had to pick a front runner, which he was reluctant to do because as he says the staff doesn’t think that way (at least not now), it would be Ruiz. He also said that there would have been a competition regardless of Booth’s checking in.

“His (Booth) arrival doesn’t mean there’s a competition,” Hagerty said. “There was a competition before he arrived. I would hope Brock is here because he likes the atmosphpere … becausehe likes what happens between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. and Friday nights, too.

Hagerty also confirmed that former Los Altos freshman standout Sal Velasquez is now at Amat and participating in offseason workouts. He would not say whether Velasquez will make the varsity team, but that every player in spring is trying to make the varsity team.

Aram’s take:
Seems like just yesterday that Dorian Wells left Amat for South Hills and Bryce McBride turned in his golden “A” for a red LA. Funny what wins will do for a program. It’s amazing what can happen when Amat shines.

Arellanes gets cracking at L.A., comments on transfers …

Spoke to Coach Arellanes at Los Altos the other day and there’s an article in Saturday’s Trib about how things are going since he got the LA job.

Here’s a tidbit on transfers:

“We know those things are going to happen,” Arellanes said. “We can only do the best we can. We can’t control whoever thinks it’s in their best interest to leave. We’re going to go with the kids we have here.”

To keep reading, click on the story below …

Returning the Los Altos High School football program to prominence promises to be a difficult job for new coach Jim Arellanes. So why not get to work on it early?

Arellanes has been doing just that by making the drive from his current job at Northview High to Los Altos – not a fun commute for those familiar with Valley traffic patterns – every day after school to help bring his new team up to speed before the offseason workouts get under way with spring practice and summer passing games.