Monrovia coach Ryan Maddox sounds off about the St. Francis win, bloggers and what it all means …

On everybody calling it a statement win …

“I don’t know that it necessarily makes a statement. As far as what it means for a program, it’s a preseason game, so in the grand scheme of things not a whole helluva lot. It shows that when we can play four quarters of football without making mistakes, then we can play with anybody. But I’ve known that and believe that. I don’t know that it’s a statement other than we have the ability to play with anyone in the Valley as long as we don’t make mistakes. I think you could say that about a lot of football teams.”

On playing upper-division foes …

“We had every opportunity to win against Ayala and South Hills, but a loss is still a loss. It’s not like we’re playing upper-level competition and getting blown out. Can we play with those teams? Absolutely. Can we lose to those teams? Well, we’ve proven that. But with the St. Francis win, we’ve now proven we can beat them.

“We’ve known we could play with those team. As far as proving it to everybody else, I’m not too concerned with that, I’ll be honest. It’s a nice a victory going into league. I’m not too worried about what the people on the blogs say about our division. It’s not about what division you’re in. Yes, the Mid-Valley is not the same as Division 2 (Inland). It’s just not.

“But when you take us out of the Mid-Valley and we play a Division 2 team, are we going to be competitive? Yes. Are we going to dominate Division 2? No. Now mind you, the Corona Centennials and the super powers, they’re on a little different level than everybody else.”

On the term “step-up game” …

“You guys like to call them step-up games. Well, South Hills isn’t a step-up game for us. Ayala isn’t a step-up game for us. St. Francis isn’t a step-up game for us. Those are teams that we can play and compete with in my mind. That’s the way I look at it

“Really, what does that mean? It doesn’t mean a whole helluva lot. We’re in the Mid-Valley. What we’re competing for is a Mid-Valley championship. What you’re talking about is in other people’s eyes. I can’t change other people’s views. All we can do is line up on Friday and play the schedule that we’ve got in front of us. So we try to put together the toughest schedule we can.

“Last year, we beat Paramount, who were in Division 4. They were in St. Francis’ division. Now maybe they’re not the power that St. Francis is, but they’re the biggest public school in California. They have two campuses. Their football team was huge.”

On where the St. Francis win ranks …

“St. Francis is probably the biggest win I’ve had here. Is it bigger than winning the first CIF championship here in 100 years? No. I’m not too worried about the court of public opinion. You want to know what I’m worried about? South Pasadena, our next opponent. I’m not going to change anybody’s minds on the blogs.

“Everybody has got their preconceived notions that we’re a smaller-division team and ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re good, but …’ I can’t do anything about that but play the schedule in front of us and do the best to win those games. The rest will fall where it may. Our goal is to compete at the highest level possible. We’ve done that this year. We haven’t done it perfectly. We’re a few points away from being 5-0, but we’re not. We’re 3-2.”