Scoby to focus on academics, won’t join Wildcats until summer …

Monrovia running back Kurt Scoby won’t participate in team activities until summer in order to focus on academics, according to Wildcats head coach Ryan Maddox.

Many of you were wondering why Scoby was a spectator last Saturday as Monrovia competed in the Charter Oak Tournament. The senior-to-be has decided to shun football for the classroom until later this summer.

Scoby’s decision is not expected to impact his chances of being the Wildcats’ feature back. Monrovia is loaded at running back with the return of Darion Jones and two up-and-coming prospects in Cameron Johnson and Anthony Marquez, who will both be sophomores.

“He’s in the process of getting everything squared away grades-wise,” Maddox said. “He’s in good standing. He wanted to focus on his education and focus on getting into a Division I college.

“He’ll join us in the summer. Kurt will make the adjustments and know what he’s doing. He’ll be just fine.”

A couple of interesting transfers that have flown under the radar … until now

Coaches, you can only keep things a secret for so long. Once the passing circuit begins, everything is out in the open. So on that note, here are two transfers that have flown under the radar until now but have the chance to be impactful this fall.

Elijah Jones leaves Damien for Upland — Jones has major upside and I know the previous Damien coaching staff was very excited about the junior-to-be RB/DB. Well, he didn’t stick around La Verne for the Mark Paredes Era at Damien and is now at Damien Upland and looking good if this springs’ results mean anything. So now Damien has lost its returning QB and best offensive threat. Yowza!

Alex Powell leaves Charter Oak for South Hills — You see? Charter Oak does lose players! Powell looked good at times last year as a WR/DB and he gives South Hills the kind of outside speed the Huskies could really use. Powell, who is the younger brother of former Charter Oak standout AJ Powell, is a senior-to-be. He would have had a larger for CO this fall, but maybe he felt South Hills was a better place to be. CO has an abundance of skill players, so I don’t think they’ll be in big trouble over this. Good get for the Huskies.

Upland beats La Habra in OT shootout to win Charter Oak Tournament …

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Upland beat La Habra in an OT thriller to win the Charter Oak Tournament.

Glendora finished third and La Serna fourth.

Aram’s take: Go figure, Upland is loaded again. La Habra proved something, though, because the talk around Highlander Land is that they’re back to “La Habra levels”. We all know the defense will be there, so if the offense is good to go, watch out. Now, WHAT ABOUT GLENDORA? A freshman QB who looks like he’s gonna be special. That’s scary. Word is the Tartans really turned heads and remember, they’ll be out of this ridiculous league/division in another year. Also good to see Frankie Palmer and La Serna look good throwing. The Lancers should have the capability to open it up this year and that could mean another title run.

Charter Oak’s Aaren Vaughns electrifies Hall of Fame Game as East beats West, 42-18 … Matty Ice Simko, Jake Holguin have huge games as well …

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Aaren Vaughns scored three times in the East’s win over the West.

PHOTOS OF FRIDAY’S HALL OF FAME GAME

East 42, West 18 — Close to 4,000 fans showed up and Charter Oak’s Aaren Vaughns electrified the crowd with long touchdowns, two on offense and one on defense. Chino Hills’ Matty Ice Simko threw for two scores and ran for another. The East’s defense laid lick after lick, but did catch some breaks in that the West had some drives in East territory stopped on downs. Of course, the East defense had a lot to do with it. Rio Hondo Prep’s Jake Holguin hauled in three touchdowns to lead the West. Don’t anybody give me crap when I rank Rio Hondo Prep high in the SGV(N) Top 25s. I didn’t have my eyes opened to the Kares until this year, but I can tell you they would have done just fine in the Mid-Valley Division or Southeast. Holguin was just one of several all-stars they could have had. The East now leads the series 22-10-2 and has won six straight. Gladstone coach Albert Sanchez goes out a winner and South El Monte’s Pablo Ocegueda provides the feel-good moment by playing despite losing four fingers in a fluke tug-a-war accident earlier this year.

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PABLO!!!