Following Friday’s loss to Crespi, the Lancers face an uphill battle just to make the postseason with tough Mission League games left against Serra, Chaminade and Alemany, to name a few.
If the Lancers don’t make the postseason, it will mark the fourth time in the past nine years that Amat didn’t even go dancing. Considering Amat was in a four or five-team league for most of the past decade, that’s saying something.
Heck, in one of the years Amat did make the playoffs, the Lancers needed the stars to align and a coin flip in their favor on the final night of the season just to make the dance.
This year was supposed to be different. Amat has one of its most-talented teams in quite some time, with three players receiving college offers from some of the top college football programs on the West Coast.
But “it” hasn’t happened. Amat is now 2-3. Who knows what to make of the Lancers’ big win in Texas over Aledo. The rout of Rancho Cucamonga looks less impressive now that La Serna just beat the Cougars and it’s looking like this isn’t one of the Cougars’ juggernaut teams.
Then there’s the loss to Chino Hills. Sure, Amat didn’t have quarterback Damian Garcia for the first half, but the game was still well within reach after halftime and the Lancers were blown out while struggling mightily to stop Chino Hills’ offense in a 45-28 setback.
Fact is, Bishop Amat has looked and continues to look like more like an Angelus League team thaatn a Serra League team. Many Amat fans hanging onto the past will cling to the fact that “at least” the Lancers made the playoffs in more than half of the past eight seasons. Is it saying much to simply make the postseason while in a four or five-team league, though?
Amat’s league record from 2006-14
2006: 1-2
2007: 1-2
2008: 1-2
2009: 2-1
2010: 3-1
2011: 1-3
2012: 2-2
2013: 1-3
2014: 0-1
Combined: 11-15
The numbers don’t lie, Amat hardly has a case to belong in the Serra or Mission league, let alone the Pac-5. The Lancers made the playoffs THREE TIMES in the past eight years without a winning record in league!
In order for Amat to get divisional relief, the Lancers will either have to ask out of the Mission League or be voted out by their peers. However, if a new CIF-Southern Section initiative that will make it so playoff divisions are formed by worth and not history or reluctance to grasp reality comes to fruition, then it may not come down to Amat waving the white flag.
But that’s probably two years away. In the meantime, evidence continues to mount that the way the Lancers do business is better suited for 20 years ago. Facts are facts. The top teams in SoCal, a group Amat would like to be considered a part of, attract transfers and actively seek out talent.
There’s a certain way of doing business in order to be the elite among the elite. This style won’t appeal to those who still view the game of high school football as it was 20, 30 or even 40 years ago.
Amat head coach Steve Hagerty has been steadfast in saying he will not run his program this way. That’s his prerogative. But Hagerty and Amat fans will have to deal with the results and they aren’t going to be pretty … not at this level anyway.