Scott Morrison will leave Workman and become the next varsity football head coach at La Puente. He will also be the Warriors’ athletic director.

Morrison replaces Brandon Rohrer, who resigned as La Puente’s head coach to take over at Etiwanda. Prior to coaching at Workman, Morrison was the head coach at Damien.

Word on the street over a month ago was that this is exactly what would happen, but the schools needed to get approval to make it happen as Morrison will be transferring from one school in the Hacienda-La Puente Unified to another.

Gladstone High School announced on Wednesday that it has hired Gerald “Citos” Marinez to be its next varsity football head coach.

Marinez, 32, was previously an assistant coach at Redlands East Valley and also had stints at Baldwin Park, La Puente and Rowland, from which he graduated in 1999.

“I’m really excited,” Marinez said. “I’ve prepared my whole career for this point. I’m familiar with the area and I wanted to come back to the area.

“Gladstone is a great situation. Coach (Albert) Sanchez did a great job last year and coming off a league championship, this is a perfect place.”

Marinez replaces Sanchez, who resigned following the 2012 season after 14 years at the helm. Sanchez was named the Tribune’s Coach of the Year last season after he guided the Gladiators to a 10-2 record, a share of the Montview League championship and the school’s first playoff win since 1976.

Finding someone who could continue what Sanchez had going was key for Gladstone as was being able to secure the hire with a teaching position. The school is confident it did both.

“We feel he’s right for our community and our kids,” Gladstone athletic director Chuck Shore said. “He has the knowledge to help our program and he’s the right fit.

“We had to be right with this. It was important to follow up the positive things that Albert had done for the program with somebody else who can bring positive things to the program and build the excitement in the community as well.”

Marinez graduated from Rowland in 1999. He stopped playing football while attending Mt. San Antonio College and later Cal-State Fullerton.

This will be Marinez’s first head coach position and he’s already planning ways for Gladstone to stay atop the Montview.

“I’ve done a lot of research,” Marinez said. “I know they’re a league champion and they only lost to Azusa, so it was kind of an unprecedented year for them.

“My first job is to recruit this campus and get out the kids who want to play football and want to contribute. I hear they only have eight kids coming back from the varsity roster last year. I love that challenge, though, of kidding the kids on campus out to play football.”

When standout Antonio “Noodles” Hull left West Covina High School for Diamond Bar, it signaled the biggest transfer of the offseason.

In just a few short weeks, the mystery as to what position, exactly, Hull will be playing for the Brahmas this fall will begin to be solved.

A big early clue may come on Apr. 20 when the Brahmas have their first passing competition of the season at Arroyo High against the Knights and Montebello.

“He wants to try and play quarterback and we’re going to let him compete at it,” Diamond Bar coach Ryan Maine said.

One problem, though, the Brahmas already have a quarterback in junior-to-be Tyler Peterson, who had a solid sophomore season.

“Tyler Peterson is the starting quarterback,” Maine said. “We had a meeting and Antonio understands that. It’s Tyler Peterson’s job to lose. If Antonio does an amazing, then yeah, he’ll get playing time there.

“They’re working really well together and we’re starting to think of some wildcat packages for Antonio and stuff like that.”

Hull is also seeing time on defense at safety, but the major reason he left West Covina was his conviction that he can be a starting quarterback. At Diamond Bar, Hull will have a chance to play in a more wide-open system and with some top-notch skill talent in receivers Kanya Bell and Cordell Broadus.

The Brahmas are currently practicing one day a week and will up things to five days a week starting May 13 when a mini-spring practice schedule begins.

ARROYO BACK AT IT

Arroyo is typically one of the most active teams during the passing circuit and this year will be no different.

In addition to hosting Diamond Bar and Montebello on Apr. 20, the Knights will be hosting Diamond Bar on May 4 and West Covina on May 11. Beginning June 4, Arroyo will start participating in four-way throws twice a week.

On July 13, Arroyo will host its popular SGV Shootout Passing Tournament and there are 24 teams confirmed for the event.

MCCUTCHEON MOVES ON

Bishop Amat’s Daylon McCutcheon will not be on head coach Steve Hagerty’s staff this season after accepting a position in the New York Jets organization.

McCutcheon was a standout player at Amat before attending USC and enjoying a professional career with the Cleveland Browns. He was a popular assistant on Hagerty’s in recent years.

Amat is currently practicing one day a week, on Wednesdays, and is expected to begin normal spring practice in late April. The Lancers return Tribune Offensive Player of the Year Koa Haynes at quarterback, but are light on skill position experience elsewhere.

The offseason will be key for several soon-to-be sophomore from Amat’s talented freshman team last fall who are bidding to be starters this season under the lights.

CALLING ALL-STARS

The Hall of Fame All-Star Game will play earlier than usual this year with the game set to take place on May 17 at West Covina High.

Tribune Coach of the Year Albert Sanchez, formerly of Gladstone, is coaching the East team and reports that he’s already confirmed Chino Hills quarterback Matt Simko and Charter Oak receiver Bryce Bobo will be on the East roster.

El Monte’s Joel Sanchez will coach the West team, which will feature Tribune Player of the Year Brandon Martinez at quarterback.

Frankie Palmer is the headlining QB in the Charter Oak Tournament.

Here is the cast for the Charter Oak Tournament on May 18. Pretty good mix, obviously. The first games are at 9 a.m. with the teams split into four groups of four for pool play. After pool play the teams will be seeded for a knockout tournament. Couple things to keep in mind, the Hall of Fame All-Star Game is on May 17 and the Rancho Cucamonga Tournament is also on May 18.

Charter Oak
La Habra
Monrovia
Rosemead
South Hills
La Serna
Glendora
Mira Costa
San Jacinto
Murietta Valley
Muir
West Ranch
Upland
Diamond Ranch
El Rancho
Arroyo

Former Charter Oak, Duarte, St. Paul, Cathedral and Alemany running back Kurt Scoby is enrolled at Monrovia High School and is following a plan to get himself eligible to play for the Wildcats in 2013.

Not exactly breaking news as this was the plan for Scoby ever since he left Alemany last month or so ago, but now this makes it official.

Obviously, lots need to happen. Scoby must get up to speed with his classes and of course be eligible grades-wise. But he is reportedly living within in the Monrovia district, which is a hurdle he’ll need to clear with CIF and will do so as long he as a valid residential change.

Aram’s take: I’ve called seeking confirmation from Monrovia officials all week and there’s a gag order in place by Principal Darvin Jackson, who himself refused to confirm whether Scoby was a student at his school. I guess they’re playing it safe and there’s supposedly some type of rule that disallows schools from confirming whether a student is enrolled. Of course, if I was to call down there today and ask baseball coach Dave Moore how Joe Mata’s arm is feeling after yesterday and he answered me, wouldn’t that be confirming he’s a student there? I asked that question and they told me that would be fine because I already knew Mata was a student there. It’s very confusing. Calls to Scoby’s guardian have not been returned. Anyway, beside staying at CO, Monrovia is probably the best place for Scoby. He will be teaming up with several of his former Duarte Hawks teammates and the coaches at M-Town appear well-suited to handle the situation. They had a touchy one two years ago with De’Shawn Ramirez and everything went off without a hitch. There are still some big questions, i.e. is he an official member of the football team NOW? If he does somehow make it to fall with full eligibility, will he be given the chance to win the starting RB job? M-Town has a nice returner in Darione Jones, but Scoby is on another level.

Arcadia’s search for a new varsity football head coach is ongoing. The school will be accepting applications through Apr. 8, according to AD Ryan Press and hopes to have a coach named by the start of spring practice.

Former head coach Chris Long resigned following the 2012 season, his only at the school.

Press also ended any speculation that former head coach Jon Dimalante is a candidate.

Aram’s take: As of now, there’s no teaching position. But, the school will reassess the situation after the school year once retirements and whatnot take place with the teaching staff. Not having a teaching position right away may depress the market. Have to worry about the program getting a late start. Hopefully somebody is overseeing the offseason weight training.

Follow me on Twitter @aramtolegian

The Rio Hondo League powers-that-be will vote Friday whether to bring/invite Crescenta Valley to join the league, according to a source.

It’s unclear whether Blair, which is struggling in several major sports, would stay or go. Blair reportedly wants to stay, which could mean a seven-team league.

Aram’s take: If you look at the RHL (for football) as Monrovia and everyone else, then this may do little for you. I guess it would be another speed bump for the Wildcats, but they still tower over the league. In other sports, well, that’s a different story and CV would be a pretty interesting add, especially in baseball.

OK, the Kurt Scoby Madness has reached its zenith. On Sunday, the LA Times’ Eric Sondheimer, citing Kurt Scoby’s foster parent, reported that Scoby plans to play at Monrovia this fall.

Sondheimer’s post on the matter was short, sweet and to the point. It also featured some clever wording. “Planning to play for Monrovia” … I called Monrovia head coach Ryan Maddox last week to ask him about this … most of what I got was laughter. Maddox also said he had heard nothing of the sort.

As we all know, what Kurt Scoby “plans” to do and what actually happens are about 30 different things (maybe more). And citing his foster parent, when she’s often gotten her news about Scoby FROM ME, is also bad business. But what are you gonna do? As a reporter, if somebody says it, Sondheimer is obligated to report it.

Just wonder if she called him or he called her … hmmmm….

But forget all that, Scoby and his foster parent, have lost all credibility because of what’s taken place the past three years. Charter Oak to Duarte to St. Paul to Cathedral to Alemany to now (maybe) Monrovia … the same Monrovia that Scoby was almost at before leaving Duarte for St. Paul.

As I tweeted and even reported/predicted here BACK ON MARCH 7, Monrovia should be the favored destination for Scoby.

But here’s the thing, it’s real longshot that Scoby will ever play under the lights again. He’s out of options, for lack of a better term, with CIF. He needs a valid residential change to get into Monrovia’s district, which may not be hard to accomplish as he’s been rumored to live in Monrovia/Duarte before.

Then there’s the matter of academic eligibility. If we added up ALL the time Scoby has missed just in between transfers, it’s hard to imagine he’s on-schedule classes-wise or even eligible grades-wise.

I don’t think Coach Maddox realized just how real this Scoby situation was going to get. But it appears to be headed toward his and Principal Darvin Jackson’s doorstep. They handled the De’Shawn Ramirez situation well. And although vastly different, the Gevontray Ainsworth situation, too. But Scoby is a whole ball of wax.

At this point, what Scoby “wants” to do and what he’ll be “eligible” to do appear to be two VERY DIFFERENT things.

Many thoughts go through a man’s mind while in the drive-thru at Garduno’s.

Damien coach Mark Paredes has named Kenny Lawler his defensive coordinator and Dave Breunig his offensive coordinator.

Why does this matter? Well, Lawler, in particular, does. He’s a mover and shaker in the area. If you’re a local coach with some legit talent, he’s probably contacted you about having some of that legit talent play in the 7-on-7 league he’s associated with.

And why does that matter? Well, Lawler, in particular, is the kinda guy who can “attract” talent to Damien. He isn’t going to sit back and coach little leaguers. I imagine he’s going to be critical in Damien getting the kinda horses it needs to compete at its level.

Of course, Gano and Co. were supposedly master “attractors” and they ran into a wall at Sparty. But assuming Mr. Gorbachev, in this case Dr. Hemenway, tore down that wall, then I expect to see Damien’s level increase.

In case you’re wondering, Lawler’s son Kenny was the kid who played WR at Upland and is now at Cal.

Oh yeah, and Breunig was at JW North with Paredes last year.

Aram’s take: I heard things about many Damien players heading for the doors. I also heard things about poor play turnout. Paredes has seemed oblivious to all that took place at Damien in recent years, but I can’t gauge if he’s sandbagging me or if he really doesn’t know what kinda stream he’s swimming against. It looks to be time for a classic Aram line: Things may get worse before they get better.

La Mirada High School is not usually the first name that rolls off the tongue when people talk about Southern California prep football recruiting hotbeds.

Until this year, that is.

While most local teams are doing the usual offseason weight lifting and conditioning in preparation for the upcoming season, La Mirada is doing that and entertaining heavy interest in several top recruits that lured a who’s who college football coaching personalities to their campus this winter.

“What we try to do here as a coaching staff, athletic department and administration is split the season into three different parts,” La Mirada head coach Mike Moschetti said. “You’ve got summer and spring football, you’ve got your season, then you’ve got your recruiting season.

“These kids at La Mirada, on the field and in the weight room, they give you their heart and soul. So, in return as an administration and a coaching staff, we try to give them back our heart and soul when it comes to recruiting.”

La Mirada has been no stranger to sending players to the next level in recent years, but this year is different. The Matadores feature two of the top recruits in the country in linebacker/tight end Tyler Luatua and receiver Dallis Todd. Pick a college football powerhouse and odds are that both Luatua and Todd have an offer from it.

Then, there’s Class of 2015 quarterback Kevin Dillman, who already had nine offers in tow in between his freshman and sophomore season. Dillman getting injured during his sophomore season, but the interest has picked right back up. Also getting interest is junior-to-be lineman Anthony Cerillo, who had an offer from Colorado as a freshman before ever playing a down of varsity football.

Keep in mind, this is La Mirada we’re talking about. Not Servite. Not Mater Dei. Not Bishop Amat. Not La Habra. But La Mirada, a team that was bounced from the CIF-Southern Section playoffs last fall in the second round by Santa Fe.

The trick is in the marketing, according to Moschetti. He and his staff work tirelessly to get out the names and highlight films of their players. And they send them not just to Division I schools, but also to Division II, III and NAIA colleges as well. In addition to being proactive with the colleges, Moschetti is also relentless with the media. It’s not uncommon for media members and recruiting experts on his list to receive several text messages a day updating the recruitment of his players.

“A lot of schools have players, it’s just that nobody knows about them,” Moschetti said. “When our football season is over, we make all our kids highlight tapes and start sending them out to every school in the country. We have guys who are relentless. Not just sending the film out, but you’ve got to email. We have 10 to 12 different coaches who are making phone calls every single day making sure the tape gets watched.

“But I think what makes me proud about La Mirada is that our coaches will keep calling schools, whether it’s Auburn or Adams State or an NAIA school in Ohio. We will keep calling and calling and calling until they say ‘We’re not interested.’”

La Mirada is surrounded on all sides by private schools, some of which with top-flight programs. The competition just to keep the local talent home is also fierce, but Moschetti is clearly winning the battle. When a well-known private school program recently made several overtures at his players, Moschetti responded by getting on the phone and making it clear to that coaching staff that they were barking up the wrong tree.

“I’m not going to get into schools’ names, but I can name one that’s close that’s actively recruiting our kids right now,” Moschetti said. “I’m not going to give names, but I get on the phone and I’m not going to back down to them.

“Tyler Luatua’s been recruited by a certain school for two years. They say ‘You should want to play against the best and for a private Catholic school.’ But Tyler’s argument back is ‘My brother (Isaac) played at La Mirada and he’s now at Alabama and they’ve won two national championships, so I don’t need to play for a private school.’”

As a player, Moschetti was a fiery competitor who quarterbacked La Mirada to a CIF championship in 1992. He later played at Colorado by way of Mt. SAC. That same bulldog spirit that helped him overcome any size limitations and led him to a successful college career seems to reemerge when he talks about maintaining a neighborhood football program at his alma mater, which very well could be pillaged for talent by bigger-name schools in the absence of Moschetti’s ownership.

“You can go to Mater Dei and pay tuition, but you can come to La Mirada where it’s free and still get recruited by Florida, Notre Dame, USC and Alabama,” Moschetti said. “The big misconception is ‘I have to go to Servite. I have to go to Bishop Amat. I have to go to Crespi to play Division I football’.

“I’ve never had a college coach once ask me ‘What division do you guys play in?’ If you make plays on film and take care of business in the classroom, you’re going to get recruited if you get your film out there.

“That’s my big argument. That’s our selling point. Why go to Servite? Why go to St. John Bosco when you can come to La Mirada and still get recruited? You can still play at an Ivy League school. You can still have a Steve Sarkisian or a Brian Kelly or Alabama’s offensive coordinator on our campus. And they’re not asking about what division you’re in or who you played against.”

Moschetti’s detractors will point to the fact that even with all that talent, the Matadores were bounced from the Southeast Division playoffs by a nondescript Santa Fe team. Prior to that, though, La Mirada gave a strong account of itself in the nonleague by beating St. Paul, La Habra, St. Francis and even giving Bishop Amat a good run before losing by 10.

Moschetti has won a CIF title as a coach. In 2009, he guided La Mirada to a 13-1 record and Southern Division championship. But anything less than another division title in 2013, given all the talent on hand, will be considered a major disappointment.

Moschetti knows all the recruiting buzz will lead to high expectations and put a target on his team’s chest. The area will quickly know just what to make of La Mirada and all its talent because the Matadores have a nonleague schedule that includes Servite, Tesoro, La Habra and St. Francis.

“It was a disappointing season for us,” Moschetti said about 2012. “I’m as hard on myself as anybody. I’ve got to coach better. Last year was a huge disappointment. We want to win just like everybody else.

“I think the excitement now is not necessarily about recruiting, it’s about getting better. Spring ball is right around the corner. That’s what the kids are excited about.”