Panthers will be all out to produce a regular season like 2005

Going 10-0 never felt so bad. Rosemead put together a dominant regular season in 2005, only to see the empire come crashing down with a bad loss in the first round of the CIF-SS Division VII playoffs – as a No. 4 seed!

Last year’s team accomplished a lot and embarrassed quite a few teams along the way. But many of those players i.e. RB/DB Deon Sumler and a killer defensive line, are gone. OK, one defensive lineman returns – Anthony Gonzalez, and he’s a good one.
Coach Matt Koffler’s staff also saw some attrition, namely Jim Arellanes, who tookover for Todd Quinsey at Northview.
Rosemead is definitely one of the biggest mysteries in the area as it enters Spring practice. And more often than not, being a mystery isn’t a good thing. The good news, however, for the Panthers is that Koffmead always has a good pool of players to choose from. Rosemead and Arroyo, by far, reload more effectively than any other Mission Valley League schools.
Here’s the sked:

9/8 Los Altos (loss)
9/16 Piedmont Hills (win)
9/22 at Northview (toss-up)
9/29 at Temple City (win)
10/6 at Orange (loss)
10/13 El Monte (win)
10/20 at Gabrielino (win)
10/27 at Arroyo (toss-up)
11/3 Mountain View (win)
11/10 South El Monte (win)

This team has some talented underclassmen, who will play big roles. So it’s plausible that Koffmead will be better in November than it will be in September. The Los Altos game comes at the wrong time, but “scheduling up” is the new coolest thing among local coaches. If somebody has info about that, then please post it. I wish Monrovia would’ve remained on the schedule. Piedmont Hills is a team from NoCal. Not much is known about them, but I doubt Koffler would schedule anything close to De La Salle, so lets say Koffmead beats them just because of the travel edge.

PROJECTED RECORD: 8-2 or 7-3
LEAGUE: co-favored with Arroyo in wide-open league.
PLAYOFFS: Yes