Here's what some coaches said about all-league and all-area

Don't know how many people will read this post since it looks like the topic has pretty much been put to rest, but here's my take. I was lucky enough to see both James and McDonough play in 05 since I'm a correspondent for the Tribune and often cover games. I covered one Northview game and two Covina games; each time the respective athletes dominated their opponents.
When Aram asked who i thought should be the Valley MVP I quickly said McDonough without hesitation (I don't know if my opinion actually carried any weight in Aram's decision).
McDonough had certain intangables that were not matched by any athlete I saw in 05 and they were a desire, leadership and toughness.
Yes he was surrounded by terrific athletes and James is a better athlete than McDonough and would probably be the one more likely to succeed at the college level.
It's not the fact that McDonough put up ridiculous numbers why I thought he was the MVP. As a matter of fact, some of his passing stats can be a bit misleading because in the playoff game I saw against Pacifica, he threw a whole lot of shovel and screen passes to Combest, Clark and Sutton that turned into huge gains. I don't know if they did a lot of that throughout the season, but that's just what I saw.
It's because of his leadership and the fact that you don't see too many quarterbacks line up at middle linebacker and plug up the A-Gap the way he did why I felt he was the MVP.
I'm not saying that James, or any other athlete for that matter is not a competitor or didn't deserve to be Valley or their respective League MVP, but I just felt that McDonough was the most deserving, regardless of what year he was in school

Thought,

Why can't the Valley Player of the Year and the League MVP be different?

Doesn't the league MVP consist of what a player accomplished during the league portion of the season? 5 games?

Valley Player of the Year is based on an athlete's entire season, correct? 10-14 games?

Congratulations & Good Luck to both athlete's!

Aram, you sure know how to stir it up! You have done a great job the past few years of keeping people interested in what Valley High Schools have to offer. I like the suggestion above about devoting some space to each league during the week. You do something similar right now. Don't sleep on the little guy either. I have seen the best player on the worst team in the league. He just so happened to have little talent around him.

Also would like to add Micheal Johnson of Baldwin Park as one who was a tremendous Quarterback & Athlete. I believe he may have set some valley records.

ok, what about tuesday,wednesday, and thursday coverage? we would like to read about whats going on with the other leagues and teams. can i suggest
writing about a different league or leagues each day. i.e. Mountain view & Mission valley-tuesday.
Valle vista & Miramonte-wednesday, and so on and so forth. coaches comments on the past week and upcoming week. im just trying to suggest some thing to make this papers prep sports section more entertaining.

TY,

Here is how our Friday night cover game (photo + display of sports section) worked out last year. The whole bias argument is old tired and needs to be retired.

Week 0 - St. Paul at Bishop Amat (Sister paper is the Whittier Daily News, so this was a big crossover game for us)

San Dimas at South El Monte
Los Altos at Damien
Bishop Amat at Glendora
Bishop Amat at Damien
Arcadia at Glendora
Charter Oak at Los Altos
West Covina at South Hills
Covina at San Dimas
Gladstone at Duarte
Wilson at Bonita

PLAYOFFS
1st round - San Gabriel at Rowland
2nd round - Charter Oak at Newport Harbor
Semis - Covina at Tesoro
Finals - Orange at South Hills

Amat was covered three times, but you have to understand that Amat vs. Glendora and Amat vs. Damien also counts as coverage for those two local schools. And those were the biggest games in the area during those weeks.

Thursday night coverage I am not sure about, but we usually hit the best game available. Amat was featured one other time on the cover - a Saturday night game against Mater Dei when nobody else was playing.

can anyone name a player who has put up the numbers that mcdonough has put up in the past 20 years, let alone last year.....cause i can and that player is Mike Smith former qb at los altos (and he might just be the best football player ever in the valley) and that was before mcdonough or anyone else whom played in the valley last season was even born...so the point is that people dont just put those numbers up year in and year out, that is why mcdounough was player of the year....also for anyone to say that the reason that he should not have won the player of the year cause they lost to tesorro in the semis, is a ridiculous statement..since no one in this valley beats tesorro last season.....and you dont have to believe me about the stats..you can talk to some of the most successful coachs around in the last 20 years such as Dave Merrill (Wilson), Greg Gano (Los Altos), Lou Farrar (Charter Oak) among others.

The Vince Young vs. Reggie Bush analogy in the Rose Bowl does not hold up. In fact, it almost proves that James deserved Valle Vista MVP.

Vince Young would have deserved the MVP based on his performance whether or not Texas beat USC. Also, Bush was rarely even on the field (for some stupid reason), otherwise it likely would have been an SC victory.

Anyway, Vince carried Texas. USC was the team with all the stars on offense (Covina). So, the one-man attack (Young) rightfully deserved the Rose Bowl MVP. James deserved the league MVP.

McDonough is the real deal with a promising future. He rightfully was SGV Player of the year. His performance in the playoffs brought more respect to the SGV. However, playoffs have nothing to do with league standings and should not be factored in to league voting.

Its amazing that this forum is dominated by all this valle vista league talk, and yet during the football season all we read about is the tribunes 3 favorites: 1-BISHOP AMAT, 2- LOS ALTOS AND 3-SOUTH HILLS. there are good teams in different leagues and we would like to read about them if at all possible during the upcoming season.

first of all mike mcdonough should of not won player of the yr for sgv.he had a good yr but they didnt win the whole thing and he he had jonny speed and lighting on his team .

First of all i saw alot of the valle vista league games last year....and a couple of things it is true that Damian James is an out of this world athlete, as is Aaron Harris...but the thing i think that puts McDonough at the top of the class is not only does he play Qb, he is also basically there fb..and then on the other side of the ball he is the middle linebacker....and for those of you who saw the Tessoro game, he put on a display..but go ahead keep on saying he did not deserve the mvp..cause i know the kid and he is just waiting to prove himself...oh and B.P you want to know why Harris did not any concideration cause covina held him to under 100 yards for the game..oh that is a defense lead by McDonough!

You truly had to see McDonough play to see what type of player he is. He should have won League MVP and I'll tell you why. First of all the numbers speak for themselves. I covered about 6 of there league games and saw every game in the playoffs. When Combest, James, Clark, and Sutton were not on, McDonough put the game in his hands. There were times when the other Big Guns were not a factor, but McDonough was the X-Factor. Teams did not really have a answer for him.Tesoro didn't have a answer for him. They were more concerned about shutting down the Big Four. I covered severl other games in the area and I did not see any players play as hard as McDonough. I saw him KO as player attempting to stop him from getting into the endzone. Every team has a leader and McDonough was the Colts leader. The QB is the key spot to the team. To step in accept the key spot on the team as a junior and lead them is tough. Dispite some of yalls blindness to South Hills, if you did not see Covina play yall TRULY MISSED A GREAT TEAM PLAY THIS YEAR. I truly feel the no one but McDonough could have lead that core of kids.To all of yall who say it was not his team, yall are nuts! He made it his team!! MVP, he should have been! The MVP should go to the the player who Truly Leads There Team! That's why Steve Nash is the MVP and not Kobe!

I do not agree. That would be like Reggie Bush winning the Rose Bowl MVP over Vince Young. Just because the other team has to game plan for that guy does not mean that guy deserves the MVP award. Winning team, winning player, MVP award. Make sense?

It's refreshing to know that the coaches from the Valle Vista League picked the guy from the 5-5 team, rather than the MVP of the championship team. Too often the star of the 10-0 team gets the award because his team won the head to head game. It sounds like this guy, James, was the best in the league and got his due from the people who had to strategize against him. If one guy can make a football team competitive within a competitive league, then the choice is pretty obvious. The point that drives James's award home is the fact that he intercepted the runner-up three times in head to head competition.

However, in semi-support of Aram: In the context of the SGV, perhaps we should consider the historical context of McDonough's achievement (Hard Statistics). See, not every team plays eachother within the SGV as the teams within a league do. Therefore, a league MVP is rightfully chosen by the coaches who had to deal with the guy. An SGV Player of the Year should be chosen through a network of information and feedback, including looking at achievement through a historical context.

It may seem confusing, but to me it makes perfect sense that James was awarded League MVP while McDonough was East SGV player of the year.

Wow! The kid from Covina did not win the MVP of that league? Unbelievable. On a team that wins the league, on a team that was probably second best in the valley, does not win the MVP!!! that is amazing. It should be set as a rule, a team that wins the league should have the MVP of that league! 5-5 Northview over a 10-0 Covina. I do not care of it is Reggie Bush, if that kid was that valuable win more games, be a leader for your team, role model for others. Get out of here Quinsey, aren't you moving?

Hey Tom, as far as James being the most feared...ask the kid from Baldwin Park what the license plate number was of the truck that ran him over, I think it was #7.

Aram,
James from Northview is an incredible football player, who clearly was the most feared player in the Valle Vista League. I saw the Northview-Covina game in person. Covina was clearly a better team, but the most exciting person on the field was Damien James, perhaps, the best overall football player in the valley. The kid kills people on defense and runs and throws the ball on offense. He was sorrounded by so-so guys (Davis is a good player), but made the team dangerous. I heard Thomas from Covina say, "Damian is amazing". Statistics are not all you use. I would have to go with the coaches on this one, they tend to see the players a little more than you do. You'd have to admit to that.

Coach Quinsey,

Thanks for the explanation. I really appreciate it because I don't think many coaches would give that kind of an explanation.
OK fine, this can be six coaches vs. one sportswriter. I have no problem with that. I realize that most coaches don't think the media knows much. And I know media types love nothing more than to second guess coaches.
I must tell you that the Tribune All-Area Team isn't based solely on my opinion. I am constantly asking the opinion of our sportswriters about the teams they covered and the players who stood out. Even at my weight, I can't be everywhere in the Valley on game nights. There are some teams I don't get to see at all. But this is why I ask the guys what they think. And the great news is that I don't think we miss very often. In fact, I believe the three All-Area teams I've been a part of have been dead on. There will always be people who aren't happy no matter what, and I know that.
As you know, I just so happened to cover Northview three times in 2004

vs. Paramount
vs. Walnut
vs. San Dimas

Please don't make it seem like I am out in the dark on Damian's abilities. Or that he's somebody who I've never seen play. I was standing right there when he went head-up against Boaz from San Dimas with the league title on the line. I mean I was right there! And I saw him fake out the refs on a keep against Walnut when the whistle blew and he was running down the sideline with the ball.
Obviously, if I made McDonough the Trib Player of the Year, I am going to disagree with the Valle Vista League voting, which said he wasn't the MVP.
I tend to look at things in terms of the entire Valley. When I look at McDonough's stats and find myself wondering "When was the last time a QB in the Valley put up numbers like this?" I can take solace in knowing the right choice was made.

2,942 passing yards
664 rushing yards
36 passing TDs
14 rushing TDs

I am no historian, but I do have people around the office who are. Forget about the Valle Vista League for a second, that's one of the greatest seasons ever for an SGV quarterback.

You are right, 6 coaches that watched between 6 and 10 games of both of our teams'games are less knowledgeable than a sportswriter who never watched a Northview game this season. If you would have seen Damian play, you would have seen the same kind of determination that you seen in McDonough in the Tesoro game with a lot more athletic ability. Damian was the focus of our offense and defense. Teams had to stop him to beat us. Covina had McDonough, James, Clark, Combest, and Sutton. 5 guys to key on. And honestly, it wasn't McDonough teams keyed to contain, it was Combest. How many of his TD's were long handoffs to the speedsters, who would run past defenders? That's not to take away what McDonough accomplished, but put Damian on that Covina team and he may have rushed for 2000 yards and thrown for another 2000. In our loss to Covina, which was a better team than us, Damian intercepted McDonough 3 times. He kept us in the game by himself. We can disagree on this subject, but I just don't think you realize how good Damian is.

Coach Quinsey,

There's a distinction between bashing a kid and saying an all-league list is crap. I am getting countless posts that aren't running because the poster is personally attacking a kid's character. That's what the constant reminders are about.
Back to Damian James - Do not pretend that I don't give Damian James his due. He was a Tribune All-Area defensive back this past season. He had a great year. I spoke about him extensively on my TV show, which I realize not everybody sees. I reminded readers quite often that Damian James led the Southern Section in picks for most of the season.
I just don't agree that he was the league's MVP. Maybe you or the other Valle Vista League coaches can explain the reason behind the voting? I know I am curious as to how a kid who threw for nearly 3,000 yards, rushed for 664 and had 50 TDs (combined) wasn't the league's MVP. Not to mention his team won the league and reached the semifinals, which as you know is pretty unprecedented for your league.
Damian James' season was outstanding. I can't say it enough. But for the coaches of the Valle Vista League not to give MVP to a kid who put up some of the best single-season stats for a QB in Valley history, it's really kind of ridiculous.

OK Aram, you got me suckered in. Let me just say this is my personal opinion and it does not reflect the opinions of our head coach (Steve Bogan) or our coaching staff. This is just my opinion.

All-League: This is always been a crapshoot. For the last two years since I've been in the San Antonio League (2004, 2005), and one year as part of the Almont League (2003), I think the coaches have done a great job in honoring our best players. I know that no one had a problem with the POY's the last two years in our league. And I will take it one step further. I have been at three of the All-CIF Division VII meetings, and I can safely tell you that Bogan, and the rest of the coaches from the other leagues do a terrific job in making sure that the right players make it to the first team. I don't think that we've had one coach come up after the meeting is done with and say, "Boy I just didn't like the way it was done this year."

Tribune All-Area: OK. First off Aram, I love the effort that you put in to make sure that the right players make it to the first and second teams. Now, having said that, I can always see a few selections and say, "Wow, what was he thinking?" The clearest one is that your second-team all-area at quarterback. You chose Matt Casteneda of Los Altos over Kevin Mort of South Hills. Can't see the reasoning behind that since Mort clearly outplayed him in week nine...and if you need a tape of the game Aram, just let me know and I will be more than happy to send it to you. Plus, and this is my personal justices at work here, I have a real problem making a junior player of the year." When you consider that Tobi Umodu had 17 sacks for three consecutive years, which lands him in the state record book in sixth place in the category most sacks in a career with 51 (with Shaun Cody and Brigham Harwell the leaders and they were both POY in the area), and the unbelieveable story of Tobi Umodu and his family (that was cronicled by Eric Sondheimer of the LA Times this season), and couple that with the comments from opposing head coaches who are more than happy to see him going to UCLA (Frank Mazzota at La Habra might be the one who is the most happiest), I just think that the award for the junior Covina could have waited until 2006. I just don't believe that a junior should be POY. Sorry, I'll take Tobi over the junior from Covina any day of the week...and funny, UCLA felt the same way.

But all in all, Singiser had it right. He plays it straight and that is why he very much respected around the South Hills football office. Here's hoping that a CIF championship is in the cards for him and his staff in the near future.

Your comments about our league and it's all-league voting were brought to my attention today. For you to say Mike McDonough is a better football player or more valuable to his team than Damian James is an insult to Damian and not fair to Mike McDonough. He carried us most of the season while Mike McDonough was surrounded by the "Valley's fastest team". You mentioned McDough not winning the MVP was "crap". If you say don't attack kids, what are you telling Damian? Are you saying he wasn't deserving of an award that the coaches in our league selected him for? I think Mike McDonough is a good player and had a great season, but the two players can never be compared. You can ask any coach that played against us or watched us play. Damian James is a special athlete and was justly rewarded the MVP of our league.