Is "Football: The Real OC" overrated???

yu dont need to change schools to get your kid notice ,thats bull crap if hes that good they well find him if nottheres camps ,combines and all kinds of things yu can us .

I beleive the new coach played during the Salter era.

This is great feedback for high schools. I have a 12 year in the sixth grade that plays middle linebacker and full back. He's not your fastest but very smart and has been the hardest hitter in three different teams. I have been told by different coaches that should take him to AMAT for the exposure, some say Charter Oak for the coaching as well as South Hills. Recently I was told by another coah that AMAT has built this beautiful weight room and lockers and they are looking to change the turf. I guess the new coach came from the Paredes era and is also a fomer Bruin and is using all his contacts to get AMAT to what they were. Can anyone confirm?

Aram,

You have an interesting way of looking at the stats. It's true that MV has won just one CIF title in the past three years. BUT, they have won three out of the past five, in very impressive fashion. They blow people out by half time. Against tough opponents. You should ask Coach Monger at Chino if he thinks MV is over rated.

I admit, I initially thought that MV choked against Hart. But then I heard that MV's starting QB had been injured the week before and was not able to play. The other reason I hate to say that MV choked to Hart is because that would take away from Hart's victory. Ask some of the local D-2 teams how good Hart and the rest of the Foothil league are. It's not like Santa Clarita is playing powder puff football.

The bigger issue, here, though pertains to OC football. I think the most competitive football in the country is played in LA County, not in OC. You mentioned OC seceding. Fine, they can join the San Diego section and we can take in the LA City Section. Actually, with all the population growth in San Bernardino and Riverside it may not be a bad idea to have San Bernardino and Riverside Combine, LA County and LA City Combine...what we we do with Ventura through San Luis Obispo? The bad thing about so many divisions and sections, though, is that we get further and further from something resembling a state champion.

NY,

For all of the pomp and circumstance, you wouldn't call Mission Viejo winning one CIF title in the past three years a choke? I don't know about that one. The national rankings, the nonleague wins over marquee teams, the big-time recruits and yet only one of the things (CIF titles) that really matter?

Mission Viejo's team of two seasons ago was'nt overrated, but it was their best team ever, they
were ranked either 1 or 2 in the nation depending on wich poll it was, and they proved it by beating the div.1 elite, plus Hart that year. So far that year was their peak year.

I can't speak for eternity. But for the near future i.e. five years to a decade, no I don't see Amat returning to such lofty heights.
Like I've written before "the landscape of high school football changed over the past 10 years and Amat didn't change with it."
People ask me "What does that mean, Aram?" I answer with "Where's Amat's field turf playing surface?" You want to get the Valley's top talent, you can't just whoa them by having an In-N-Out truck at home games.
Amat needs to be ahead of the curve. It has to be able to PROVE that it's the better football destination for would-be standouts. Does it do that right now? Are 8th graders convinced their best path to a scholarship is in La Puente or at Los Altos (for free) or Charter Oak (for free) or South Hills (for free).
Are parents convinced their kids are playing for the best coaches around at Amat or do they think they'd get similar to better coaches at Charter Oak or Los Altos or South Hills (again, for free)?
Until Amat gets it figured out, it will remain about the same - not bad, not great, just somewhere in between.

Matt,
When you mention MVN are you referring to Mission Viejo?
I don't think the dicussion of checking home addresses is taboo, but it seems pretty common that winning programs have kids who may live a bit outside the district. I think that is the case locally as well.
You have a great point about the depth of OC teams. Yeah, more players can be advantageous in having good scout teams in practice, the ability to rotate players on the d-line and keep them fresh, more competition at practice to keep your starters hungry, etc.

In general:

I've always been most impressed with the OC teams linemen and quarterbacks, as compared to their receivers and runningbacks. I firmly beleive the game is won on the line of scrimmage, though, and I beleive Bill Walsh said that QB is the most important single position. So, there you go. Physical lines can help you through the rainy weather.

Aram,
Hart is a powerhouse. How many D-3 and D-2 titles has coach Harrington (Hart) won since the early 1990's? A ton. Both Hart and MV, unfortunately, routinely destroy division 2 teams from our area (SGV and San Bernardion) in the playoffs. I beleive the winners of the Hart vs. MV games recently have had the senior at QB. Sanchez lost his junior year but then rolled hart by 30 points in the quarterfinals his senior year (MV probably pulled their starters early). Perhaps MV did choke to Hart this past year. But, if losing to Hart is a choke, it must mean that the loser is a great team that had an off night. I'm just impressed that MV during the past couple years has beaten most of the teams that comprised D-1 semi-finals. Coach J put his win streak on the line a couple years ago by really loading his schedule with top teams: LB Poly, Los Alamitos, Mater Dei, De La Salle. MV beat them all, handily. Well, they won close games against De La Salle. But hey, De La Salle is seemingly on a down note, only winning their CIF titles, no more national titles...

South Hills must have great coaches and a great overall program. Their success over the years is on par with the best. They certainly play ball against the upper divisions as well. I can't wait to see South Hills over the next few years playing against the other local powers in Division 6.

Do you think Amat will ever regain national prominence (i.e. the team that won the Reebok Bowl in 1992 and then beat Loyola in the finals in 1995 after losing to Mater Dei in the finals in 1994)?

Matt,

That's hilarious! I was re-reading your post. "... a whole different world in their own minds." And driving to MSAC is like driving to Barstow. There's humor in the truth.

NY,

The fed just raised interest rates. Get to work!
About Mission Viejo. I disagree. For as hyped as they've been, to not even make the CIF finals last year is a joke. But forget about last year's team. The team in 2003 with Mark Sanchez, Marty Tadman, Drew Radovich and others got blown out by Hart in the championship game. To me, Mission Viejo kind of typifies the OC hype. Yes, they're great, but they are hyped way beyond their greatness. The same can be said for a lot of those schools. This is a team that is The fed raised interest rates again, get to work.
Uh anyway, about Tesoro. What they were doing in Division IX? That would be taking away Covina's chance at a CIF title. I stand by my point that if it doesn't rain that night, Covina wins. The passing game was too effected by the moisture. I swear to you - this is no BS - the rain that night would taper and when Covina got the ball, it would start coming down again. I am really not kidding. I know it was just coincedence, but I remember being on the sideline shaking my head about how it happened. Things like that really bother me because in any other year, Covina wins that division.
I agree with you about CIF and the OC. I have heard this from several coaches in the know, including one local legend. From what I hear, Bob J over at MV has a lot of pull.
I remember one person telling me that the OC threatened to secede from CIF and start its own governing body. Ever since, they've had OC influence in the CIF office. The memo clearly got to Fox Sports Net, too. Because all we ever hear about are OC teams. For as good as South Hills has been locally, they sure haven't gotten their due from anything other than the local media. But that's a whole other tangent.

AT

Okay this maybe a taboo topic and I have no solid proof to show for this but I understand that many of MVN players come from other areas. Once they get in as a Freshman they do not have to worry about the Transferring rules and if you could read a list of the home towns of their starters it would have kids from all over the county.

They are a great team and do have great coaching but they are also drawing the better athelete because of their reputation and coaching.

Aram, this is great stuff. Your columns are keeping me tied into home.

With respect to whether or not the OC is overated, perhaps you could provide a bit more context. For instance, what type of statements have been made about OC football recently?

I don't think you can say that Mission Viejo is overrated. They beat the crap out of other nationally ranked teams, including those that typically win division I. They probably would have rolled Hart last year, but I think MV's starting QB was sidelined from a previous game. Tough break. I will never take anything away from Hart, as they are the only team to beat MV during the past four or five years. I think MV and Hart are 2-2 against each other. MV is loaded from the players to the coaches. Have you ever read the bios of their coaching staff...several with some type of NFL experience and most of them have D-1 playing experience. Also, to site Hart's victory as evidence that MV choked is completely off base. Hart is a powerhouse. Look what Hart does to every school they play from the Baseline league. I don't think you can say that any Hart victory is another team's choke. At the end of the day it is still a bunch of 17 year-olds out on the field.

The thing that annoys me most about OC teams is really a complaint against the CIF. Because the OC population continues to grow, it has a lot of new schools. The new OC schools get placed into the lower CIF divisions until they have won a couple CIF titles (Tesoro, Aliso Niguel, Santa Margarita, Trabuco Hills, Mira Costa which is a beach city but in LA). Then those teams bounce up to the higher divisions. Back in 1993 Trabuco Hills won the old D-8, the following year they lost to Amat in the D-1 semis. Aliso Niguel won D-8 in 1996. Santa Margarita was undefeated a few years in D-5 or 4 prior to moving to D-1. In 1997 Mira Costa won D-9 then immediately moved in D-2 or 3 and became a regular in those semifinal rounds. Now Tesoro goes from D-9 to D-1 after winning consecutive D-9 titles...what the heck were they doing in D-9?

You have to appreciate the level of commitment the OC has to football, though. I'm not just referring to fans showing up to games. I'm talking about the obvious off-season commitment that their players must have in the weight room, on the track and at their dinner tables. They do have the advantage of having a lot of newer schools: excitement, a chance to implement a new program, newer facilities, etc.

I think the OC is in a whole different world in their own minds. We can get OC kids to drive 30-40 minutes to Brea Olinda High School to practice but when you ask them to drive 5 more minutes over the hill to Mt. Sac you would think we told them they had to go to Victorville or Barstow.

They do a great job covering their prep sports in the local paper and are great at pounding their chest but in reality at a competitive level they are no better then the SGV atheletes. They may have more depth in certain sports but the tops kids in the SGV can compete with the top kids in the OC.