Fred’s take: You know what this comes down to don’t you? With Charter Oak being so scary next fall and the Lancers a real question mark, Bishop Amat didn’t want to risk losing a local game. It was one of those nothing to gain, everything to lose scenario’s. Dominguez has name power, but they were 2-8 last season while Charter Oak went undefeated and won a section title with one of the best running backs in the area returning. Dominguez sounds great on paper, but Charter Oak would have been a tougher opponent.

Yeah right: Even Diamond Ranch is upset it won’t get to see Bishop Amat and Charter Oak

At the end of the day Charter Oak never backed down from a dreamy season opener against Bishop Amat next fall, in fact it pushed harder than ever, with Bishop Amat finally saying “no thanks,” instead signing a deal to play Dominguez, a school that was 2-8 last season, a year after going 10-3 and advancing to the Western Division semifinals. Dominguez won the title in 2006. This leaves Charter Oak looking everywhere for a first round opponent, a frustration that Charter Oak coach Lou Farrar expressed on Thursday. “If we have to go to Chicago, we’ll go to Chicago,” Farrar joked. “We wanted to play Amat at their place or a neutral site like Mt. SAC. We thought it would have been great. They wanted three days to think it over, then thought about it again and decided to place somebody else. What can you do?” This leaves the Chargers looking at teams like Escondido, Quartz Hill, and others. “We can’t find anyone within 30 minutes from us. It’s going to be tough getting anything you want this late in the day.” In fairness to Bishop Amat and coach Steve Hagerty, he said they already have three games against local teams (West Covina, Damien and Diamond Ranch), and that was enough. He felt playing Dominguez at home was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up, though I think Charter Oak still would have been a tougher game next fall. “We think Dominguez is going to prepare us when the game is on the line,” Hagerty said. “They have lots of speed and athleticism. We consider that a great game.” Hagerty said that a game against Charter Oak could come in future years. “The Charter Oak (possibility) has been going on a long time. I talked to (Charter Oak AD) Glenn Martinez the night of our game against Notre Dame. But we figured in the end, this (Dominguez) is a better situation for us. I know the San Gabriel Valley would have loved it (playing Charter Oak), but this isn’t about trying to make the Valley happy, it’s about doing what we think is best for our team. When our current contracts with (West Covina, Damien and Diamond Ranch) runs out, then we can look at Charter Oak again.”