Words from the Scouting Guru …

The Scouting Guru has been all over the San Gabriel Valley and beyond, and like always, he’s offered to share his thoughts, free of charge. Don’t hate, enjoy it for what it’s worth, which is one man’s opinion on the talent and teams in the San Gabriel Valley and surrounding areas.

The Guru says: One of the better college football blogs belongs to Ted Miller of ESPN.com. He covers the Pac-10 and it’s required reading for Pac-10 fans. In reading the articles from the Washington game against LSU, here were some of the comments from observers and participants from the game….
“We want teams to respect us when they walk off the field,” UW HC Steve Sarkisian on Monday at his news conference prior to the LSU game. “You guys are definitely building. Don’t worry about that [the loss]. Keep it up.” LSU RB Charles Scott told UW defensive lineman Alameda Ta’amu after the game.


Those same comments could have been said by every Rancho Cucamonga player and coach at the conclusion of their win over Damien last Friday night. And the way Damien HC Greg Gano commented after the game, you would have thought that he and Sark were on the same page.

“We should have won that game,” said Gano, said to staff writer Clay Fowler. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t win it. We were one play away.”

Yep, you better believe that the Cougs walked away from the game with a little more respect for Damien than they did last year. Now, it’s the judgment of myself not to rip area football head coaches. They are in a tough enough job as it is. It’s not easy being a head coach these days. With the amount of pressure to win on Friday nights; along with dealing with egomaniac parents (some of whom write on this blog with no guts to put their name behind what they write). So, let’s just say that Gano has brought in a new breath of fresh are to Damien and the kids are responding.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Damien will beat Amat this year and I’m ready for our next prediction… Damien is defeat Charter Oak too!

5 THINGS THAT I THINK I THINK….

1) I think that area HS football is not the BCS…so quit treating it as such. To read the blog after all the action on Friday night, you would have thought that some teams might as well hang it up for the year. It all started with the Charter Oak fans, who were quite harsh with the play-calling of offensive coordinator Dominic Farrar. CO fans, take it easy! It was the first game on the year and he probably trying to figure out what he could do with both of his quarterbacks. There is no question that things have to improve with a tough three game stretch staring at them after their Friday afternoon game against University HS of LA (it’s hilarious to even write that). Then there were the West Covina fans that were even more irate after watching their team get defeated by El Rancho. Come to find out in Steve Ramirez’s story on Wednesday that WC was a walking MASH squad at the end of the night. They have it even tougher as they face real City section speed in Venice this Friday and then Amat next week. The whole point is that to fans of both teams, you’re teams will make the playoffs. So don’t treat each pre-season game as if the BCS is on the line. It’s how you finish that is more important than how you start.

2) I think that many of you think that I’m not harsh on our man Robledo. Well here is one for you. Several weeks ago on this blog he tried to pump up Citrus Football with this posting…

“Citrus College has a lot of local weapons this season, which resembles an all-star alumni game. Remember Covina quarterback Mike McDonough, the Tribune’s two-time player of the year, he’s now an Owl. They have a backfield that includes West Covina’s Isaac Tucker, Charter Oak’s Kanaan Snowden, Wilson’s Tim Gilmore and Rowland’s Brandon Stansell. Will this be good enough to challenge Mt. SAC?”

ll I have to say is one thing….Santa Ana 38, Citrus 7. Thank you…next…move on!

3) I think that Mt. SAC will have to do a lot of work to get back to the state championship game if last Saturday’s game against PCC is any indication. It just seemed that the QB’s were off the entire game. But they got the job done with a late rally to beat a vastly improved PCC team. BTW, it was great to see former San Dimas running back Daniel Joseph get meaningful touches on Saturday. However, it was not great to see him on the training table at the end of the first half with an ice pack on his right knee. Don’t look for him to be on the field for the next two weeks. Probably a knee sprain in the call here. But, in Tom Craft’s offense, Joseph will be getting a lot of looks. Along the same lines, former Los Altos standout RB Bryce McBride looked very good in his first game in two years. Looking forward to watching him a lot more this season. One other thing, PCC threw last year’s Muir standout Ruben Thomas into the fire and he responded with a great game. Makes you wonder why Muir didn’t feature him more last year?

4) I think that the games of the week are Bishop Amat vs. Dominguez, Upland vs. Glendora and South Hills vs .Ayala . All are worth the price of admission and tapes of those games will be sent out by our service to colleges next week.

5) I think that anyone that saw college football on TV last weekend saw some great performances by former area football stars. Here is a rundown of some of the top performances:

a) Will Harris (USC – Charter Oak) – Started at free safety and had two tackles in their win over San Jose State. Also getting into the game for SC were former So. Hills DB Justin Hart and former Damien standout Ryan McMahon. Ray Rodriguez of Los Altos also recorded a tackle in the game for San Jose St.

b) Walter Thurmond (Oregon – West Covina) – Former CIF Player of the Year had seven solo tackles and 2 assisted tackles in Oregon’s loss to Boise St.

c) Mike Harris (Duarte – UCLA), Sean Sheller (Walnut, UCLA), Sheldon Price (Bishop Amat, UCLA). Yes, these guys performed very well for the area in their win over San Diego State. Price recorded a tackle while Harris started on the offensive line. Former Amat standout Jonathan Soto also recorded a tackle for San Diego State.

d) Dorian Wells (Villanova – South Hills) – The 2007 Tribune Player of the Year had a nice night in his first collegiate game for the Wildcats. He had three catches for 42 yards and one carries for 25 yards in leading Villanova to a 27-24 win over Temple last Thursday night.

e) Jonathan Cornell (Mississippi, Bishop Amat) – Jonathan had two tackles and played significant minutes in Ole Miss’ route of Memphis.

f) Kyle Petersen (UTEP, South Hills) – Had several touchbacks and recorded one solo tackle the Miners loss to Buffalo at home last week.

g) Jovon Williams (Arizona State, Charter Oak) – Recorded one catch for 13 yards in ASU’s victory over Idaho State.

h) Michael Diaz (Arizona, Schurr) – I have to give this kid some love. Coached him when he was at Schurr; he is now the starting left guard for the Wildcats and did a great job in their win over Central Michigan. The UA coaching staff just loves the kid.

i) Brian Holly (California, Diamond Ranch) – Had one carry for 5 yards in Cal’s 52-13 win over Maryland .

j) Terrance Davis (Fresno State, Diamond Ranch) – Had one tackle in Fresno St.’s 51-0 win over UC Davis.

Have a great week!

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