Since last week’s Bishop Amat 2-1 victory over South Hills in front of more than 1,200 folks under the lights at Mt. San Antonio College, some interesting things have happened. South Hills and Northview have agreed to meet on a Friday night next year, as well as Bishop Amat and South Hills meeting again, and we hear their could be more nonleague “mega matchups” under the lights next season. And there’s more, Bonita and Northview are teaming together to create a San Gabriel Valley tournament at the beginning of the season, one that could match the best teams of the SGV with several of the best from the Inland Empire. They’re hoping for a quality 32 team tournament with several commits already. Locally, South Hills, Damien, Bonita, Northview, Los Altos and Covina are in. Redlands East Valley, Yucaipa, Rancho Cucamonga and Los Osos are committed from the IE. This has all the making of something great, with organizers hoping first-round games could match SGV teams against I.E. teams so we could keep a count of how the two areas perform against each other. It’s a wonderful idea, and a great way to start the year. Team interested in participating (hint, hint Bishop Amat) should contact John Knott at Bonita or Darren Murphy at Northview.

On a side note: Yes, this tournament is scheduled the same week as the Glendora tournament, which obviously will affect it now that Northview, Bonita, Alta Loma as well as Bishop Amat will not attend. Sort of a good news, bad news, I know, but I like the idea of a huge area tournament.