Thats a joke and a cheap way to get the Amat bloggers back on this dead blog.
No Amat, no blog.
West Covina has no class. Amat will NEVER beat another team by that many points, because it make no sense and is classless on the highest level.
I LOST ALL RESPECT FOR WEST COVINA FOOTBALL!
On the field, Amat would not lose to West Covina….What a joke!

I watched it and WeCo had their starters in all the way in to the 4th qtr. NO CLASS!

Quite simply, Bishop Amat was not an elite team this year. No way, no how. Jalen Moore is certainly one of the better players around, but even he didn’t get the ball enough in their biggest games. 15 carries against Loyola? 5 carries against Santa Margarita? To me, I look at what Amat does and there is not a single thing they do that makes you say, ‘Wow.’ They are a solid team, but by no means an elite team.

Meanwhile, I look at West Covina and they do something that makes you say, ‘Wow.’ They run the football better than any team in the Valley. They do it without smoke and mirrors. It is very much ‘This is what we do, you’re not going to stop it.’

The argument for years has been that Amat is an ‘elite’ team compared to those within the Valley. The truth is they are consistently amongst the top teams, but to enter every year and regardless of result say that they are the best is a disservice to them and to the other teams in the area. That is why I’d agree with Steve. Amat is not an ‘elite’ team this year. Thus, I look at a couple area teams and have no doubts they could not only compete, but beat, the Lancers. West Covina and Charter Oak among them. A team like Monrovia would also cause problems.

TDro, you covered West Covina against Loyola, did West Covina make you say, “wow.” … Let’s not bring up injuries either, Bishop Amat played most of the year with key guys injured..

Fred, don’t bring up injuries..you just did.

“Just when I thought I was out they keep dragging me back in” GF3 for those of you who know the Movie. We walked away from the blog our football season is over but now here come another Amat comparison. Don’t compare Amat if you think Amat is not a a elite team??..Steve as slow as you are, how long did that take you to state those nine words and how long did it take you to write them down. WC plays a whole different area of Football. This comparison hinges on what? a WC team that ran up 80 some points on the Whittier Redskins Jr. Midget team of La Serna. WC went against a Serra team Loyola and look what happened to them. The running backs of WC granted are good not taking anything away from them but they are not going against Pac 5 teams like Amat does in league. True we are not a elite team in the Pac 5 but Amat is whole different animal when it comes to going head to head with the other SGV teams. You want hits for your blog that’s fine but go get them another way. Steve go Christmas shopping your stretching it here.

Yeah, Freddy. Covered West Covina-Loyola. Let’s not talk about the injuries to their starting QB, starting WR, reigning Trib PoY, AND senior RB Jimmy Frazier… Fair.
I don’t think there is a single team in the Valley that can play with a PAC-5 team minus their starting QB, starting WR, starting RB, reigning Trib POY (RB and S, Solomon)… West Covina-Loyola would be a much betetr game late in the year. Loyola beat Amat w/ Rio Ruiz going down early. I understood the difficulty in trying to win a game w/o their starting QB. Imagine them having to play that game w/o Jalen Moore, Zachary Shay, and Adam Sanchez.
Not making excuses for West Covina. Here is where it’s at in my mind: West Covina is a better team late in the year than Bishop Amat. It coincided with Chris Solomon getting back to full strength as well as getting a number of other guys healthy. Amat went through the season 6-5, including giving away a game against a sub-par Sherman Oaks Notre Dame team. To me, that doesn’t indicate they are the same ‘elite’ team as in year’s past. Make all the claims you’d like, but the truth of the matter is nobody should be beating their chests after a 6-5 season. I don’t care if you played LSU, Alabama, and Arkansas… You are what your record says you are. Nowhere does 6-5 say Amat is an ‘elite’ team. Does this mean West Covina is better? Not necessarily. Does it mean West Covina can’t compete with Amat? Not at all. If Amat’s standards really are so low that a 6-5 season is a success then that does not bode well for SGV football. A successful Amat makes the SGV that much better. 6-5 is not a success.

@tDro, No one is saying that Amat is a elite team and we are beating our chest with a 6-5 season. I am saying that West Covina would not beat Bishop Amat this year, not last year or even in a few years. Go ahead and say what you want, but we all know the truth.
It would be like Tyson vs PacMan. Fun to watch, but you know what would happen.
Im done with this thread.
84 points…smh

Depends on how you define elite, elite in terms of Division 1 football, no way, not close yet. You’re right about that. Elite in the San Gabriel Valley? Absolutely, they haven’t lost to an SGV team for more than 10 years. BTW, who was the last SGV team to beat Amat, anybody know? When Charter Oak and South Hills left the Miramonte and Southeast, I knew this would happen to them too. By playing in a tough league, tough schedule and not doing anything in the playoffs, they look ordinary compared to West Covina, Monrovia and Rio Hondo Prep. Truth is, Charter Oak might have beaten West Covina in the title game, and South Hills beat Monrovia. When Charter Oak and South Hills were pushed out of the Southeast by area athletic directors and principals, it never sat right with me. If you want to beat Charter Oak, then beat them in the playoffs on the field, don’t send them away to make it easier. Don’t vote them out, win a title, then declare yourself better, which is what a lot of bloggers love to do. Look, I would have taken West Covina over Charter Oak this year, but area principals and ADs wanted to lighten up the division, so Friday you got what you got, a completely mismatched championship game.

tDro,

i challenge you to go somewhere and find someone who wrote Amat was “elite”. i’m not sure I’ve read that anywhere. maybe you could point it out. i also have yet to read an Amat blogger on a regional blog proclaiming Pac5 superiority. fortunately, the Amat FAMILY is smarter than that.

Just like the OC bloggers from El Toro, Tustin, la habra, and the like are saavy enough not to claim to be betterr than the non-playoff aorange alutheran or Mater Dei. For some reason, they know better…and for some reason in the Fish Bowl, we do not understand.

But this is an SGV blog and comparisons are made bewteen SGV teams and “polls” or your lists compa school to each other. NOT to other teams in their division. I see no other Pac5 schools in our year end polls, so it’s difficult to understand why that is part of the converstion when discussing how ieams compare *in the valley*.

I pointed out on Arams blog the cannibilism that really eats away at the SGV’s perspective. Don’t want to cut n paste…go there and respond if you care to. But essentially, the SGV schools feel pretty good about recent championships. Championships that may largely due to the removal of schools like El Dorado, Trabuco Hills, Lompoc, Nordhoff, Morro Bay, Paraclete, Torrance and Orange that are no longer in your way to send you home early? True…or not?

Now that schools can “feel good” about winning a championship, it’s a bit easier to take a shot against someone in e higher division who is not. But when they face Amat head-to-head…it seems to always turn out the same. Then we hear, “…I know we played them LAST year…but if we played them THIS year…”

I absolutely respect your opinion Joe. The ‘elite’ tag comes from Amat’s belief that they are untouchable within the SGV. That’s my argument. They are not the ‘elite’ of the SGV this year. That is based entirely on me watching them play this year. That is not to say they aren’t one of the top teams in the SGV this year because they are. But, an ‘elite’ team with a fanbase that buys into that believes that Amat is untouchable within the SGV. They point to year’s past as proof. To me, that means little. From what I saw on the field THIS year, Amat is not the best team in the Valley. You can certainly make the argument that they’d beat West Covina or Charter Oak, but the fact that no one can engage even in a discussion of such a matter based on Amat’s “history” is what I think is wrong. Tell me, how did Amat stand out this year? On the field, what did they do that showed they are the ‘elite’ team in the SGV that nobody can hang with? To me? Nothing.

Or try this one, is there a team in the Valley that would have beat Loyola, Alemany, Santa Margarita, Notre Dame or Servite?

Fred,

You brought it up because yet again you’re still stunned when somebody says something that we all know COULD be true — West Covina COULD beat Amat. Charter Oak WOULD beat Amat. You even said that yourself. Monrovia WOULD run with Amat.

After all, Amat is starting two South Hills kids on defense and a Los Altos kid. Meanwhile, WestCo is starting an Amat kid at linebacker (Turner). If you took West Covina’s starting defense and moved them to Amat, guess what, more than half of the Amat kids would be losing their starting jobs.

Meaders, Castro, Henderson, Barnett, Solomon, Ojala, Turner ALL would be starters at Amat.

Do the same with CO’s skill guys. Santiago starting at Amat? What about Gilchrist, Bobo and Vaughns? Moore is the only guy who would be keeping his starting job if you took the CO skill guys and moved them to Amat and that would be with Scoby getting some time behind him.

Sorry, but that’s how it is. Amat is no different at the line of scrimmage than the teams I named. And skill player-wise, they’re either even, slightly ahead or slightly behind.

Now personally, I think West Covina would be in a little trouble against Amat because West Covina couldn’t pass. And you cannot be one dimensional against upper-division teams.

I know, I know, time for Fred and Amat people to go back to talking about the past. Someday you will all admit that there are years other Valley teams can beat Amat. And some years they can’t. Maybe we’ll find that out next year in Week 3 … or maybe not. But it’s not far fetched enough for Fred to make an entire blog post out of it. That’s for sure.

Aram…

You really think Santiago is better than Rio, against the good teams, Santiago had bad games, against bad teams Santiago lit up the sky…Rio against the best teams, Servite, Crespi, Santa Margarita…played his best, and kept Amat hopeful. He was a warrior against SM coming off the injury and being gone for 3 weeks. Harry Welch complimented him saying he was the best QB they had faced all year, Troy Thomas stated the same that to beat Amat you had to contain Rio…and we all know how Crespi feels about Rio, Rio was the only QB to beat them in back to back years and at Crespi…Not Rio’s fault his numbers are not huge because Hagerty has no offensive skills and no flow. When Salter had to take over the defense, that left Hagerty running the offense and he misused Rio…one of the best athletes in the Valley in many years…basically it looks like he tried to show case Jalen this year, when he should have been show casing Rio and all the recievers Amat had…But if you switch Rio and Santiago I think Rio gives CO a better chance at winning, because Rio performed best against the best teams true D1 corners and LB and coaches who have won at the highest levels…Too Bad Rio had Hagerty for his coach

charter oak secondary looked very weak against Upland. Amat secondary faced top receivers all year. solomon from west co would start anywhere. montes,blue,daniels,ruiz ,alcantara are very good players.montes is getting many D1 offers. Rio would get offers also if he wasnt a major league prospect.daniels,blue and alcantara are juniors.blue and daniels are being scouted also. it is highschool football.any team in the top 5 in this area can beat each other. Amat did lose alot of games but,we all know if Rio did not get hurt they would of beat notre dame and loyola. Amat is just used to playing tougher teams,that would be the deciding factor. charter oak will get alot better in the future because now they are playing tougher teams .

The wording of the quote is the problem, you could say “West Covina could beat Amat this year”, as anything is possible. Yet, to say that they “would” is making a claim that is for sure. Now the problem with comparing these teams is that they didn’t play the same level of competition, oustside of Loyola and La Mirada. If Amat had the schedule of West Co, Amat would be ub the same position as West Co. But, if West Co played Amats schedule would they be in the same position as Amat. Would West Co have been able to hang with Santa Magarita till late in the fourth qtr, or be down 28-14 near the end of the 3rd qtr against Servite? We really don’t know since they dont play. To say how much better West co players looked or that they would be starting at Amat is another Fallacy. Also I am not taking nothing from West Co players, but what I’m saying is you can’t make those comparisons since they dont play the same level of competition. How many second string Amat players have gone to other school and ended up looking like studs? I wonder why? It easier for a man to walk through the kiddie pool with ease, but if you take that same man and put him in 4 feet of water he will not walk as fast. I hope you get the point.
As for Charter Oak, are they even in the equation any more after the way they got obliterated by Upland. Amat at least gave a battle to Servite and Santa margarita who are ranked higher than Upland.
Also Congratulations to West Co and M-town on their CIF titles. Even through all the smack talking we are all proud of you guys.

Actually Amat kids are from all over the SGV. Nobody is saying that the kids at Amat have something innately special about them. The difference is that they are used to playing tougher competition. That doesn’t mean kids from other schools wouldn’t be able to go to Amat and do the same thing.

TDro makes some great points, where this discussion takes a wrong turn is when posters on here act as if there would be no chance that a WC or a CO could beat Amat this year. As if it were silly that the discussion should even happen.
Is Amat amongst the best in the SGV? Every Year! Are they number one head to head in the SGV for this year? Maybe! Are they elite over the rest of the SGV this year? Not unless you consider WC and CO elite also. The only way to know, year by year is for the teams to play.
People smirk when we say we are better now than when we played Amat, would you not agree that West Co in 2010/2011 is a better team
than the years we played Amat? With heavy injuries we still played a tough game vs Amat in 09, the score was 14 to 7 into the 4th quarter. We had six brand new players in that game because of the 4 starters that were hurt.
How would that game have turned out if we were healthy? Who knows. All I know is teams used to get around the corners on us, or once they got thru the first level it was off to the races, in other word we didn’t handle speed very well, but that is not the case anymore, not with Solomom, or Frazier, or Barnett, or Henderson, or Vilches, or Turner, or Ojala,or Salgado roaming in the back seven. Our defense could close on the ball, much quicker these past two years. The lines we had last year and after the midpoint of this year were by far the best at WC in this decade. Solomon and Frazier this year probably the two best backs I’ve seen at WC, and they were in the same backfield. Would we beat Amat? I don’t know, I didn’t get a chance to see them this year, and I respect the tough brand of ball at Amat, till we beat a good Pac 5 team on the field all I can say is I would have liked our chances.

Like I said The Tribune, just dropped a thread on realignment. We Should move this conversation over to that thread…Guess what league and what team is being discussed as a possibly receive their walking papers out of the pac 5. You guessed it…the Serra and Bishop Amat. Slow your role before you poke your eye out with the that toothpick you call a lancer. I am officially putting Joe Amat on Suicide watch for the 2012 season. If bishop has another year like this one, it could be Div IV for you. Did you hear what Big Bob said…Bishop Amat was on life support before SM game this year, and next year’s team is going to be far less talented and maybe smaller than this years team. Santa Margarita is just another “New Team” in the Pac 5 to win a title and they sliced through Bishop to do it.

Don’t question about Steve on anything, because he is right about everything, right, Steve?

Whittier just got its ass handed to them in a record defeat. Someone’s gotta try and take the shame away.

The title of the thread CLEARLY states THIS YEAR.
But again, all references to BA’s wins over valley teams were yesteryear. Why is that? When did BA play Glendora 04-05 And the same for Charter Oak? And in one win did Bishop Amat only beat Glendora by 7? By seven is the same reference as someone posted as being Tyson over Pacman? So Tyson wining only by a split decision would be something to brag about? Seriously?

Did West Covina brag about beating Los Altos LAST YEAR? No.
In the years that BA was beating Glendora, West Covina, and South Hills those were not ( with the exception of WesCo’s visit to the semis one year ) exactly BANNER years for those teams. But still it lists those wins right on top of BA’s resume.

Did BA play Charter Oak OR West Covina the years that the were winning championships? No.
So BA can claim for all intent and purposes ( and does ) to be the king of the fish-bowl.

But then again, would it not be easy to stay king if you don’t play other teams when those other teams are at THEIR best?

Hence Steves’s observation that West Covina would have beat BA “THIS YEAR”. I saw both teams play THIS YEAR and would agree in a heartbeat. Bishop Amat had NOTHING on West Covina THIS YEAR.

I know…West Covina is not Pac 5 so they couldn’t have won……

And Joey, you say that you were not impressed by West Covina. I’m a BA fan and I can seriously say the same for my views on BA this year. But I WAS impressed by West Covina.

I find it hilarious that BA does not want to be defined by their score against Servite but want to define West Covina by their score against Loyola. And West Covina played that game without many key players. What was BA’s reason again?

Just my observation. Sorry if you don’t agree.

Colt 74

Agreed. I saw two games of each team. Not impressed with BA but WC fired on all cylinders this year. BA was just a team in that fish bowl and what did they really prove this year?

The talent pool is spreading around the SGV now and BA isn’t the team they think they are.

It would have been interesting to see WC vs. BA or Co. Ask Damien is they thought BA was all that? Not impressive at all.

I took in the VM/CC game, and that was impressive and loaded with huge talent.

Guys like Joe will always think they are king of the fish bowl.. He’s one guy with an opinion even if its distorated some. Who really cares?

How about we switch leagues in “fantasy land” for a quick second.

West Covina, Monrovia and who ever else plays Bishop Amat’s scheduel for two years.

Forget that, too much thinking for bloggers to do.

Dan jump in any time. Let’s take last year because LAST YEAR WC was even STRONGER with a senior QB and Solomon completely healthy.

Still with me boys and girls…lol

Does Hagerty and the Lancers almost choke in a rematch against Bonita?

Case closed.

Bishop Amat Can’t be hands down better than everyone else. Lets look

Bishop Amat was tied 7-7 with Damien at the Half, won the game 28-7

Charter Oak was leading 28-7 at the half and Went on to win 41-28

Bishop Amat Was Help to 3 pts by loyola
West Covina Scored a TD, however they were missing key players which hurt them on O and D.

Bishop Scored 49 on LM
West Co Scored 60

This is how it breaks down…If WC plays Bishop in weeks 0-7, they lose. Too many injuries, Same Results as the loyola game. If Bishop Plays WC in weeks 7-14, West Covina wins. Factor Rio’s injury, Shay, losing a lineman etc. The Level that West Covina was playing at towards the end of the year leads me to believe they could win that game by a TD. The way Bishop played Against SM leads me to believe that they would lose. Here’s why, SM’s line is the best in Pac 5, West Covina’s line is the Best in SGV. Stanton, Whoplin the RB for SM are great players, they put up 344 yrd Rushing against BA. Chris Solomon is a better back than he is, Then you have Frazier, and Salgado to deal with.

I say if Bishop doesnt struggle with Garfield, Doesn’t get blown by Servite(Anyone can do that, and La Habra nearly beat them), If they don’t lose to Alemany at home, If they Beat loyola and don’t get held to 3 pts at home, Then yeah I would say they are the hands down best team. This inconsistent play leaves the door open for the discussion of BA losing. If you look back at the year before last, when Bishop Lost to Tesoro at home, that team was the best in the valley. They look strong, fast, and had some size. They just lost a tough game. This years team looked smaller slower, and couldn’t block anyone. With Players like Meaders, McCarthy, Marona along with the other good players who play with them, it would have been interesting. The scores would not be much higher than the Damien score if they won. Here’s the deal, Bishop only blew out two teams, Cathedral, and La Mirada. Those teams are nothing like West Covina, Charter Oak, and Monrovia, Especially if they teams are both playing their best football. I ask Bishop Fans, What game this season represents their best football?

My Friend, thanks for dropping some knowledge to those who don’t understand

Colt74 (one who I thinjk does)

Nowhere have I ever written that I wasn’t impressed with West Covina. Quite the contrary, and when I posted the “Joe Amat Power Ranking” (based on who would beat the teams below them, as evaluated by how they played at the end of the season) this is exactly what ai wrote:
1. Bishop Amat 2. West Covina
(this could be a much better game than either of the 2 during Amat’s last sweep of the Bulldogs)
3. Charter Oak
4. Chino Hills
5. Damien
6. Covina
7. Glendora
8. Claremont
9. South Hills
10. Bonita
11. Los altos
12. San Dimas
13. Ayala
14. Pomona
15. Arroyo
That looks like I was fairly impressed with WC, wouldn’t you say?

Now for all those who say, “I saw Amat and wasn’t impressed” maybe if you saw them against La Mirada and Cathedral…or essentially the top level of competition in the Southeast and MidValley, you would think different. To use a line Colt74 used earlier this season, the only thing that stopped Moore from getting more yards was the end zone! Kinda like Solomon and.Frazier in the finals.

How would Amat have “looked” if they had 10 La Miradas and Cathedrals on their schedule?

Joe,
The first part of my post was directed more to other posters not you, I know you and 73 have conceded in the past that Amat could lose in some of these games, although in your case I can imagine you crossing your fingers behind your back as your conceding. LOL.
The question still lingers, is West Covina better these last two years than when they played Amat? I think the answer is definately yes. With that said, it does brings into the equation that results could be different if the teams played in 10 or 11. Especially considering the tough game the second time around in 09 with an injured WC team. Why wouldn’t a better & healthy WC team have a solid chance in 10 and 11?
My Pal Joey [Frank], funny you should mention that Pac 5 took their foot off the gas, truth is Loyola had their starting line in for pretty much the whole game, they substituted linemen at times during the game but would bring the starters back in, the starters on the line finished the game[at the same positions they started at]. They did take out their key skill players [Chas Anderson, Cody Whitefield, The QB] but the back ups are pretty good, and when you keep the starting line in there is not a big drop off. I’ll admit Loyola probably ran a vanilla game, but with no Solomon or Frazier
West Covina stuck to 4 or 5 plays all night, Loyola was stacking the box and teeing off on the inside or off tackle runs.
One other thing, instead of taking a knee in the last 40 seconds of the game Loyola tried to run it in from inside the 10 on two or three plays. Our crowd cheered when WC held at the 1 yard line as time ran out on them. We thought that was pretty crappy on the Cubs part. Mater Dei in 06 pretty much played their starters most of the game, they subbed to give guy’s rest but again the starters would return. Amat in 09 did not take their foot off the gas at all, because the close game warranted it. So pretty much the only times the Pac 5 would take their foot off the gas was in the blowout games such as Amat in 08, Mater Dei in 07.
Sorry our crappy WC offense offends you so much, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The blocking at West Covina is base, angle and zone type of blocking, our coaches mix it up. They’re good at keeping opponents off balance. For the most part it’s no different than what they use in other run heavy offense’s, do you hate the other offense’s too? Our coaches have gotten so good with this system, and the timing of their play calling that when you combine that with backs that have the skill set of a Solomon or Frazier, well big plays were just bound to happen. They happened with frequency over here at WC but not as much as with Solomon or Frazier. Personally I like big runs just like I like big passes, both get the crowd excited and cause for an electric atmosphere, believe it or not we had them both over here at WC.
Do you really think removing CO and SH resulted in our Championship in 2010? Suprising statement coming from you, I know you know better. We could have put 50/60 on South hills last year if we don’t take out the starters at the beginning of the 4th, it was 42 to 14 at that point. CO struggled in overtime to beat the same S. Hills team. Do you really believe we would have not had a 50/50 or so chance to beat them this year?
The way the team came together the last 3 or 4 games we certainly did.
One other thing, you once criticized the line blocking skills of the linemen in these offenses.
Come on over to a West Covina practice and watch our coaches coach these linemen up close, I think you would have a different perspective at least with the linemen coming out of West Covina, just ask Albert Cid, who started just a couple months after he arrived at UCLA this past season. He was pretty much handling anyone that lined up in front of him.

Coaches comments are always great in these discussions, and they know more than we do. Remember, Damien coach Greg Gano played both Charter Oak and Bishop Amat, and he told us in November he would take Amat head-to-head. And remember what La Mirada coach Mike Moschetti said after facing La Habra and Bishop Amat.

“We just got overwhelmed. Those two teams (St. Paul and La Habra) aren’t Bishop Amat. It’s not even close. — Mike Moschetti..

Who is on Damien’s schedule next year?

Ridiculous to say WestCo ran up the score. The LS players did everything in their power NOT to stop the Bulldogs.

I couldn’t believe the atrocious defense I was watching out there.

It was almost as bad as my beloved St. John Bosco Braves in the 4th quarter of every game this season…..ok well maybe not THAT bad.

What Joe…you don’t want to drive out to Corona for a playoff game…oh no that’s not it, you don’t want to drive to St Bonaventure but you’ll happily do a one game matchup. You vaunted Pac-5 allows what half the teams to play to enter the dance…sorry but this isn’t the NFL where your quality of play is high because you have the best talent period.

If you really want to be the best…you need the best teams in the division…so if you want it to go 32-teams for the playoffs…fine, but you better get the best teams in there.

There are 29 teams in the PAC-5 basically the Southeast with 28 teams…that means more than 50% of your teams are in the playoffs…so yes winning the Mid-Valley is harder because less teams make the playoffs.

Northern has 30 teams. Inland has 26…if you see where I’m going with this is that your sample is freakin’ small for supposedly the best teams in the section. The PAC-5 is not the NFL where everyone is already good and the team that wins is just downright NASTY. Wider samples gets you better results…it’s called statistics, I’m pretty sure an educated man like yourself took that course.

Sorry Dan, you have me confused with someone else. I said I was still proud of West co and M-town even through all the trash talking. MY argument was on Steve’s wording not the argument itself. Steve said they WOULD beat Amat this year, he makes a definite statement. I disagree and say they COULD of beaten Amat. Of course this is possible and I think West Co is the only team in the SGV that would be able to stand up to Amat. Do I still pick Amat over all, Yes!

Frank,
I did not confuse you, my post was to “My pal Joey” who is another Frank, sorry for the confusion. I actually agree with your post. I have no problem if you pick Amat over WC, just as long as people acknowlege that WC had a legit shot against the big boys these past couple years.

WCs schedule is incomparable to BAs.

WC got dismantled by Loyola, squeaked by Covina, South Hills and Glendora.

One reason why WC looks so good this year is because traditional powers SH & LA aint what they used to be.

My money is on team with 10 year win streak in SGV.

Quiz: what is last SGV public school to hand BA a loss?

Jonesey – how about the same coach that beat us at Damien!

You know what attracts parents of prospective student athletes…TITLES!

Hey Steve…Huh…NO!

Dan have you answered the question yet? Or has any one else? How about Steve, Aram or Fred?

Would Bishop Amat have almost choked away a CIF Championship in the rematch with Bonita last year when WC was at full strength at QB and Solomon was as healthy as a horse?

To say WC was one “drop down” INT from losing isn’t “staining” any one’s accomplishments Dan, it’s a historical fact. Just as SH has suffered from being pushed up and CO would have given you guys fits is also pretty fair conclusions based on historical facts.

I hear the nonsense about La Serna and I’m reminded of UNLV blowing out Duke, it happens and only makes Podley’s coaching adjustments worthy of COY honors last year “over” Coach who at best should have “shared” the honor.

Consider if you will that Bonita had an alsmot 40 point improvement from the last game, kind of unheard of in coaching circles don’t you agree?

You know me and if I say something time usually is on my side that I’m right in the lonnnnnnnnng run. My question to you since we’re matching up teams that are never going to play is this:

Would “either” WC team beat “either” CO Championship team. That’s a fair question for one reason, both played the same level of competition and both have D1 level athletes on the field.

To say WC handles Pac 5 level coaching in league and to say CO survives Pac 5 level “bull’s eye on your back” scrutiny is a question I feel comfortable addressing for one reason “I’ve been there done that”.

I know Aram loves to say I mention Salesian all the time but I that’s where Coach Rollison (Mater Dei CIF and National Championships), Ruedalflores (Alhambra), Aguirre (Carson City Championship) made their bones playing Bishop Amat’s “current” schedule. And in all honesty they were all better when we played them along with Banning, Pius X, Carson). Well every one but Alemany who we beat 28-0 ! (Have I mentioned that before? LOL)

Dan in football at every single level the numbers are about the same, 100 yards rushing, 300 yards passing, 13 sacks in a season and so forth. Watching 50 plus runs over and over and over again just tells me it’s a system mismatch.

Dan you’ve always been a great fan of WC from players to coaches, this isn’t a slam just one opinion of many to come I’m sure. At least in my case, and in Joe Amat’s, you know both of us aren’t afraid to say what we honestly believe.

Congrats to Coach M, when I spoke to him last year he seems like a great guy to play for and the results are self evident, just like Bishop Amat’s vs SGV record.

Funny but that “expert” at Glendora must have missed Coach P beating the Lancers almost 10 years ago! I was there, Coach P was pretty FN good that night.

My Pal Joey,
Could you be looking at this thru the wrong glasses? I noticed and respect your football knowledge the day I met you at a WC practice, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get things wrong once in a great while.
I disagree with you on your WC choking in the Title game last year. Maybe the real choking happened in the first game that Bonita and WC played in league, or could it be that Bonita was missing a few key players [Cody McKenzie, Zack Brungard + one more starter that I can't recall, I thought it was Reggie Turner], add to that a rusty Pendleton [who was picked a few times in the first game] and a rusty Taraz Lemons, both of them just returning from being injured for most of the season leading up to that point.
Fast forward to the Championship game and now you got a healthy and pissed off Bonita team with revenge on their mind who showed up to play the second time around. You got a Healthy Cody McKenzie, a healthy Zack B. + Turner, along with Garret Pendleton at qb, and Taraz Lemons on the lines who are both back to game speed compared to being rusty and out of shape. Could that possibly have had some bearing on the staggering difference of the two games? I think so, maybe more so than it being a choke job by the WC staff.
Maybe Coach M. earned that coach of the year honor for the daunting task of beating a team as talented as Bonita twice in the same season? You know the old truth… It’s hard to beat the same team twice in a season… that goes double when the team was as well coached and talented and motivated as Bonita was. Could coach have earned his stripes for huddling up and pulling together in the 4th qtr a team that should have fell apart after a disastrous 3rd qtr, where they fumbled the first series, and then had two straight consecutive kickoffs in which the ball took a bounce off the chestpads of our return team? Those events kept the Bulldog offense off the field for three straight series, just about the entire third quarter, while at the same time allowed three straight scoring opportunities to Bonita. Compared to the numerous and unlikely Bulldog mishaps in the third qtr, the dropped knee level pick looks minuscule in comparison, most likely the game should have never come to that. Could coach have earned his stripes that year for instilling enough toughness and heart into these boys to only allow Bonita to score 9 points on those 3 turnovers when they had all the momentum, Then to turn it around in clutch time and score on every series when they finally did get the ball back in the 4th qtr.
Was that title game the result of the WC staff choking or was it more like Bonita coming fully healthy and fired up and with revenge on their mind, combined with a disaster in the third quarter?
To answer your question of would Amat choke in this game, how do we know Bonita wasn’t good enough to beat Amat even without Amat choking? That was a very good Bonita team. Big physical line, Great QB, along with being one of the most athletic teams in the SGV.
Strongly disagree with CO giving us fits last year. Maybe this year but not last year, they just weren’t very good in 2010, WC wins that title with or without CO in the division. I don’t go by history I go by players, As for this year I agree, you have an argument.
On your question of Would West Co in their Title years beat CO in their Title years? I think 2010, 2011 West Co Beats 2009 CO. I think 2008 CO would edge out both WC teams. As for 2009 CO they had the best back 7 in the valley but they had a weak run defense we put up 300 yards on the ground on them but fumbled on 4 drives where we were moving the ball well. At least two of those fumbles were mishandled balls.
2008 CO had the bookends on defense and could stop the run, plus the had all those D1 studs at the skill positions.

Mount Union takes on Wisconsin-Whitewater in the DIII Championship at 4 on ESPN2. I’m sure after seeing how they look against each other you’ll all agree that they must be able to defeat UCLA, who was only 6-7 this year in the Pac 12.

Of course you could always flip to ESPN at 5 and watch the D1AA semis and see Montana vs Sam Houston, who is 13-0 and clearly should be facing LSU ahead of 1 loss Alabama, because after all – it’s all about the record.

Dan as always a great analysis. I respect your analysis with CO vs WC. Great points, all well thought out and for sure the players determine the outcome so this conversation is really what the blog should be about, careful analysis supported by information and insight.

My daughter used to tell me it’s not what you say it’s “how” you say itso maybe “choke” is a bad word, my apologies. Must be my competitive nature getting the best of me. I have to remind myself that this isn’t that kind of forum, lol.

As far as Coach M winning COY over Podley I’ll defend that until the day I die for one reason, the man was coaching in such pain most individuals would have been in a wheel chair, lol.

Dan so who wins it this year? Coach M clearly had a playoff run for the ages, does he go back to back?

As I said when I saw your practices a few years ago, lots off violence, lots of talent and lots of fun. Seems all that was missing in the WC program was player discipline as every year it seemed that one star or another had off the field issues if memory serves me.

Dan I think COY awards are difficult to give. Gano at Damien is my first choice by far but that’s because I know what he has to over come and how difficult his task is and how well he handles things.A few years ago it was Hagerty with out a doubt but like Coach M a CO Championship seemed to dazzle some more that turning that Lancer ship around on a dime.

Just for the record, Podley did an even greater job this year! LOL Fortunate for us we have a few great coaches to admire in spite of drive by knuckleheads.

Hope to see you at the All Star practices

My Pal Loey,
No doubt Podly is a great coach, I have no problem with Co coaches of the year between him and Maggiore for that great show they put on in the finals, but no doubt M. has to be there, after all he brought a title to WC, and he did beat a dynamic coach twice in a season.
This year three come to mind Dale Ziola, Jude Oliva, and Maggiore… Ziola because of that great turn around he had over at L.A., At this time last year who would have thought Los Altos would go from 0 and 10, and only two wins in the last three years to making it within six yards of a semi finals appearance. What a drastic change of atmosphere there must be in that program.
Jude Oliva at San Gabriel has got those kids playing over their heads. Someone forgot to tell these 5’4″, and 5’5″ 140/155 pound kids [literally some of their starters are that big] that they are not supposed to cover that good and come up and hit that hard, let alone stay even with a bigger and faster Monrovia team for the first half of the Championship game. As impressive as Monrovia was in the second half of that game I came away as impressed with the heart and tenacity that this swarming San Gabriel team showed in the first half. In the end Monrovia proved to much and Marquise Bias wore them down, but those SG boys left it all on the field.
Maggiore should get consideration for the great job he did in keeping his kids focused from the start of last years off season workouts to week 14 of this year, in the wake of all the hype WC got over the summer and during the season. These kids were every bit as intense and focused in practice week 14 as they were the week before their first game. No sign at all of late season burnout. In addition to the back to back titles WC just won One thing people forget is that with the exception of one returning starter, Maggiore had to replace the entire offensive line from last years team. The improvement from game one at Covina on through the season was drastic. It was incredible to watch these boys move people out of the way during the playoffs.

Who do you think had the more memorable championship experience, the teams playing here http://t.co/9A4REZx5 , Home Depot Center, or the ones at CalHi?

My pal Joey,
I think most kids we get are from Cortez park, but also a few come in from Covina and BP, JAA leagues. No pipeline that I know of but I think that kids in the area know that they will get a great chance to feature their running skills over at West Covina. Coach Tello is the RB coach at WC, good man and always nice talking with him. Looking at the results of the past few years I think he deserves a shout out.
As far as coaches being clueless on how to stop this offense some of the same coaches were getting good at it a few years back, When WC won CIF in 2004 we struggled in the same wing T offense in several games, our defense carried us through the season. In 2006 we even went to the spread offense, one reason is we had a lot of speed that year but another reason I was told was that the coaches in league were getting good at stopping the wing offense we ran. Loosing 2/3 of our speed threats that year The spread didn’t work out to well and we ended up going back to the wing t. In these last two years we were blessed with our best lines in a long time, along with probably the two best runningbacks we’ve had here, I think that is the big difference.
I missed the time warner show, I know Sondheimer is an OC homer but he is probably right on this, Helix is an SD powerhouse and the right choice, if we don’t lose to Loyola so badly then we may have had an argument.

Out of touch? I just asked a question. Maybe you’re out of touch and blinded because of what you want the answer to be. I never said anyone shouldn’t be proud of their team or accomplishments – just WHO do YOU think would have a BETTER memory at the end of the day? BETTER?
be honest.

So were RHPs titles at the District any less special…spade’s a spade and you’re a jackwagon.

Left side of the spectrum…no, because you’re not worried about the material reasons: you made it to the championship with your teammates, you did something not everyone gets to do.

Right side of the spectrum, yes: playing in Angels stadium or the Home Depot center or Dallas Cowboys Stadium where you feel that because you got to play there it means something.

So it depends on your values, to me, Cal High just wasn’t that nice of a stage, they could have done Ken Gunn again or even better CSUF. However, to me, I’d at least would have like for there to have been a good surface to play on.

Aaron and Dan – I think a little Southeast inferiority complex might have kicked in the defense mechanism. The venue doesn’t make the “accomplishment” any better – just a different (more memorable?) experience. Same way you’re apt to remember the Prom more than a dance in your HS gym – even if your date was the same. Maybe it’s more a knock at CIF (La Serna) for not ensuring all kids have those memories, not just those in the better divisions. In states like Texas and Florida all divisions are played on the same field. Of course, I guess they don’t have 14 divisions to think about either.

My Pal Joey,
Congrats on your son’s graduation, I think I read somewhere he is going to Stanford, if so wow what a feeling to be a Cardinal, should be some fun years coming up.
Your right about Solomon, good humble kid, nice to talk to… That Diamond Ranch team of 08 was star studded, their best team in their school history, only problem with them that year was Charter Oak had what was probably their best team ever too. We were missing two stud cornerbacks, Jabril Pearson and Daunte Webb along with Maurice Dupleasis at linebacker for that Diamond Ranch game, it would not have mattered, they still would have beat us, despite Webb being a big threat on offense, but it would have been a closer game because those corners would have helped keep the speedy DR backs from getting around the corner of our defense, which is how they killed us.
As for WC’s outlook next year it looks good, judging by the season they had this year Aaron Salgado FB/OLB, Bradly Ojala LB/TE, Muleke Henderson CB, Justin Hornsby DE, Raul Gomez C, Aaron Franklin WR/FS, all could be among the best in the area at their positions next year if they continue in the manner they did this year.
A couple others that could be very good too if they work in the offseason are Adam Romero and Tony Carcamo, both should team up with Hornsby to give us a very good defensive line. Jimmy Escoto, Ryan Crosby, John Najera, Christian Dorado, Sean Underwood, are solid juniors who had some significant playing time this year.
Some talented sophomores who had some playing time this season and should be good in the next two years if they put in some hard work are Sidney Jones, Deshon Love, Joshua Best, David Ford at the skill positions and Chris Fernandez and Bryson Finley on the line. We also have a couple of freshmen who went up to varsity in the late season, who could make an impact as soon as next year, they are Antonio Hull at qb/skill position and Eric Quevado who is a lineman that is 6’3″ 220 pounds as a freshman.
What do I think we learn playing Mater Dei, Amat, or Loyola? I think being exposed to Pac 5 talent like that would benefit our kids greatly come post season. Gives our kids an idea what they could be in for later on in league and playoffs when they come up against a good, well coached team full of athletes. A kid that goes up a whole game against a Loyola lineman, may learn that his first step needs to get quicker, or maybe his pad level lower. If an Amat runningback gets around the corner on our OLB then he may learn to get a better pursuit angle, or if a guard from Mater Dei keeps getting to our inside linebacker, maybe he learns to shed blocks quicker the next time around. A DB who gets burned by a speedy reciever may learn that next time he needs to give more cusion as the reciever is approaching him. I can’t help but think they benefit from games like that, even in losing, as long as we don’t get to injured. So far the injury’s have been few against the big boys. In 06 we lost Demon Wallace to an ankle sprain on the last play of the game, and in 08 we lost Jessie Ili against Amat with a high ankle sprain, other then that we fared well against those teams.