The second week of the winter playoffs has arrived and we still have a lot going on; BTW, L.A. Times' Eric Sondheimer and I have a bet on Bonita-Pasadena, check it out

Bonita basketball better go far this year in CIF, with all those
seniors that they have...because the next few years they are going to struggle. Their lower basketball teams have no talent and are not very good, Walnut and Los Al should be on top...

Ya know whats crazy - Charter Oak could beat Yorba Linda. While fred complains about Bishop Amat finishing low in league and having a chance to win the division, CO just being IN the playoffs is an embarrassment - but now it wouldn't be shocking for them to be in te semis!

Fred, you should make the 200 mile each way trek with Damien up to Arroyo Grande. You can spend part of the day in Santa Barbara then drive the hour more north to see the Spartans haha.

Colt Fan, you're not hanging with Bosco.

Bosco is beating you by a minimum of 20.

When all sports are taken into consideration and not just football for league realignments everyone will be better off.

Someone that comments on here regularly says it when I talk to him in person. Bonita is a school with a football team not a football school.

While the mighty but small Bearcats were competing on the grid-iron in the early 2000s...the water polo program had a dynasty winning five CIF titles in a row. 2001-2005. A friend of mine would have had four rings had they gotten past I think it was the semi-finals in 2006.

The reasons Bonita is in the Hacienda and not the Sierra League are because of its enrollment and football. Bonita and Los Altos are the smaller schools in the league and they still manage to compete and do well. Bonita does dominate basketball and water polo, but that's not the case in baseball, wrestling, track, tennis, and most importantly football.

The reason why Bonita doesn't belong in the Sierra League in football is pretty simple. They play with players from La Verne and some Pomona kids who choose Bonita over Pomona or Garey for educational value and a better environment. Charter Oak and South Hills have traditionally been known to get kids from out of their areas as is pretty obvious when Aram asked where they're new QB will be coming from? Damien, a private school, also gets kids from multiple areas while Chino Hills has a much higher enrollment. The logical choice would be to move West Covina to the Sierra League, but that would make it tougher for the rest of the sports where WC is pretty anemic other than football and wrestling.

I agree with the others and I'll say that Coach Eckler does a heck of a job with what he has. The same could be said for Coach Knott although baseball is probably Bonita's strongest major sport when it comes to the caliber athlete it gets. Podley did a tremendous job during his tenure as Bonita's head football coach. Let's see how the football program does with Medrano at the helm and Podley taking a much lesser role as OC.

sgvpride - Bonita is successful because the athletes they have work hard and play multiple sports. Don't punish those athletes by moving them into a league with schools that have a higher enrollment and more athletes to choose from. Bonita has 5 football players on the basketball team. West Covina doesn't have one. Bonita is right were they should be in the Hacienda League. They are winning because of the hard work of their multiple sport athletes and that should not be punished.

How is it possible that West Covina was only 4-18/0-12? 3000 students and you can't get a win against Diamond Bar, Los Altos, Rowland, and the like? San Dimas finishes with 3 wins on the year? Why?

Its not just the basketball team. All other sports at West Covina minus football finish pretty close to last in the league. Back to Bonita and basketball, only Walnut and Rowland can realistacly compete with Bonita in basketball right now. I don't see anyone else doing it anytime soon. I do know for the most part Bonita sports does pretty well for itself. Like I said how come the Sierra League isn't a option? They dominate even with a small enrollment.

West Covina is among the most underachieving basketball programs in the valley! San Dimas might run a close second. How can schools that are that successful in other sports and/or have that high an enrollment not develop a few basketball players to compete at a higher level.

sgvpride - Bonita's enrollment is 1,950. Other schools in the Hacienda have higher enrollment. West Covina is over 3,000. How do you figure they do not belong in the Hacienda League?

Bonita should really be in the SL. They just dominate the Hacienda League and the players compared to the rest of the league is not even comparable. So yes they do win league titles but they are doing it in a league that they should be winning a league title in. If they continue to stay in the Hacienda then they better be winning league titles every year. And talking about Talent wise all levels on Bonita have way more talent than any other school in the Hacienda.

Edgewood has produced Steve Bogan and Mike Maggoire... Don't know what brillant football minds Bonita has produced lately... Easy on the Edgewood insults...

James...go back to Crespi. And Fred, if you didn't you didn't have readers keeping you honest you might just cover Edgewood all year...whoops.

In regards to other sources. I don't subscribe to the Bonita Pawprint...but the paper has stepped its game up in the last two years...leaps and bounds from when I was on staff.

Fred - Aaron always comes up with comments that make you question his sanity... I wouldn't worry about it. This is a guy who told me that Bonita would beat Servite in football. That in itself made LMAO!!!!!

A quick scan looks like all Bohi winter teams are still in the hunt deep in the playoffs. Must be LV water. Great job bearcats.

the comment on eckler is on the money, even the bigs he gets sometimes are not real players, gotta go way back to zlstra or another miller for that size and skill, bonita overachives every year, with no transfers, no hold backs, just neighborhood lv kids...

Just an observation but has anyone noticed that year after year, BONITA boys basketball overachieves it's way into the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs? With all due respect to the players, their parents and the hard work they put in, it's time to recognize the talent of their coach Greg Eckler. He has never really had a player taller than 6'7" and only a few of those. He seldom has anything other than little, white guys and yet every year, his team ends up winning the league title and advancing in the playoffs. I'm no expert here but his record seems clear. If I was a college and needed to turn around my program, I don't see how you could ignore due consideration of Coach Eckler. Congrats to the Bearcats and their remarkable coach.

I really don't care what Aaron says, but he loves me, that's why he's always on the blog. Where else is he going to go for Bonita coverage? Covina fan, I'll be at your game on Tuesday. Miguel "Miggy" Melendez will be at Pasadena-Bonita, that's his big game and we get it too...More coverage for everyone...Aram is at Glendora and John Nut and Honel Honell will either be at Charter Oak or Bishop Amat, haven't decided yet....Damien's on the road, we'll track Dunn down on that one.

arron- easy dude on the Fred slam, the stock footage is a look at past and present, it got CJ Miller(2010 all league) and James Northrup(2010/11 league MVP, CIF and all that) plus the now Garrett Horine should be all everything too.
Fred- the bearcats are with you on the bet...

Matchups didn't really favor Bonita against Brea Olinda either.

BTW Fred...you really suck with your stock footage, that's from a girls game which I can tell by the Jerseys but also because Garrett Horine is sitting there.

Step your game up or go back to scrubville.

I see you Johnny cupcakes!!!! Way to represent!!!!

Fred,

If you haven't planned on coming to the Covina game on Tuesday you must be crazy. This Covina team is one of the best teams in Covina history. They have a ton of great players and are lead by Mike Peters "The Real MVP" word is that Francis got the league MVP. But anyways, the Colts are having an amazing season, League title, 21 wins, quarter finals in a tough division and you might think I'm crazy but can hang around with Bosco because of their size and Peters. I think you have to give a lot of thought into Coach Bissman for Coach of the Year award. He's doing something that a Covina team has probably never done since the days of Doc Sooter.

Haha Bonita is not beating PHS...Haha are you crazy!!!

PHS 68 Bonita 52