By Aram Tolegian, SGVN

Chino Hills High School will honor the Wounded Warrior Project on Friday night by wearing black jerseys with camouflage numbers and Wounded Warrior patches in the football season opener against Arlington.

Instead of having the players’ names on the back of the jerseys, the names of wounded warriors from the area will take their places. Each player will learn some information about the name of the wounded warrior they are representing in the game.

Kickoff is 7 p.m.

“I just felt it was a good cause for our kids to do something for the community,” Huskies coach Derek Bub said. “It opens our kids’ eyes to the outside world and it’s our little thanks to those who sacrifice their health to give us the opportunity to play this game.”

The Wounded Warrior Project aims to raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service members, according to the project’s website. A portion of game proceeds will be donated to the project.

“I know it’s a good cause,” Bub said. “My brother-in-law is an officer in the Navy and through some conversations with him he just told me what a great foundation it is.”

The Huskies enter the season with high expectations. Much of them have to do with the arrival of new quarterback Matt Simko, who transferred from Colony during the offseason.

Simko’s coach at Colony, Matt Bechtel, now is offensive coordinator at Chino Hills. Simko is blessed with having one of the top receivers in the are to throw to in Boise State-bound senior Jack Austin.

Medrano ready for debut

New Bonita head coach Adrian Medrano will get his baptism by fire on Thursday at Citrus College in the Smudge Pot game against rival San Dimas.

The rookie head coach has been starting to feel the pressure this week thanks to modern technology.

“I’m getting phone calls and text messages from people I’ve never met before,” Medrano said. “I’m getting emails left and right from people.

“Obviously, it’s a pretty big deal for the community. A lot of people are excited about it and I’m pretty excited about it, too.”

Medrano will preach calm this week in practice because the last thing his team needs is to lose its focus when preparing for a difficult offense like San Dimas’ Wing-Z, Zernickow’s variation of the Wing-T.

Bonita and San Dimas exchanged films from their scrimmages Friday. After watching the Saints scrimmage Diamond Ranch, Medrano knows his defense had better be on its best behavior.

“They were pretty vanilla in that scrimmage, but Zernickow is going to come out with a few twists,” Medrano said. “He’s a great coach and gives opposing teams a headache with those things.”

West Covina’s Najera a game-time decision

West Covina quarterback Jon Najera missed Monday’s practice and is expected to sit out today as well because of a knee injury suffered in Friday’s scrimmage against Claremont.

Bulldogs head coach Mike Maggiore said Najera, a senior, will be a game-time decision on Friday night when West Covina opens its season in front of the FOX Sports cameras against Covina at Covina District Field.

Najera beat out sophomore Antonio “Noodles” Hull for the starting job after a prolonged battle this spring and summer. Hull would start on Friday if Najera can’t go.

“We have to see how it feels,” Maggiore said. “We’ll know a lot more on Wednesday. We’re not going to push something like that at this point in the season.

“He’s gotten a lot more range of motion in the last 48 hours, so I think he’ll be fine.”

Najera is scheduled to have an MRI next week to determine if there is a meniscus tear. The injury is more bad luck for Najera, who started last year’s season opener against Covina only to leave the game early with an injury and never reclaim his starting job from then-senior Chris Caballero.

Two-Minute Drill: Aram and I weigh in on Servite visiting Kiefer Stadium on Friday night to take on Bishop Amat at 7 p.m.

Amat-Servite 2011 Rewind: Tom Kiss’ highlights from Servite’s 49-14 whipping over Amat last year.

Two-Minute Drill: Aram and I discuss this week’s big question mark game, Arroyo visiting Los Altos on Friday at 7;30 p.m.

Two-Minute Drill: Aram and I weigh in on the Smudge Pot, Bonita vs. San Dimas, Thursday night, 7 p.m., Citrus college

Coming: Bishop Amat-Servite (Tuesday); Los Altos-Arroyo (Tuesday); Covina-West Covina (Wednesday)

Smudge Pot 2011 Rewind: Check out Tom Kiss’ highlights of Bonita’s 2011 win over San Dimas in the Smudge

For the second straight year Aram and I will go head-to-head in Tribskin Pick’em throughout the season for our annual dinner bet. Aram won by one stinking game last season and I want payback. That’s right, football is finally here with this week’s picks.
Last Week: Robledo (0-0); Tolegian (0-0).
Season: Tolegian (0-0); Tolegian (0-0).

Check out San Dimas’ new football field from Friday’s scrimmage vs. Diamond Ranch

This week: Week 0 is the easiest to screw up because there are so many uncertainties and unknowns, but as usual, we get most of these right. Thursday’s Smudge Pot is a toss-up, but after losing two straight and returning seven starters on defense and an offense that usually figures ways to score, I like San Dimas to reclaim the trophy over Bonita in a close game Thursday. Fox Sports West is airing West Covina-Covina live on Friday, which is great for only one team, West Covina, who I like by three touchdowns and wouldn’t be surprised if they’re up three at halftime. Bishop Amat is usually good for at least one step-up win per season, but not this week against Servite. Not only did Servite smoke Amat last year, if you watched it wasn’t that close. There are changes to both personnel, but seriously, how much difference could a year make? Take Servite. Arroyo and Los Altos might be the most interesting. I always thought if you take QB Steven Rivera away from Arroyo the Knights are a 2-8 or 3-7 team. You’ll find out why I thought that on Friday, take Los Altos. There were many other tough calls, like Rowland over Nogales, Colony over South Hills, Ayala over Diamond Bar and Northview over Ontario, but hey, it’s the first week, lets see how you do? I’ll post Aram’s picks this afternoon.

Thursday’s game
San Dimas at Bonita, 7 p.m. — Robledo (San Dimas); Tolegian (Bonita)
Friday’s games
Servite at Bishop Amat, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Servite); Tolegian (Servite)
West Covina vs. Covina at Covina District, 7:30 p.m. – Robledo (WCovina); Tolegian (WestCo)
Alhambra at Mountain View, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Alhambra); Tolegian (Mountain View)
Arlington at Chino Hills, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Chino Hills); Tolegian (Chino Hills)
Arroyo at Los Altos, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Los Altos); Tolegian (Arroyo)
Ayala at Diamond Bar, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Ayala); Tolegian (Ayala)
Baldwin Park at El Monte, 7 p.m. — Robledo (El Monte); Tolegian (El Monte)
Bassett at Keppel, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Bassett); Tolegian (Bassett)
Diamond Ranch vs. Chino at Ganesha 7 p.m. — Robledo (DRanch); Tolegian (Chino)
Duarte at Marshall, 4 p.m. — Robledo (Duarte); Tolegian (Duarte)
Ganesha at Montclair, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Montclair); Tolegian (Ganesha)
Garey at Pomona, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Pomona); Tolegian (Pomona)
Great Oak at Claremont, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Great Oak); Tolegian (Great Oak)
Northview vs. Ontario at Chaffey — Robledo (Northview); Tolegian (Northview)
Notre Dame vs. Workman at La Puente, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Notre Dame); Tolegian (ND)
Rowland at Nogales, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Rowland); Tolegian (Nogales)
Salesian at Sierra Vista, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Salesian); Tolegian (Salesian)
South Hills at Colony — Robledo (Colony); Tolegian (South Hills)
Walnut at Don Lugo, 7 p.m. — Robledo (Don Lugo); Tolegian (Don Lugo)
Bosco Tech at Wilson, 7 p.m. — Robledo (BTech); Tolegian (Bosco)

Prep Football Contest: The SGVN is running a high school pick’em contest with selected games from the Pasadena Star-News, Whittier Daily News and SGV Tribune. Steve Ramirez, Aram Tolegian, Eric Terrazas, Keith Lair and myself will also pick so you can compare your picks with ours and keep a running total at the end of the season. Sign-on and enjoy

Our Guest: I ran into Kurt Scoby on a weekend vacation and told him no way St. Paul beats Amat in a few weeks. He laughed it off and guaranteed St. Paul is back. We’ll discuss it this week.

When: Every Tuesday and Friday night
Time: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Where: Any of the SGVN prep sports blogs.
Guests: St. Paul head coach Elijah Asante and RB Kurt Scoby.