Palomares/Hacienda Notebook: After five nonleague games, there is no clarity as it pertains to the Hacienda and Palomares league championship races.
Fans usually have a better idea of who should be favored at this point in the season with so much data available from the first five games of the season. But that’s far from the case as league play in the Hacienda and Palomares kicks off this week.
“I think going into it, you just can’t say who’s the favorite,” Glendora head coach Jerry Lewallen said of the Palomares. “You know high school football, each week is going to be so exciting and anybody can beat anybody. In my mind, there’s several deserving teams going into it.”

Palomares League Predictions
1. Glendora (4-1) — Best defense with the best quarterback equals the league title.
2. Ayala (4-1) — Damien win was an eye opener and so was the blowout over Diamond Ranch.
3. Bonita (4-1) — They have the blueprint to beat San Dimas but third is they best they do in this league.
4. Claremont (4-1) — They best Salesian, crushed a decent Covina team and its only loss is to respectable El Rancho. They could be the sleeper in all this.
4. Diamond Bar (3-2) — With a quaterback like Tyler Peterson and a back like Antonio “Noodles” Hull they should better, but they aren’t.
5. South Hills (1-4) — This was supposed to be their “relief” year but when you lose games 61-0, 44-0 and 37-0 I don’t care how tough your schedule is, you stopped competing.

Hacienda League Predictions
1. Charter Oak (2-3) – Not the heavy favorite it use to be, but still the favorite in my eyes.
2. West Covina (3-2) — Might not be the conventional pick at No. 2, but love how they’ve blown out teams they’re supposed to blow out.
3. Diamond Ranch (4-1) — Their preseason resume, with a win over El Rancho and a tough loss to Ayala suggests they’re good enough to win this league. But I’m not buying.
4. Los Altos (2-3) — Close losses to San Dimas, Monrovia and Glendora. Feeling the same happens against the three teams I have ranked ahead. Los Altos may not like it, but fourth is where it will finish.
5. Chino (3-2) — They don’t lose points for losing to St. Francis, but they do for losing to Don Lugo.
6. Walnut (2-3) – Beating Baldwin Park was a nice way to finish non-league, but if I’m right, it’s also their last win of the season.