By Aram Tolegian
New South Hills High School football coach Matt Bechtel isn’t wasting any time as he tries to return the Huskies to Southland prominence.
Bechtel has loaded his coaching staff with a mix of holdovers from last year, including former head coach Albert Rodriguez. He’s also made the entire defensive coaching staff be comprised of coaches from Chino Hills, where Bechtel was head coach the past three years.
And then there’s the weight room, which Bechtel has made his project to be what he calls a “Division 1 weight room.”
“There does need to be a culture change here,” Bechtel said. “I say that because the group of kids here now don’t remember that South Hills won nine league titles in the 2000s. They don’t remember there were four CIF titles in the 2000s. For kids today, that seems like forever ago.”
The Huskies went 4-7 last season, making the playoffs because they were competitive in the Palomares League after a rugged nonleague schedule. In 2014, South Hills won the league championship, so Bechtel didn’t exactly inherit a downtrodden situation.
But compared to the powerhouse teams under former head coach Steve Bogan, the recent product hasn’t been up to historical standards. Bechtel, with his offensive flare and ability to develop quarterbacks, looks like the perfect hire to light things up.
South Hills will have four quarterbacks competing for the starting job when spring practice next week. Bechtel said that incoming freshman Khalil Ali, a youth football standout, is going to be in that mix and looks headed toward a bright future.
Then there’s the hopeful arrival of Jonathan Vaughns, who is the latest edition to lineage of Vaughns brothers who have starred at local schools. The most recent being Tyler Vaughns, who played at Bishop Amat and is headed to USC as a receiver.
Bechtel is uncertain whether the youngest Vaughns will be attending South Hills, but thinks there’s a good chance. If he does, then South Hills has arguably the top freshman class around. And that comes on top of a frosh team last year that went 9-1 and the one before it that when 8-2.

Here’s the prize everyone in the Valley wants. What’s interesting is that you think he would naturally follow his brother Tyler Vaughns, who just finished a stellar career at Bishop Amat. But word is Amat is probably not in the plans. If he doesn’t go to South Hills, St. John Bosco is a more likely landing spot. — Fred Robledo