SGV All-Star football game shaping up for Jan. 27 game at West Covina

arroyo1
By Aram Tolegian, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
After losing the past two installments of the East-West SGV All-Star Game, the East team is bent on getting back on the winning side of a ledger it dominated for so long. And a major weapon may help them do just that.
It’s still unofficial, but East coach Eric Martinez of Diamond Ranch is hoping to secure the services of Oregon-bound Rancho Cucamonga running back Jaylon Redd, who told Martinez he’d like to play and will be on the East’s first roster.
Both the East and West teams have had initial meetings and will hold their first practice on Wednesday night. The East will practice at Diamond Ranch at 7 p.m. while the West, coached by Pete Gonzalez, will practice at Montebello at 6 p.m.

Rosters are still a fluid situation at this point for the Jan. 27 game, which will take place at West Covina High. Many players will deflect while some will decide they want to take part. A case in point is La Cañada’s Drake Beasley, who was originally thought to be playing for the West, will now not participate in the game as he focuses on recruiting after missing his entire senior season when his transfer from Loyola to La Cañada was deemed to be in violation of CIF rules.

Nonetheless, the West should have plenty of firepower. St. Francis quarterback Michael Bonds headlines the West offense and he’s got Knights teammate running back Jace Harrick to hand the ball to. Gonzalez is still waiting to see if La Salle running back Amon Milliner is going to play.

The East is loaded as usual. If Redd plays, things get even better for Martinez’s team, which is already expected to have the services of running back Kevin Thomas (Northview) and Jarrell Sykes (San Dimas).

“Since it’s an all-star game, I’m going to try and spread out the ball as much as I can and try to get these guys more film if they need it,” Martinez said. “Hopefully, everyone can play a significant amount of time. That’s my goal.”

The East’s receiving corps also looks loaded with Northview’s Antwaun Ayers, Damien’s Brandon Birchifeld and Diamond Ranch’s Trey Green all signed on to play.

If the East actually does have the talent it expects to have, that doesn’t mean things will be easy. As you might expect, Gonzalez is building a solid defense for the West. The Bishop Amat tandem of Nick DiFiori and Alec Sanchez is expected to play.

Monrovia’s Elijah Hall and Muir’s Darren Myers are expected to headline the West secondary. CIF champion Arroyo will help the cause with receiver/defensive back Yezdan Marquez, linebacker Cesario Carrillo and lineman Rey Garcia all in the mix.

Game organizer Mike Maggiore tweaked the boundaries of the player pool two years ago to help make the series more competitive after the East dominated for years. Now, the West has won the last two meetings.

“I want to win,” Martinez said. “Especially now that I know we haven’t won in two years. So yeah, I’m going to tell the kids and try to get them a little fired up and make it more entertaining for us and the fans.”

Facebook Twitter Plusone Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Tumblr Email