Final three ready for the Final Four – La Habra, La Mirada and La Serna all at home for the semifinals

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It will be home sweet home for the area’s final three when they play in next week’s CIF-Southern Section divisional semifinals. All three area teams — La Habra in the Southwest and La Mirada and La Serna in the Southeast — will be at home in their respective final fours.
La Habra, seeking its fifth division title and seventh overall, will host El Toro. It should be noted that Highlanders also received a break if it advances to the final, because their expected chief challenger – No. 1 Villa Park, was upset in the quarters, losing 35-7 to Tustin.
La Mirada, back in the semifinals after a year hiatus, host No. 1 West Covina, with La Serna, back in the semifinals for the second consecutive season, hosts Muir, which has outscored its first two playoff opponents, 87-7, including beating Del Rio League champ Santa Fe, 39-7, in the first round.
Who gets in? And what should be our feature game? I’m heavily leaning toward West Covina at La Mirada.
Here’s next Friday’s schedule:
Southeast Division
West Covina (11-1) at La Mirada (8-4)
Muir (8-4) at La Serna (9-3)
Southwest Division
El Toro (11-1) at La Habra (9-3)
All games are tentatively scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

  • Watcher

    Just like a st.paul affiliate to choke in the playoffs haha! See ya villa park! Cif title no way!

  • GetReady

    Who are your readers/subscribers and who responds to your blogs (“Hits” drive in the advertisers) will be the game that is featured. We get it Steve, don’t insult us as if there’s a choice here.

  • Steely Don

    I agree with you, Steve; the La Mirada-West Covina game should be the featured matchup. It’s obvious that when it gets down to crunch time like this, the teams with bigger, more physical lines hold sway. These two teams have those kind of trenchmen.

    But I’d be interested to hear why you wouldn’t choose the Muir-La Serna game; do you feel that Muir will be too much for the Lancers? At this point, I sure wouldn’t bet against the Mustangs, and I know Aram is a recent convert as well…

  • steve

    In Div. 1, 3 out of the four football teams are public schools in the semis, what happen to private schools dominance over public? I remember some people inundating these blogs with the notion, only private schools will be competing in major sports very soon, public schools sport are disappearing. Plus those coaches (private) will be receiving high salaries and they will not be teachers at the school but unambiguous of the institution, a lot of hot air, lol.

  • Steely Don

    You do realize, don’t you Steve, that those three public schools remaining in the division one playoffs are ALL from the newest, most affluenct section of South Orange County, don’t you? San Clemente, Mission Viejo and Tesoro have new facilities, money, and the sons of well-to-do parents providing all that’s needed.

    Three times, Brian Barnes (the head Tesoro coach) has been given a pink slip, and EACH TIME, the well-heeled boosters have stepped forward to say they would pay his salary to have him stay, if he were not rehired. Call me crazy, but I can’t see this happening in too many places outside of the wealthy enclave known as South County.

  • Online Fan

    Are you guys kidding me?? I would more rather see La Serna vs Muir, because I just like the will and heart of the La Serna kids! Last night was a great game! But I know they are completely outmatched against Muir and I hate homer talk. So it shouldn’t be them, I’m a realist. But not the La Mirada vs West Covina game!!! La Mirada totally pulled off a huge upset, Arcadia was a great team that led the entire game and if Carr didn’t try to thread the needle on that 3rd and goal they would of kicked a field goal and won easily in overtime! Just a bad decision by the QB.. But people that know football know that La Mirada doesn’t have any business playing on the same field as West Covina and that will show on Friday night in a blowout! As for La Serna if they don’t score points they will be blown out too! The only LA team to win this Friday night will be La Habra, that’s where the featured game should go, whether people like it or not. Or else it’s gonna be ridiculous like it was this morning in the paper when a losing area team was featured like Whittier Christian and they got hammered and gets the front cover and inside shot in the paper (not deserving) if it’s La Mirada or La Serna that’s exactly what will happen! The winning team should get the featured story not the losing one, like after that game last night La Serna should of been featured instead of a couple sentences about the game, what a joke! A team with a great win gets a paragraph and a losing one gets a huge write up and pictures.. everyone knew they couldn’t compete with teams like monrovia!

  • steve

    What about an old, been there, and here forever LB Poly, who have been extraordinary for more than a 100 years? Huntington Beach, Edison and so on are very old. Long Beach Wilson has more wins in football success history than SP, Amat, and Damien who recruit and dont play kids just from their neighborhoods.
    Back in the early days San Pedro area that is much older than anywhere around, it was a Port that would receive immigrates from NYs Elis Island (being designated as the site of the first Federal immigration station by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890) still beats top Mater Dei year in and year out when MD will play them, lately MD has chosen to play Corona and are beat more times than not.
    I do understand the enrollment thing with additional new familys with a lot more young kids. My point however is the perception that if a kid wants to play good football he has to go to a private school (I would add they will get notice, if the kid has the goods, eyes are everywhere) to be seen by college recruits, not the actuality.

  • la mirada guy

    @online fan.
    I get that your a La Serna fan. But why hate La Mirada so much. Is it our 31-0 shellacking of La Serna that’s driving your vitriol? Of course we are rooting for LS to win, we would rather face LS than Muir if we win. Arcadia did not have the lead THE ENTIRE GAME. La Mirada had a 10 point lead against Arcadia and was driving the ball when a receiver fumbled the ball on our 33. Arcadia then threw a 15 yard pass that went for 65 yard td. Again LM was driving the ball down the field when a RB fumbled on our 32. Arcadia then drove down the field to take a 14-10 lead.. Arcadia then had 3rd td in the 2nd quarter, with LM missing a field goal with seconds left in the half. Arcadia opened up the 2nd half with a TD to take a 28-10 lead. Arcadia could not stop us offensively, with 3 2nd half touchdowns. We only punted 2 times the whole game. Yes Carr threw multiple int’s , but we had something do with that. Arcadia is a tough, fast well coached team. But they couldn’t stop our offense. LM only punted 2 times the whole game. Doesn’t sound like we were outmatched now does it. I know that W. Covina is a geat team, but we face very good teams before. Should be interesing.

  • Steely Don

    @ Steve: When Derrick Williams got taken number 2 in the NBA draft, it seemed to reaffirm your idea that it doesn’t matter where you play, because there are “eyes everywhere.”

    What I’ve come to realize, however, is that this applies mainly to the few TOP stars. There are far, far more average-to-good athletes out there whose chances of getting offered are 50-50. For this large group of kids, being on a winning team at a known school will tangibly help to get them that offer, and this is why certain public schools are preferred destinations for such kids. This explains the sporting excellence of places like LB Poly, Los Alamitos, Edison, etc.

    But if we’re going to be honest here, we have to admit that around 75% of all public schools are NOT COMPETITIVE with these few exceptional public schools, nor with most of the private schools. It would be fun to actually run the numbers and compare wins and loses among all the various places, but you and I have been around long enough to know intuitively that this is true.

    By the way, one largely undiscussed advantage enjoyed by the private schools is the simple fact that because parents are forking over big bucks for their kid to attend these places, they are far more likely to push the kid to excel. When schooling is viewed as ‘free’, well, the parental monitoring can get a little lax.

    I wanted to expand a bit on what you said regarding the Mission Viejo – Santa Margarita area public schools. I have seen these places personally, and I can tell you that they are modern, state-of-the-art facilities. I have no doubt that they attract top teachers, and as I have said, there is no lack of funding from the well-heeled boosters. So these schools are doing well not just because of higher enrollment, it’s also because they are virtually the equal of private schools.

  • steve

    @ Steely Don, Do you know how much history (public schools) Muir has locally, even internationally for that matter. The public schools in Pasadena ensure a great authentication of football, and any other sport, even science, and technology. I mean the great antiquity in all, and its still going on, how old do you think Pasadena is? You have to think beyond the box young man, those entire things you mention are great but kids have to have real talent, Derrick Williams is a small example unless thats your anchor in a larger representation of private public schools.
    Through your belief I think is, what you are saying most kids (a few top kids, man there numerous top kids from Cali) that go to Servite etc. will only receive offers, but they (Servite etc.) dont receive sports offers, 98% dont, across the board at private schools. Listen do the numbers, and dont change your original alleged thought. What /.dude.. preferred destinations for such kids. (Is BS), you, this explains the sporting excellence of places like LB Poly, Los Alamitos, Edison, etc.,. dude those schools would be 20 thousand strong in enrollments if that were true, many public school kids are filling college campuses across the globe, did you just start attending High School football games and have a unconsciousness with the whole thing?
    Ps. I am out, good night.

  • Online Fan

    @ la mirada guy, they couldn’t stop your offense and you only punted 2 times – you must of said that like 20 times but forgot to say that Arcadia forced 2 fumbles and recovered both of them! So that means you punted twice and lost two fumbles I think that equals 4 times you got stopped..!! And to bring up that lost La Serna had against you, doesn’t mean crap and you want to start giving excuses we had three rezone turnovers that resulted into 21 points for you so what if that didn’t happen?! The paper even said the score didn’t show how the game really played out! We played our worst game of the season against and you played your best (besides when you routed john glenn haha) mayfair even said that we we tougher than you and our offense was better! Tell me this homer, if Arcadia would of kicked a field goal to tie it, do you think you would of beat them in overtime?? Be honest! So if you think that you belong on the same field as west covina you will see just like UCLA saw tonight how they don’t belong in the pac 12 championship!!! I bet your a UCLA fan! haha It’s gonna be a blowout that’s all I’m saying so a winning team should be featured! I’m not gonna lie either it’s gonna take a miracle to beat Muir with 5 D1 prospects, but if we did shock the world we would want for you to pull a shocker too, because we would love to play you again!! And just so you know we can’t wait till next year! When we graduate 2 starters on both sides of the ball.. good luck lol

  • Bitter Arcadia Fan

    Online delusional Arcadia fan…I am sorry that you are so bitter in the whipping that you just took. I have never seen a team get dominated in the trenches like that game. Monrovias defense got beat up. No other way to put it!!! La Mirada lined up buckled up their chin straps in the second half and ran it right up the gut. Over and over again!! Arcadia new it was coming and they couldn’t stop it. It was like a slow moving train demolishing everything in its way. 4-5 yards a pop every time. It had to be so demoralizing. I have never seen anything like it. Why was Arcadia throwing the ball when they were up 28-10? Because they couldn’t run it!!!! Online delusional Arcadia Fan…..take your whipping like a man and come back stronger next year. Oh, how many seniors does La Mirada lose??? Once you figure that out you will realize…..bend over because here it comes again!!!! Choo Choo!!!!!

  • 6power

    Online Fan,

    Some facts. Your statement:
    “Arcadia was a great team that led the entire game and if Carr didn’t try to thread the needle on that 3rd and goal they would of kicked a field goal and won easily in overtime! Just a bad decision by the QB.”

    Arcadia had to play catch up. La Mirada owned the 1st quarter 10 -0.

    Prior to the INT, Carr threw two fade routes into opposite corners of the end zone, both were well thrown, but the LM secondary prevented either completion.

    The pick to end the game was the result of defensive positioning – not necessarily a poor throw.

    Their is no such thing as an automatic high school field goal.

    The truth is this was an outstanding football game that could have gone either way…and La Mirada knows this. Arcadia’s reliance on the pass and inability to run the football in crucial situations hurt them. The Apaches are a top notch football team.

    It will take an even greater effort to defeat West Covina. A smart dude would take the odds and go with WestCo. Say what you will, the LM kids are playing great football right now.