La Mirada coach Mike Moschetti said last year is ancient history, and his Mats proved it with an impressive win over Tesoro. Elsewhere, La Habra and Montebello had some big-time losses.
Here’s what the area did:

FEATURED GAME
DIAMOND BAR 48, MONTEBELLO 14
MONTEBELLO >> The first week of the football season is usually not the time for a statement game.
But what Diamond Bar High School did on Friday night likely opened a few eyes throughout the Valley.
Tyler Peterson passed for 162 yards and accounted for four touchdowns to lead Diamond Bar to a 48-14 victory over host Montebello.
Isaiah Thompson rushed for 72 yards and score and Antonio “Noodles” Hull returned a punt 62 yards for another to lead the Brahmas, who gained 422 yards.
Angel Hernandez threw for 102 yards and two touchdowns to lead Montebello.

TOP FIVE HOW THEY FARED
Ralston Valley (Colo.) 47, No. 1 La Serna 24 (Thursday) — The post-Frankie Football era was lukewarm, with QB Enrique Pacheco looking decent, but the defense, especially against the run needs to improve
El Toro 51, No. 2 La Habra 35 —The Highlanders have handled the Chargers in recent years. But not tonight.
No. 3 La Mirada 26, Tesoro 23 — An impressive win for the Mats, who got 281 yards passing from Santa Fe transfer Christian Lara. Last year’s struggles are a distant memory
No. 4 El Rancho 46, Claremont 24 — An impressive win by the Dons. Should they be the Del Rio League favorite?
No. 5 California 28, Gahr 26 — A good win for the Condors.

OTHER SCORES
Bonita 37, Schurr 20
St. Paul 62, Firebaugh 0
St. Joseph/Santa Maria 42, Santa Fe 20
Sonora 41, Whittier 15
Whittier Chr. 33, Bishop 15

La Serna High QB Enrique Pacheco (#6) breaks a tackle in the first quarter vs Ralston Valley (Colorado) at Whittier College Stadium August 28, 2014. (Photo by Leo Jarzomb/Whittier Daily News)

By Stephen Ramirez
@steverramirez on Twitter

WHITTIER >> The post-Frankie Palmer era for the La Serna High School football program will definitely be a work in progress.
Ralston Valley, of Colorado, showed how much the Lancers will need to improve on if they expect to match last season’s run to the CIF-Southern Section Southeast Division title.
Andrew Wingard rushed for 186 yards and four touchdowns as the visiting Mustangs rolled to a 47-24 victory over La Serna in the teams’ season opener at Whittier College.
Wingard also had two interceptions and a 99-yard kickoff return. The latter broke La Serna’s back and gave Ralston Valley a 34-17 lead with 10:38 left in the fourth quarter.

HIGH SCHOOL SCOREBOARD

Welcome to the inaugural SGVN all-encompassing girls volleyball top ten poll. For the first time, we’re ranking teams from the Whittier Daily News, Pasadena Star-News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune coverage areas to create a more prestigious and tougher-to-crack, girls volleyball top ten poll from our core readership at SGVN. With social media bringing us all closer together, we thought we’d share coverage beyond print boundaries to give you a more comprehensive feel of the San Gabriel Valley and Whittier. Keith Lair will update his rankings each week on the blogs, websites and newspapers.

Above: Emily Develle, left, Kayla Lund, and Sophia Coffey, are team members of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy Girls Volleyball team Friday, August 22, 2014. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News)

By Keith Lair, Staff Reporter
It will be difficult for San Gabriel Valley and Whittier volleyball teams to top 2013.
La Salle and Whittier Christian high schools won CIF-Southern Section championships. Mayfield played
Whittier Christian for the 2A title. Flintridge Sacred Heart and St. Paul both went to the semifinals, the Tologs losing to eventual champion La Salle. Two other teams made it to the quarterfinals.
This season, however, could be just as successful. There are a lot of returning starters for the area’s top teams, but there are challenges: four of the teams in the Top 10 move up a division.

1. Flintridge Sacred Heart
The Tologs return five players who contributed heavily to the team’s CIF-SS semifinal run last year.
But coach Ernest Banaag still has questions.
“We are a lot younger that last year,” he said. “We do have a lot of experience and core knowledge.
But we’re young and that might show in some games.”
The Tologs graduated six seniors from a team that went 26-5 and lost to eventual division champion La Salle in four tough games in the semis. They return four seniors, four juniors and two sophomores who all played. Two freshmen will play this season.
“They have a lot of club experience within their age group, but they are 14-year olds now competing against 18-year olds,” Banag said.
Continue reading “Girls Volleyball: St. Paul, Whittier Christian and La Serna crack inaugural SGVN poll” »

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