MidValleySports.Com

Tim Peterson

It was all hugs and warm smiles at the Mid-Valley Division selections at Covina High School Sunday morning. Nobody was burned at the brackets or felt like they got the “short end of the stick” so to speak. 

Usually there’s at least one coach that lets out a groan or a puts on a noticeable grimace when they see the pairings, but nothing of the sort this year. Also a lot of the drama was taken away thanks to modern technology.  

At 10:00 before Covina Coach Daryl Thomas appeared with the sheets everybody began to pull up the pairings on the CIF website via their smart phones.

“Oh, we got Maranatha,” said San Gabriel DC Donald Bernard while looking at his screen. “We got Whittier Christian,” said El Monte assistant Brian Tabatabai after looking at his mobile device.

By the time Covina players Billy Livingston and Gevontray Ainsworth brought out the actual hard copies of the brackets about 10:10 everybody already knew who they had in the first round.

“Hey Tim,” Arroyo Coach Jim Singiser joked to me before the pairings were revealed. “Why don’t you take a before and after picture of me?” He then simulated an after picture of him with his head buried in his hands.

There was no head hanging this year. The Knights, who have received questionable draws the last two years, received the number two seed, and Sierra Vista, the Montview at large selection, in the first round. 

“I don’t know that we’re a number two seed. I think we are maybe a four or five but we’ll take it,” Singiser said.

While nobody felt they were personally shafted there was a prevailing feeling that a team that wasn’t there – South Pasadena – was.

“South Pasadena beat Alhambra. They’re a good team,” Singiser said. “But I think that Sierra Vista winning its last three games had a lot to do with them getting in. I think they really look at how teams finish.”  

In fact if Duarte, who finished at 6-3, had beaten the Dons in the last game of the season, the Falcons would have been Arroyo’s first round foe.

La Puente who took second in the Montview, will host Alhambra in the first round. The Warriors were undefeated before Azusa beat them last Thursday night.  

“We made too many mistakes early,” said LP Coach Brandon Rohrer of the Azusa loss. “We were too wide eyed, too anxious. Now we’ll get ready for playoffs.”

“It’s a good matchup. That’s who I thought we would get,” said Alhambra DC Jacob Ochoa. “We bounced back from a big loss to beat BG last week and we’re feeling pretty good right now.”  

El Monte’s hopes of a win rests on the health of quarterback Brandon Martinez who went down with an ankle injury late in the Arroyo game.

“He’s doing great, doing fine,” said Tabatabai and Lion Head Coach Joel Sanchez, almost in unison.

One team that you could understand being a little upset by the pairings is Pomona, who has to line up against Monrovia Friday night.

“Coach (Anthony) Rice and I were talking about it and we both said why not just face the best right away,” said Pomona assistant Albert Abdou. “We both have great athletes so let’s go out there and see what happens.” 

Monrovia Assistant Mike Minter agreed. “It’s a great matchup he said. Absolutely. We get Pomona in the first round and it’s going to be a battle – all the way through.”

Several teams bring the whole coaching staff but San Marino had one lone representative – former Temple City Ram and current Titan assistant Thomas Camarena.

Another former Ram and current San Gabriel assistant Matt Lopez was surprised that the Mats will be facing Maranatha in the first round.

“I really thought we would get West El Monte Poly,” he said. “I was hoping for it.”

That’s my principle.

Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports.com