MidValleySports.Com

Temple City HC Mike McFarland is entering his fourth season.

By Josh Ouellette

Entering his fourth season as head coach for Temple City, McFarland hasn’t been the most successful in the history of the program.  In fact his overall record isn’t great, in his time the team has gone 10-22, yet have managed to make two playoff appearances.

In 2012 TC shocked the local pundits and made it to the postseason, playing Paraclete in the first round of the CIF playoffs and played Monrovia in the week before at the end of last season, losing 35-14 and 49-7, respectively.

“We played Monrovia and Paraclete in back-to-back fashion. That’s kind of a unique deal to play the two best teams in the division like that. I don’t think our team was very phased about it,” said McFarland. “Part of that was the by product of the process of what we had gone through and were those kids had come from earlier on in the season and the season before that.”

The Rams play in the same league as three-time CIF Champion Monrovia and McFarland sees this as an advantage and not a problem for his team.

“There’s a lot of good that comes from it. You don’t have to look very far to see where the bar is set. I think that it serves as a very good motivating force to have that challenge so close and to know that your going to play them [the Wildcats] and that they’re a league team,” McFarland explained. “I think that’s a good thing. They’re in our league so were going to play them, and they’re the standard right now. We know that were going to have an opportunity to play them, and that’s a positive thing.”

In the last five years TC has gone through many changes in the offense it runs. From Power-I, to a spread formation, back to the an I-formation and then to last years Wing-T style of offense.

Again coach McFarland doesn’t see this as a negative for his Rams, but more so an opportunity to maximize the potential of the players he has on his roster.

“What we do, what I do, is out of necessity. We look at the personnel that we have and we try to highlight what we do well and minimize what we don’t do so well. What the finished product looks like comes with the further evaluation of players,” McFarland said about his offensive approach. “At the starting point there will be some of that [Wing-T style of offense] that will remain with us, but I can’t say definitively what we’ll look like until we get a chance to see our kids in more competitive situations, with pads on and get closer to the finished product.”

With that being said Temple City turned their season around last year after going 0-3 to win four straight thanks to the change in style paying off. From last years team there is much of the “talent” coming back to fill important positions on the depth chart.

“We do have some good players returning. I feel like we have a good set of skill kids returning,” McFarland said. “We just don’t know enough about the rest of the team across the board.”

Returning Rams include Nick Starling, Nick Kaneko and Nasir Banihani. All of which will look to lead the Rams on both sides of the ball next season.

“Banihani started the game against Paraclete, and he’ll have a great opportunity to become the starting quarterback again this fall,” McFarland said.

But what has been and probably always will be at the heart of Temple City football is the ground game. McFarland has confidence he has the dual threat attack to be successful come the start of the season.

“Starling is our best downhill running threat, said McFarland. “And Kaneko is very versatile and he served in a ton of roles last year. I mean he is a ball carrier, but in the playoff game we moved him around and used him as a lead blocker. He’s also one of our best returners and defensive players.”

There is another player on coach McFarland’s radar for TC next year as well.

“Another player we have returning is Nathan Ruiz, who started at outside linebacker as a sophomore. He’s going to give a big contribution on both sides of the ball,” McFarland said.

Where the Rams really shined last season was in the trenches on defense amassing four All-Rio Hondo players on the TC defensive line: James Bettancourt- Defensive Lineman of the Year, Felipe Serano- First Team, and Jorge Cruz and Jake Ferntheil earning Second Team honors.

McFarland recognizes that replicating that type of d-line would be tough to do and that there are some major shoes to fill in those spots for the Rams.

“Ferntheil is the only returner. He’s our nose guard and he’s a very very good football player. We’re expecting big things from Jake this year and he’ll anchor our defensive line, but we got to replace those other three guys,” McFarland admitted. “That’s going to be the biggest challenge we have. Finding guys that can create the same kind of opportunities that those guys last year did.”

Ferntheil is easily the biggest player in a Temple City uniform and will look to bring back memories of Brian Soumakian to North Field on Friday nights this fall. Listed at 6-feet-2-inches and 285-pounds the Rams lineman is looking to be the dominant force behind the TC attack on both sides of the ball.

“Our goal is for him to play both ways and that’s his goal as well. Jake [Ferntheil] know’s he’s got to get into great shape to do that,” said McFarland. “He’s a big guy and last year he really wasn’t able to [play both ways] because he wasn’t in good enough shape. He was also coming off of an ACL injury the year before. But yeah that’s our goal; we’ll be better if he can play both ways.

With a tough non-league schedule the Rams will be tested before they enter into what McFarland calls a “very competitive [Rio Hondo] league.”

The Rams will play Simi-Valley, Arroyo, Alhambra, Eagle Rock and Rosemead in the weeks leading up to league play with Monrovia, San Marino, South Pasadena, La Canada and Blair.

Normally TC tends to have games against closer non-league opponents but it just didn’t work out that way for this upcoming season.

“That’s a good thing in my opinion. I think the games mean a little bit more when you’re playing schools you know of, and more people can get there, and all those things,” said McFarland.

Clearly, Simi Valley is a team Temple City isn’t familiar with but the Pioneers will definitely be a step-up in the level of competition the green and gold normally face.

“It’ll be a great test for us. They’re a PAC-5 school, I know they struggled a little last year at the varsity level,” quipped McFarland. “But when your playing teams like St. Bonaventure and Oaks Christian it’s a little bit different. I expect them to be a great challenge.”

Coach McFarland knows football is more about the work put in during the offseason than the individual players on the field.

“We’ve got a quality group of guys that are just solid, solid kids. They work hard and they have good attitudes and work ethics, and they like playing football, so that’s a good thing,” McFarland said. “I feel good about what we have this year and I feel good about what our kids have done and what they’re doing. I’m enjoying the process of working with these kids.”

The Rams open the season on Aug. 30 against Simi Valley before playing in the Mid-Valley Classic against Arroyo on Sept. 6.