Most of the passing leagues are now in the rear view mirror and August is right around the corner so it’s time to look at another league. Here’s a peak at the Miramonte.
Pomona: The Red Devils tend to jump out in the Miramonte where there aren’t a lot of “name” schools. Pomona won a CIF championship three years ago and is still clearly the class of the league. Pomona went 4-0 in league last year and was never tested. There’s nothing to show that the gap has been closed. Pomona has looked good on the summer passing circuit. Daniel Limon, who threw for over 1000 yards last year is back to lead the offense and he has a nice target in Jesus Hernandez. Marshon Smith returns for his junior season after rushing for 604 yards and 11 touchdowns a year ago. The Red Devils simply have too many athletes to not repeat in the Miramonte.
La Puente: It’s always good to have your quarterback returning and La Puente has that in Jesse Hernandez. Hernandez keeps defenses honest as he is able to throw it or run it as he showed last year. LP likes to pound it and will be able to do just that with Quinton Groves who had 1,444 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2016. Head Coach Erick Williams has the Warriors competing and they will again. But they will have there hands full on October 20 when they travel to Pomona.
Garey: Garey was 2-2 in league last year and should be improved in 2017 with key starters returning at quarterback and running back. Samuel Lee had over 800 yards rushing a year ago and averaged 11.5 yards per carry. Lee, who will be a senior, will be joined by Salvador Tapia in the backfield in what will be a formidable one-two punch. Tapia ran for 527 yards and nine touchdowns. Quarterback Daniel Flores is also back and can give defenses fits as a dual threat. Flores ran for 660 yards and threw for over 1000. The Vikes should be fine on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively Garey had its struggles last year allowing 49 points to Pomona and 32 to Bassett. If they can shore that up the Vikings can compete with La Puente for second place.
Bassett: It was a tough season for first year Coach Chris Long in 2016. It might not be much better for the Olympians this year. Quarterback Marcus Ruiz and running back Chris Cabral, who were the key cogs in the offense, have both graduated. Although as a local coach once said, “If all of your players are returning from a team that went 1-9, is that a good thing?” Bassett does have a couple of weapons coming back in Quinn Peoples, who had over 1200 yards receiving and David Monteon who can do some damage catching passes and returning kicks, but Long will need a lot more of his young players to step up if they are going to make any noise in league.
Ganesha: It seems like it’s a question that is asked every year as Summer turns into Fall. Can Ganesha make the playoffs? Usually the answer comes back a resounding no and even the most optimistic Giant fan would have trouble explaining how this year will be different. Ganesha was 0-4 in league last year and weren’t competitive in any of the contests. The Giants closest loss was 13 points to Bassett. Sometimes these things run in cycles and one year Ganesha will be back. It just won’t be this year.
That kid rushed for over 1000 yards and 28 touchdowns and is a committed player
The teams are garbage but even more importantly the schools are worse. I would not let my kids attend anyone of these schools. The admin from these school are rejects of other districts. CIF knows this that why they put all the garbage in one trash can(league).
Coaches in the Miramonte, food for thought.
would you agree that its so nice to see a team so dominate in their league. Pomona is in CIF Division 7 Playoff Group. All the other teams are in Group 13. That’s 6 divisions lower. 220 southern section spots above all other teams in their league. On a bad year they win league. Thats 1 of the 2 only playoff spots the Miramonte has. So, the other 4 teams get 1 playoff spot to fight over. There will be no At-Large births to Division 13. There are over 30 leagues and 85 teams competing for 16 playoff spots. Right now there are 12 retuning playoff teams in Division 13 and the best teams can’t get in because of other higher divisional teams in their leagues. There were teams with records of 8-2 and 7-3, that did not get in the playoffs. Not to mention the teams not in a league. So, do you schedule up or schedule down? Coaches, what you need to do is to stay healthy. Fight and get the #2 spot. You know, pull the Keppel/Blair, we can’t field a team for a game, its not healthy card for us to play, you know when you schedule Pomona. Then, Pomona will stay on top, you get a break to get health and 2 weeks to prepare for a game you could win. Now, if Pomona gets 6 bye weeks, maybe CIF will fix the problem. There are only 23 teams in their grouping. They will be fresh, and one of 16 teams that get in. They get in the playoffs anyway, with a #1 seed. South Hills and Bonita have to fight to get in.
Pomona is rated with teams like Monrovia, Bonita and South Hills. Do you want to watch those teams play Ganesha, Garey, Bassett and La Puente? No you don’t! So, why should you want to watch Pomona play them?
The guy in the picture looks scared. But still we are hanging on to Pomona’s (deleted)!! Because they won CIF 3 years ago. Lets be real they will not sniff another CIF championship. That ship has gone and sailed.
Maybe you should fight to get Pomona out of this league…..
POMONA is terrible. Seen them at a passing tournament. Talent and speed? Hahahaha
Too bad the son is out for the season.
Maybe the IRSbis already making some inquiries into their “Foundation”
@mid valley, the BEF which is what they call themselves. Line their pockets and play god with the rest of the money. Karma will strike on all the crap that goes on there. All the money they raise and they don’t use it to improve the school, they only improve their income. What a shame!!!
Bassett where does all the money go to that the Bassett Foundation makes from swap meet. To see there books you have to make a request through a email and i never got a response. They don’t take care there coaches or just don’t bring them back.
Max prep shows Q peoples on Los Altos roster
this league is so one sided. Pomona can play their JV team and still win league. CIF should probably step in but won’t/can’t. Now I think these other teams should be called out for being this bad. Bassett was on the rise then fired its staff and it was back to 1-9
La Puente should be dominant based on size but rather it’s a shell of what it used to be. The other schools could be painted with same brush bad staff bad support kids either don’t play football or the ones that do will play at Pomona DRanch or Charter Oak
@urgent, wake up. Athletics are another “item” to most administrators. It means extra duty for them. In the vast majority of districts athletics is paid lip service at best. Look at the mess in El Monte. The AD is simply a glorified secretary. No real authority to make decisions nor is she inclined to make the hard calls. Lead by a principal that simply wants to survive and climb to the district level. In Azusa Unified all of the games played by football are road games. No home stadium, no facilities. How many schools still have grass fields with no turf? How about how many schools in the SGV still have dirt tracks? At Bassett they hired Coach Long, good guy and coach, but he is simply on staff. Not a teacher. The list of successful coaches at those schools can be listed on one hand. And after they bring a degree of success to the programs they leave. The sad fact is that after a school becomes one of those schools, is the kids begin to accept that this is just the way it is. And it perpetuates itself. No wonder kids transfer and kids leave. Agency? Look at administration and school boards. There is both the problem and solution.
That’s funny you say that, I was thinking the same thing. Both the RHL & Pacific leagues have been very underserved this year. Mostly back and fourth about El Monte, Shurr, Arroyo, Bell Gardens etc. Not taking anything away from them but the streets of Monrovia and Pasadena has some very interesting athletes this season and I want to hear more about them.
Crickets! Your regular bloggers care about the Pacific, Rio Hondo, Almont, MVL , and Angelus Leagues.
From T. Peterson: You missed it then. We already wrote A look at the Almont and MVL in the last few weeks. Rio Hondo and Pacific are coming up. It was time for the Miramonte. If you want to see how the MVL and Almont look you’ll have to scroll back a few pages.
I heard Quinn peoples of Bassett transferred to Baldwin Park. Can anyone confirm this?
So who wants to talk about the MVL or the Almont?
From T. Peterson: Been there. did that.
1-9 Bassett just like the before Spathais era. Quinn Peoples is not at Bassett he is now at Los Altos. Peoples should of been 1st team all league receiver last season but some how Coach Long son got 1st team WR. Hopefully they win a few games. Best of luck Bassett
Bassett will not win a league game this year, next year and for many years to come. The admin is joke with Griego cutting funds for all sports. The district is missing millions. I wonder where it went? The one district where you line your pockets first, it’s not kids first. As parents we just wanting another district to take us over. Our kids could not take the AP test because the district didn’t pay there bill. But they took the money from the kids for the AP test. I am glad my oldest is done at Bassett and my youngest will be attending WCHS.