Abel Cueva and the El Monte Lions are number one in Division 13. (Photo by Ms. Navarro)
When was the last time El Monte was number one in anything heading into Week 7?
1. El Monte
2. Orange Vista
3. Alhambra
4. Savanna
5. Granite Hills
6. Adelanto
7. St. Bernard
8. La Puente
9. Estancia
10. Rim of the World
Booth is the only reason em is winning the line is maybe average. Arroyo will win by 3 td’s.
@ No Moor: By using the moniker you’ve chosen, does that mean you weren’t an Alhambra fan to begin with? I’m not going to presume anything about you; I’m asking that as a straight question. An honest answer might allow us to give more weight, or less, to your critical remarks.
As for Alhambra scheduling “cupcake” or “super-light” nonleague games, I’d like to correct that mythology right now, at least in part.
Teams that Alhambra has beaten this season which are not “cupcakes”: South El Monte (4-3), Rowland (3-3), and L.A. Wilson (5-1).
The cupcakes? Those would be Temple City and South Pasadena, based on their performances thus far in the 2018 season. However, both teams were significantly better at the same point last year.
Most high school teams don’t have the luxury of reloading with the best available talent year after year. The vast majority of football programs have to rebuild at least occasionally.
By the way, we could’ve done a lot worse with our nonleague schedule. There are a lot of teams in Division 13, and at least a few in other divisions, that we would beat right now.
By “new narrative”, I presume Vrooman means scheduling super-light in the preseason, then reverting to the same old hogwash in league. Hey, at least coach can point to a better win/loss ratio in his postseason interview and hope the bigwigs buy the bull.
@ Sports Man: Well, at least El Monte is in a different playoff division than Arroyo, and it appears that the Lions are getting ready to set Division 13 on its ear.
At Alhambra, we’re doing everything we can to rewrite the script. So far this year, we’ve made progress toward establishing a new narrative. Hopefully, the coming weeks will show that we’re still on the right track.
Once upon a time I was a loyal ( 14 years while both my daughters were in school ) PTA supporter. Never again.
PTA raised their $ from memberships/donations and having bake sales.
Football raised their money from Car washes, local business donations and advertising. Also from gate sales and running the snack bar.
Car washes went bye bye because of the California water shortages.
Local businesses stopped donating and advertising because they could not afford to sponsor 3 schools in 1 city and to only support 1 or 2 would not be PC.
Gate money and snack bar money is taken from the football team and given to PTA. PTA then LOCKS the district refrigerator in the snack bar and refuses to give the key to Boosters when they run the snack bar for Covina Vikings, Track meets, and Mount Sac games. Boosters then must get admin/ CVUSD involved to let them use the refrigerator that is owned by the district not PTA.
Boosters get a local well known Pizza establishment to donate Pizzas for the snack bar which PTA sells and gets the profits from.
I have always wanted to look back at which students get the PTA scholarships at different schools and see how many degrees of separation that family has in connection to their PTA. Just for grins and giggles. That’s how much I trust the PTA now.
The PTA is on a scorched earth path when related to the sports that feed it and the hands that it bites.
Not being involved with any other sport than football I would like to know if football is the only sport that PTA sucks blood from?
I was also told by 2 CVUSD employees ( ***have not verified/rumor only*** ) PTA also TRIED a couple of years back to make all CVUSD employees join as a condition of their employment. Was told that the overwhelming response was F… That!
!@#$ PTA….
I’m all for helping kids…just not at the expense of other kids.
Qualified individuals with differing opinions are invite to respond and also go suck eggs….
🙂
Why very few considering HISTORY OF MISSION VALLEY LEAGUE? Wow! EM going to challenge Arroyo; really? If all u are right I am very, very wrong. Alhambra? Have no history of success. I think, no know anything, that some smaller schools will dominate d13
@Colt74
School admins give the PTA/ASB get the snack bar and gate money because they don’t have to fund them. On top of that they decide not to support the football team in any way. (Only walk on coaches, no money for buses for away games, and so many more things.
The teams start to lose and kids stop coming out for football.
Then they wonder why no one attends any games. They end up having to fund the PTA/ASB anyway.
SMH…..
@Colt 74: The positive about being an old fart, as compared to a fresh fart, is that the offensive component has had time to disperse. Either way, life’s a gas.
Dan,
Yeah it was great seeing and chatting with you about both our programs. I was pulling for you guys against Charter Oak and will for the rest of the season. I’ve stated on Twitter more than a few times that as a kid we would always ride our bikes to home games for the Spartans ( still not used to the Bulldog mascot ) as they were my favorite team as a young pup.
I hope they regain the support for the program like it once was. The Dynasty needs a rebirth.
Hang in there. Schools need their peeps to come back and support. We old farts at every school are a dying breed.
@ Anonymous,
Can’t say I’ve seen Orange Vista, but congrats on your Lions and hope to see them continue
with the success they have had, it is always nice to see different teams rise up, looking forward to see how they do against Arroyo.
Colt, it was great to see you on the sidelines a few weeks back when your Covina Colts smacked our once proud WC Bulldogs, good luck against Northview, your boys will need it, great points on snack bar money, as a football booster I hate to see that, our boys put in all the hard work and take all the risk, then along come ASB to reap the benefits, go figure.
I applaud the people at Alhambra for making sure the snack bar money goes to the team. If they offer to feed me for free, I’ll advocate their return to the top of the poll.
The only reason they aren’t higher is because it’s only they’re second year of var football there. But they probably should be.
Nothing happened to it lol. What happened to yours?
You can only move 2 divisions in 1 year, Ive seen them they ain’t no D5 team quit flattering yourself.
@ Colt 74 & CIF Woes: The Alhambra School District PTA has been getting the Moor Field snack bar money for years.
@Dan , have you see Orange Vista they are big and fast talk is they are out of D 13 next year headed for D 5 take a look at the game on teen sports against El Monte , El Monte is the real deal ……. Very physical on Both sides of the ball
It’s really hideous to see the schools robbing snack bar money from the teams, and at the same time siding with the jerks in Sacramento who want to ban the sport entirely. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Great points from Colt 74.
@ Reality: Either you need to read things a little more closely, or you should quit with the revisionist history. I was the first person to make a comment on this thread.
The answer to your question is that the coaches are the ones who vote on these rankings, so feel free to criticize them.
It’s clear Alhambra needs to beat Montebello to retain its place in the rankings and, more importantly, get on track toward a playoff spot.
There are a lot of reasons why football game attendance has diminished continually over the years.
1. Different mind set of students. School spirit is of days gone by. Some games if it wasn’t for the band and parents the stands would be empty.
2. Playoff games sometimes too far away for a causal fan/ community to be expected to travel.
3. Teams that used to rely on gate money/snack bar money for their survival and support no longer get a share. Moneys are used for PTA. I personally know of alumni/fans/community members that refuse to go to games because the teams that are playing are playing for the monetary gains of others. It’s a principle/Jersey thing.
And we were also number one in the polls back in the I believe it was the 90s or late 80s for wrestling back when Greg vanaman was coach
What happened to your football career. SMH
Congratulations to El Monte High School. A Job well done. Just Beat Arroyo .
Eric Sondheimer of the L.A. Times is reporting that the CIF SS sold 100,000 fewer tickets over the last three years, making for a decline of $500,000 in revenue. The southern section managed to profit $109,000 last year, however, due to sponsorships, investments and broadcast fees.
I believe a big part of the decline in attendance stems from the availability of many games on television, but it must be said that the unprecedented growth in the number of divisions, that is to say the watering-down of the product, is a major contributor to fans’ apathy. Another factor, largely ignored these days, is that the enormous cost of housing has reduced disposal income, which was previously used to buy sporting tickets.
@ “I played for…”: A third-place finish often gets a team into the playoffs, especially if that team also has a good overall record. Nonleague wins and a reasonably impressive strength of schedule can be determining factors.
A key issue here is the CIF Southern Section’s playoff system for football. Everybody in Division 1 makes the playoffs regardless of their records, but we have more than 80 teams fighting for 16 berths in Division 13. CIF’s basic math, or its priorities, are a little off.
Arroyo vs. El Monte, El Monte vs. South El Monte, and Arroyo vs. South El Monte might all be great matchups this year.
South El Monte has improved dramatically during the course of the season. Coach Frank Gallardo and his staff will deserve a lot of credit if the Eagles keep winning.
How is ALHAMBRA THIRD!!!! Who makes these polls!!! Ron even knows Alhambra does not belong in the top ten thats why he did not comment here
El Monte is beating the team that they are supposed to beat. Their record shows that this is the right division for them. Still think Arroyo handles them easily.
Get out of here guy! Those Mtn.View and Gabrielino wins got to your head.
EM high
Well you’re in the best possible situation you have two weeks to prepare for Arroyo we’ll see if this coach can pull it off. If he can’t speaks volumes about his abilities and also, If he doesn’t win, well you just might miss the playoffs altogether because you’re not beating the Eagles! EMHS= 3rd place!
Awesome for El Monte, great year that they are having and I hope it continues.
I would have Adelanto at number 2, they beat Fountain Valley who is a mediocre team, but they reside in the always tough Sunset league. Then Orange Vista at number 3.
Congratulations to Jesse Cineceros and the entire El Monte program for this overdue honor. In fact, with the exception of Alhambra at the 3 spot, I couldn’t agree more with the whole list.
El Monte was ranked #1 in Division 7 back in 1994 when they were 6-0.
El Monte has the best Offensive line in division 13 no doubt, those kids are solid… was at the game Friday night and wow ! Great running backs also
Went to see El Monte football last Friday night WOW ! That line is big and strong and they move people around …….. definitely not the same team as last year ……
Congratulations to the El Monte Lions on their #1 ranking in Division 13. Their offense is really rolling! We in Alhambra will do everything we can to stay on their heels.