Peter Gonzalez (left) and Ryan Rivera (right) are two of Pete Gonzalez’ Top 5 players that he has coached.
Aubrey Haynes (RB 5’9 230) St. Paul High School
2007 Whittier Daily News Player of the Year
2007 Western Division 3 CIF Offensive Player of the Year
2007 Mission League Offensive Player of the Year
2017 Stats: 184 rushes 1,537 yards rushing, 6.6 carry 25 TD’s
Aubrey went on to play at East Los Angeles College. Aubrey was a hard-nosed competitor and RB. He never tried to outrun anybody. If you got in his way he put his helmet down and forced you to bring him down. He was a big back with great ability. He was very athletic for his size with great instincts and vision. What I enjoyed most about him was the look in his eyes. It was give me the ball and I will get it done. if the game was on the line or if we just needed a yard for a first down we were going to give it Aubrey and everyone on defense knew it also.
David Flores (ILB 6’2 215) St. Paul High School
2007 Mission League 1st team Defense
2007 Whittier Daily News 1st Team
2007 Western Division 3 CIF Defensive player year
2007 stats, 66 solo tackles, 49 assisted tackles, total 115 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT
David always brought a spark to our team. He was a passionate football player combined with great skills to run and tackle. He had a great work ethic and always brought his A game with him every day. What I enjoyed most about David was he always had this great big smile on his face. He always had a don’t worry coach, I got this kind of an attitude. I never have coached a player that could run forward, backpedal to a zone, or go sideline to sideline like David could. He is an incredible athlete.
David originally committed to Minnesota State University out of high school but ended up attending and playing football at Cerritos College. David’s freshman year at Cerritos he started 10 games at LB. He was First-team ALL-Central Conference led Cerritos in tackles (76) along with 27 Solo Tackles and had a team high of 9.5 tackles for losses, a sack, 6 quarterback hurries, broke up a pass and forced a fumble. David’s sophomore year at Cerritos college he started all 11 games at LB, he earned second team
All-Central Conference. He had 79 tackles including 33 solo, 9.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks, 1 int, broke up 3 passes, recovered 3 fumbles and forced another. Cerritos finished 9-2 that season. David went on to play football at Midwestern State
Isaac Mendibles (RB 5’6 145) Montebello High School
3 year starter
2013 Almont League Co-MVP
2013 All CIF Mid Valley Team
2013 Whittier Daily News Offensive Player of Year
2013 Team MVP
2014 Almont League MVP
2014 All CIF Mid Valley Team
2014 Whittier Daily News Offensive Player of Year
2014 Team MVP
*2015 despite tearing his ACL he was voted first team All-Almont League
2013 Stats: 1,775 rushing yards, 19 TD’s
2014 Stats: 1,943 yards, 24 TD’s, in one game had 336 yards rushing 6 TD’s
2015 Stats: In 5 games 681 rushing yards, 8.5 avg per carry, 6TD’s, 190 yards rec 2 TD’s, 7 Kick returns 248 yards 2TD’s avg 35.4
Isaac was a special talent. Yes, at only 5’6 145lbs he ran like he was a monster. I have never seen or coached a player who went downhill like a bullet to the LOS. His vision was incredible and when he hit the LOS he was up the second level before you could find him. He was so quick to make his decisions and so precise on every carry. It was fun watching Isaac run. Every game we played everyone knew “22” was getting the rock. He played like a monster. After each game opposing coaches always said the same thing to me, 22 is a stud. Funny how that 5’6 running back gave all defensive coaches fits. I remember a great conversation with Jim Singiser just before the start of a game vs Arroyo. I remember him telling me we have no one who can emulate his running style and speed to prep for you guys. Isaac was a special player.
After repairing his ACL Isaac went on to attend Cal State Los Angeles University
Ryan Rivera (QB 6’1 180) Montebello High School
2014 Almont League Most Valuable Offensive Player
2014 Whittier Daily News Honorable Mention
2015 Almont league MVP
2015 Team MVP
2015 Whittier Daily News first team all Purpose player
2015 School Athlete of Year
2015 stats 1.972 yards passing with 27 TD’s. 528 rushing 5 TD’s
Ryan Rivera is a great athlete. He has great football instincts. He is your prototypical football player. He understands the game and works hard to be great. Ryan is the guy you give the ball too when the game is on the line. What I will always remember about Ryan is his confidence. At any point when the game is on the line. Whether it’s the final play, or 3rd and 15, or 4th and 5 he had an indescribable look of confidence that he is going to get it done. He wasn’t afraid to run over to us coaches and say I told you I would get this. He also took blame if the ball didn’t bounce our way. He made the game fun to watch and I enjoyed every game with him. We were Almont League Champions in 2014 and 2015. It was a great honor to watch my cousin Ryan play. His 337 yards passing against BG was pretty fun night to watch.
Ryan went on to play football at Finlandia University in Michigan
Robert De La Cruz (QB 6’1 170) Cathedral High School
Robert was League MVP, All State, All Area, All Everything.1998 Robert set a state record with 61 touchdown passes in 13 games.
In 1999 Robert threw 9 TD passes vs St Genevieve and also Robert broke his own record CALHI Sports state record with 65 touchdown passes in 13 games. His career yardage total was 8,437 yards, 126 Touchdowns in 2 seasons. Robert was a great student of the game. He worked hard and had a great competitor attitude. He played and made the game fun with his attitude. He showed up to work everyday and wanted to be the best. His approach to every game was ferocious. He was so calm and never intimidated.
Dwight Tardy (RB 5’11 200) St. Paul High School
Dwight was All First team Area, All CIF, First team All League.
Dwight was a special athlete. As a RB he was very powerful. He had sneaky speed to run away from you. He was about the purest down hill runner that I’ve been lucky enough to coach. He took the handoff, hit the hole and made you tackle him. What I enjoyed most about Dwight was his competitive pride. If you got a good shot on him, it was guaranteed he was going to get up and find you on the next handoff. Dwight went on to play football at Washington State University and was a four year starter. One fond memory was watching my Son Peter playing QB and handing the ball off to Dwight for his record breaking 9th TD in a game vs Crescenta Valley.
Washington St University 2005-2009
2006 145 att 667 yards 4 TD’s 17 rec 107 yards 1 TD
2007 143 att 676 yards 6 TD’s 15 rec 89 yards
2008 133 att 481 yards 3 TD’s 18 rec 87 yards
2009 107 att 417 yards 2 TD’s 18 rec 114 yards
In 2009 Dwight earned honorable mention on all Pac 10 conference team.
My all time favorite player is my son Peter. (yes I am a proud father)
Stats 67 comp 124 att 1014 yards 7 TD’s, 81 yards rushing 3 TD’s
I have to mention him on this list. Peter Played QB at St Paul and earned all-league honors. We played some really good teams and it was fun watching him play against teams like St. Bonaventure, Bishop Amat, Harvard Westlake, St Francis, S.O. Notre Dame, Chaminade, and Bishop Alemany. Some special moments for Peter are as follows: In Peter’s Junior Year he handed the ball off to Dwight Tardy for his 9th TD run vs Crescenta Valley and put Dwight into the record books. During Peter’s Senior year he battled to the last game of the season only to fall short of being St Paul’s All time leader in Pass Completions Percentage leader in school history. Just some of his great moments. At St. Paul’s football banquet the Legendary Head Coach Marijon Ancich who was the winningest football coach in California history at the time spoke about Peter being one of the smartest football players he had ever coached. Peter was also an all-league baseball player who got a chance to play in a CIF title game ending up CIF runner ups. Peter took those smarts and has since grown up to be a fine young man and an exceptional coach. I would like to thank all of the coaches who have coached under me and have been an influence in helping him and vice versa in so many ways. Coaches like Brian Zavala, Hector Spathias, Robert Castaneda, Mark Paramo, Gary Canales, Jerry Chou, Gil Jimenez, Casey Morales and all of our current Montebello Oiler staff.
Top 5 Coached Against:
-Matt Leinart , Mater Dei, USC, Arizona Cardinals
-De’Sean Jackson, Long Beach Poly, Cal Berkeley, currently Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
-Matt Kalil, Servite, USC, Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers
-Matt Ware, Loyola, UCLA, Philadelphia Eagles, Arizona Cardinals
-Marcedes Lewis, LB Poly, UCLA, Jacksonville Jaguars, currently Green Bay Packers
-Orlando Scandrick, Los Alamitos, Boise St, Dallas Cowboys, currently Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs
We were Very Fortunate to have Coach Pete at Cathedral High School. He is a Great QB Coach and did develop Robert De La Cruz to be one of the best All Time Prep QB’s. Thank’s Coach Pete for everything you did for Cathedral.
I, too, adore Pete’s attitude that he is the exception to the 5-name rule. Aren’t coaches like this a beacon of integrity for today’s kids?
A few of these lists have more than just 5 lol. Who cares, move on. I thought this was about recognizing great players? I love all of the lists of these coaches! So cool to remember those players who stood out and read about players who I never got to see play but heard about!
Good job Coach!
We appreciate the job you have done at MHS. What you do is truly a thankless job. Not only a coach but a teacher. Keep doing what you do and keeping our kids accountable.
Don’t worry about people who criticize because you will never seek advice from those people. That all stems from pure jealousy. Good job and congrats!
I thought this was a 5 player list.
From T. Peterson: Yeah I thought so too! Coaches…what are you gonna do?
Keep it going coach
re: Bottom Line
3 players from St Paul (2 of which were POY CIF Champion Team)
2 from Montebebello
1 from Cathedral
and his son ( Awesome gesture to remember his son)
I think Gonzalez did a great job of recognizing players from different schools he has coached. I believe he coached at St Paul the longest? My son did play with his son and tell you what Peter was a darn good player. Glad to see they still have a great care for each other. I know his heart and love is at Montebello. Keep it going coach.
Notice that almost everyone on this list hails from St. Paul, the scene of Pete’s greatest moments. If Ancich hadn’t made this tiny school a football destination for decades, I doubt it would be in business today. Here’s hoping Gonzalez is enjoying himself in the lower pressure environment of Montebello, and that the memories of his glory years continue to burn brightly.