The Peterson Principle: 8/18/2021

By Tim Peterson

It’s still hard to believe that Arroyo, Rosemead, El Monte, South El Monte and Mt. View haven’t played a football game since 2019. There’s been a few changes since then.

A lot has happened in the Mission Valley League since we’ve last seen them in helmet and pads. In case you forgot Arroyo has a new head coach. Chuck Leonardis has taken over for Jim Singiser who stepped down after the 2019 season after 17 years at the helm. Singiser couldn’t get away that easy though. He’s still on staff as the defensive coordinator. The Knights have to wait one more week to hit the field. They open up August 27 at home against Sierra Vista.    

Oh and so does El Monte. Jesse Ceniceros went out probably the way all of us would like to. With a championship. And not just a CIF title. The last time the Lions took the gridiron they were winning a state title in Northern California. 

Ceniceros stepped aside and Victor Romero stepped in. Name sound familiar? Well it used to be Victor Ambruso when he was the head coach at Mt. View a few years ago. His last name is now different but he runs the same offense as he did when leading the Vikings, which is the same offense that Ceniceros ran at El Monte – the double wing. So you could say the Lions won’t miss a beat. But Romero has a vastly different roster than the team that raised those banners in 2019. Davon Booth ain’t walking through that door anytime soon. It may take Romero and the Lions some time to get on track. The Lions get Azusa this Friday night.  

Speaking of Mt. View, the Vikings also have a new head coach that will be making his debut. Paul Rodriguez, not the comedian, took over in April of 2020. Rodriguez hopes to be smiling after the Vikes play San Gabriel this Friday night. 

South El Monte and Rosemead have the same head coaches, but do have many different players. The Rosemead quarterback has the same last name that the 2019 team had but it’s a different guy that will be lining up behind center. Nick Ostry has taken over for Ivan Ostry to lead the Panthers. Nick played receiver before but has moved into the quarterback slot with the graduation of his older brother Ivan. Matt Castaneda’s troops will open this Friday night on the road against Kennedy.

South El Monte and Alhambra, who will do battle this Friday night at Moor Field, have played one game combined in the last two years. While South was shut out due to COVID-19 restrictions Alhambra went 0-1 in the Spring. Frank Gallardo and the Eagles have been chomping at the bit to get back on the field.   

The bad news is we haven’t seen MVL football for two years. The good news is that comes to an end Friday night. 

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You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit in the wind, you don’t pull the mask of the Lone Ranger and you don’t schedule a Mission League team on the road to open the season. But that’s exactly what Pasadena has done as it gets ready to travel to Sherman Oaks Notre Dame Friday night. FYI Notre Dame went 2-3 in the Spring but it’s last two wins were over Cathedral and Bishop Amat.

Oh but the Bulldogs didn’t stop there. The rest of their non-league schedule consists of El Camino Real, Paraclete, Culver City and Harvard-Westlake. Who’s next? Clemson? Talk about a death march. Well one thing is for sure. Pasadena will be ready for Pacific League play. OC Robert Maxie says his team doesn’t avoid big games. That’s true too. They got some transfers and they went 5-0 in the Spring season. Maxie and the Bulldogs new slogan is “Red is Better”. We’ll see how much better “Red” is but we do know that they are definitely ambitious. 

Interesting note: One of Pasadena’s transfers, quarterback Kaden Taylor, played receiver for Monrovia last year. 

As far as Monrovia goes Noah Rodriguez returns at quarterback and is poised to have a big year. He has one of the best receivers in the SGV in Carlos Hernandez and the Wildcats are loaded at the skill positions. Monrovia won’t be touched in the Rio Hondo but they do have some good tests early. They open the season with West Covina and they also get Los Altos, South Hills and San Dimas before league play begins. If they can get by those games it could be a special season in M-Town. 

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La Serna – Bonita sounds like a second round CIF playoff game in the old Southeast Division. Great programs, superb athletes and brilliant coaches in Andy George and Steve Bogan. If you had to pick one game to be at this Friday night this would be it.  Kick off  is 7:00 p.m. at California High. 

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While we were sorting out the schedule for Zero Week and trying to decide who was going where we came across Cal at Schurr. After kicking it around for a little while we finally settled on Big George Hernandez to cover the game. He doesn’t give a rat’s butt where he goes. 

That’s my principle. 

Tim can be reached at tim.midvalleysports@gmail.com or on Twitter @tspeterson40 and Facebook -Tim Peterson 

2 Comments to "The Peterson Principle: 8/18/2021"

  1. BigG's Gravatar BigG
    August 19, 2021 - 2:04 pm | Permalink

    Like the fries Al Bundy got when Kelly brought them food from with hahaba

  2. Cal Fan's Gravatar Cal Fan
    August 18, 2021 - 8:04 pm | Permalink

    I think I will pass on the hotdog and taco happy meal at Schurr Friday Night. That hot dog might have a tail.

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