T-Minus-74 Days until “The Mid Valley Classic”
Good Afternoon!
Four months later I get to confirm that former Temple City product Andrew Gibson is now a Rosemead Panther.
Where should you expect to see ‘Gibby’ or ‘Turtle’ (as he was called by the TC staff in 2009)? Remember the role Cesar Chavez played for the Mead defense from 2006 through 2008? Safety, lining up in the box like a linebacker.
I saw Chavez play that spot for three years with Matt Koffler alternating in calling him safety or linebacker, creating endless arguments between Bad News Barker and I during important business meetings at Lampost Pizza.
Safety, linebacker, left tackle, or running back; Gibson is a great addition for the Panthers.
Add me to the K.C. Huth fan club out at BoHi.
The Mid: So Coach MacMillan did your team get the message when you benched the starters the other day?
Chris MacMillan (Arroyo OC): No, they didn’t. We’re still dropping too many passes. It’s like we’re in a slump. Can’t wait to get back to doing some drills.
The Mid: You guys are good, but with Monrovia, Whittier Christian, San Dimas, and Schurr you can’t mess around. All hands gotta be on deck or its not happening.
MacMillan: Exactly.
Arroyo won three out of four to advance to Saturday play.
Reminder: For the very first time Arroyo goes Zero Week this fall. They match up with an athletic Ontario team before playing Temple City in “The Mid Valley Classic”.
Covina struggled (who cares in June though) but quarterback Billy Livingston has no issues when it comes to delivering the ball. Colts HC Darryl Thomas should be feeling very confident.
Last Add BoHi: Garrett Pendleton looked as good as anybody I saw. Big, strong, confident.
Mornovia’s Nick Bueno may not have looked big, but he sure looked strong and confident. Plus the parts around Good St. Nick are pretty special.
Loyola’s quarterback Jerry Neuheisel (Yes, Rick’s son) had some trouble with the parts around him but he looks very much the part of a Pac 5 and ultimately a Pac 10 or 12 triggerman.
Speaking of quarterbacks the heir apparent at Santa Fe looks, for now, to be the HC’s grandson; junior Christian Mahlstede.
Ran into James Escarcega at the end of Friday’s action at Bonita. Now Escarcega, if anyone has met him, is a runaway train when talking football at one of these events. This guy will talk third string quarterback at Ganesha, Mr. Energy, no batteries necessary, you don’t even have to wind him up.
So I’m expecting some low down, he was coming from a La Serna toss. What did he think of the Lancers? What did he think of Andrew Buenrostro? Connor Burke?
No. The dude is exhausted. I can hardly get a word out of him. Here’s the kicker: “I’m wiped out,” he says. “I’m not going to the game tonight.”
Escarcega saying he’s not going to the football game is like Peterson picking up the tab at lunch…Two things that never happen.
So I cruise to the Hall of Fame game after leaving the Bonita Tournament, and get there halfway through the first quarter. Standing at the back gate, by himself, looking like Nixon with baggy shorts, is Baldwin Park DC Bryan Sterling.
I figure he must be in the doghouse or he drew the short straw; Parking lot duty!
I made it through hassle free, my camera was in the back seat so I couldn’t snap a shot. Probably a good thing.
“You just be sure to give us some love Torosian,” he said. “You better get in there, this game could be over quick.”
“What a drag, you get stuck out here,” I said.
“Yeah, but it’s worth it,” Sterling said. “Our kids work their butts off.”
Like several schools Baldwin Park raises all of its football funding from scratch. The Braves have been unfunded the last two seasons (welcome the correction). Sterling, an obvious football guy through and through, the DC not a scrub, was maning a lonely parking gate while the game was going on. I was impressed. Just another testament that prep football, at least from Burbank to Bonita and down the 605 does not work without the assistants.
After parking my van the kid directing me, Joseph Duran, says he works for tips. I told him to see Andrew Campa after the game and he’d be taken care of.
Fortunately I made it out of Baldwin Park before the roof caved in on the West squad.
Have to say I expected a bigger fan turn out.
With the Hall of Fame game, is it the game or the event? For the players, obviously, its the game…but from my side it is the event. It’s the connections on the sideline or at the half.
Spent sometime with Schurr HC Ben Negrete.
The Mid: Hey Coach all we are hearing around the division is ‘no, we don’t want Schurr in the Mid-Valley they don’t belong. They’re gonna make it tough.’
Negrete: (smiling) Good.
Was it just me or did San Dimas’ Tre Evans look a lot bigger? Not in a Big Tony way, but more in a bulked up, pumping iron, way.
“Does Evans look bigger to you?” I asked former M-Towner, PCC bound, current West All-Star punter, Josh Lowden.
“I don’t know,” he said. “All I know is in both 2008 and 2009 I lost to a Tra/Tre in the playoffs.”
For some reason I don’t believe this is the last time we’ll see West HC Keith Jones working the sidelines.
Stay thirsty my friends…
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