On Thursday night October 20th San Gabriel lost to Bell Gardens at home 27-15. The defeat was the third in the previous four games and left the Matadors at 5-3 overall but more importantly 1-3 in the Almont League.
After starting the season with four straight victories the Mats were now struggling to keep their heads above water. But instead of folding the tent San Gabriel responded with an overtime win over Alhambra the following week to get into the CIF Division 13 playoffs. The Matadors then beat Alhambra again in the first round and proceeded to win their next three games as well including a 52-27 win over Bishop Montgomery to win the Division 13 Championship which was the first CIF Championship in school history.
Head Coach Kevin Encinas, who led San Gabriel to that first ever title, also guided the Mats to a victory over Kennedy (Granada Hills) in the State Bowl 6-A playoffs the next week before falling to Atascadero in the 6-A State Finals.
Encinas led the Matadors the same way through-out the season- with a steady hand and a positive voice that kept San Gabriel on track. Even when things looked bleak after the loss to Bell Gardens Encinas never wavered, got his troops back on their feet and showed them the way to the CIF championship.
Kevin Encinas is our Coach of the Year.
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Exactly! It’s called “coach of the YEAR” not “best coach in league”…….smh…..too many haters out their in the world
I wonder whether this is the first time in CIF history that a football team which finished fourth in its league went on to win a divisional championship and a state bowl game. Like it or not, the Matadors took full advantage of the opportunity that was given them. They deserve a lot of credit.
Now that we’re in the postseason, we can talk about changing the division and playoff formats. There’s much to discuss, and the time is overdue.
Wasn’t even coach of the year in the almot. What a joke
From T. Peterson: CIF Champions, State Bowl Win… Why is it a joke? By the way the league is called the Almont, not the almot.
He’s still riding the wave that Margarito created. I don’t care how long it’s been since Margarito left, he changed the culture of a long standing losing program. George, has just done a good job of not screwing it up.
Felicitations to coach Encinas on a thrilling season.
Anonymous, the Whittier High SChool District elected 3 new board members. At least one of them has seemed open to taking a long look at La Serna’s open enrollment policy and the inequity to the other schools in the district in a variety of areas that the policy promotes. Some boards are even taking a look at leaving CIF alltogether.
Good pick Peterson. I hope if the MVS is going to pick an all area team you will continue to look at all the players not just the ones that were promoted on social media like the SGVN WDN PSN did in their teams.
99% of La Serna kids are homegrown. We don’t need to go out of district!
@Coach What a ignorant loser you sound like bro. Guaranteed your a LA Serna supporter. Dude the high school football world doesn’t revolve around you guys. San Gabriel coach deserves all the credit for what he and his boys have done this year. Yes LA Serna always has a good squad almost every year, however you guys can’t seem to get the job done despite all the talent you get every year. So for you to make these comments are embarrassing. Until you guys actually win CIF title (now) stop talking down a coach who got the job done.
If you’re commenting about LS why are you bringing up El Rancho? Not one team from the Almont would come within 4 TD’s of El Rancho let alone LS, let’s keep it real.
Coach Encinas has re-built SG football with undersized, hungry young men in the six seasons that he has been here. He has full support of administration and alumni. Congratulations coach.
Mere words are not enough to describe what Encinas has done. When you’re able to beat Alhambra twice, then guide your crew to a division 13 title (not the weak division 14 variety), you’re obviously someone special. We should all be proud to have witnessed this unprecedented run, especially that Atascadero game, where superior coaching kept the score from getting out of hand.
My only fear is that Mater Dei will bail on their plans to sign Troy Thomas, and instead steal Kevin. I beg the man to sign the big-bucks extension SG will undoubtedly offer.
La Serna and El Rancho parents should have their own paper called the Cry Babies of Valley Sports. That way they can win all the awards in that paper. George is a good coach but he has kids coming from different district and just has numbers. I believe the best coach job is when you struggle with numbers and keep putting out a team every week and competing. They might not win but compete and do it with class.
Coach George is a heck of a coach, however I’d love to see him at a place like San Gabriel where your not getting the best kids of your district and out of district like LS does.
this award belongs to Coach George of La Serna.
Best coach best team in area by far.
Well deserved
There should be 2 awards for this. One for the coach who had a great regular season and got fed to the big boys and one for the coach who the playoff system smiled upon….