South El Monte has its eyes on the Mission Valley League crown. The Eagles will have to get by Arroyo first. The Knights are the defending league champs and until someone proves they can knock them off they are the team to beat. El Monte and Rosemead should battle for that third spot. The Panthers are coming off a very un-Rosemead like year going 2-8 in 2023. Mt. View and Gabrielino, barring any major upsets, will bring up the rear.
The Eagles have the most weapons. Quarterback Matthew Medina threw for 2,416 yards last year and 29 touchdowns. That’s no typo. Michael Valencia rushed for over 600 yards a year ago. Angel Valladares ran for 540 as well. Arroyo returns quarterback Dillon Seguin and receiver Richard Inostroz should be a nice target but do the Knights have the fire power to keep up?
El Monte likes to pound it. Felipe Taboada rushed for 1,132 yards and 17 touchdowns last year as a junior and Brandon Do grinded out 925 and 9 scores. The Lions look good for third at least.
Rosemead has a way to go to come back from a forgettable year in 2023 but the Panthers do have some talent. Returning linebacker Andres Estrada had 32 tackles last year. The Panthers need to upend a top 3 MVL team.
Mt. View’s new stadium is sweet. The Vikings will rely on Everardo Nunez to break in the new turf. Nunez chewed up over 900 yards last year and found the end zone 13 times.
Gabrielino was 0-10 in 2023. The head coach was one and done and ’24 isn’t looking much brighter. To get a win in league would be an accomplishment.
Projected Order of Finish:
- South El Monte – Receiver Tony Aguilar is a difference maker.
- Arroyo – The biggest question is can the Knights beat South?
- El Monte – Aaron Rivera (68 tackles in ’23) is a force on defense.
- Rosemead – Armando Renteria and Jacob Wang can provide some highlights on offense.
- Mt. View – Everardo Nunez has a nose for the end zone.
- Gabrielino – The Eagles just can’t seem to get off the hamster wheel.
@MVL hoops, no agree they deserve credit for continuing success 100%. But I’m just saying I know them both personally and McKinnon was a couple notches better to me, but Jim did excellent as well. He showed he was a quality coach as well. He definitely improved alot over years also.
I will always agree that Coach MacKinnon built the program from the ground up. In the mid-80s he made a decision to run the Veer option on offense and had a great DC in Mike Kleine. They would chew up the clock, and then make you work for every inch on defense. Arroyo did play in a much tougher/higher division through the 80s and 90s-but they also had much different players with great linemen and just tough all around kids. The fact that they won the CIF title in 86 running the option, then just a few short years later had continued success switching to the Spread shows you what kind of coach he was. When Singiser took over, they were still very good defensively, but he was smart enough to hire Chris Mac Milan to run the offense, and the rest was history. Were they in a smaller, somewhat easier division-sure. But you still have to prepare and play the games!
McKinnon is the one who built the dynasty and deserves the MOST credit for almost all of it, Jim n Other guy deserve credit for not crashing the Ferrari but there’s levels to it. Both good coaches, but McKinnon was another level. Also played and won in much higher divisions.
They’re good coaches. I said that. They built a program. It shows. Having talent year in and year out makes a big difference. It’s easier to build. Yes, you still have to coach them up but coaching up good athletes and players with football experience before high school has its advantages.
McKinnon and Singiser did all the right things. They built a PROGRAM. I’m just saying that they had the upper hand for a long time. Could the gap be closing? Possibly. Just don’t be surprised when Arroyo whips Mt View again 40-0. Why? Because they had better athletes!
It’s always the same comeback from the anti-Arroyo people; Arroyo always has the best players, Mac Kinnon, Singiser and Leonardis would never have success if they coached at Mtn. View, etc.
Does Arroyo have good players-yes, most years. But you still have to COACH those players up if you want to succeed at the level that they have. How would they have done at EM, MV, etc-you can’t really answer that except to say that they would have been much more likely to have success than anyone those schools have ever had. They built and grew the PROGRAM at Arroyo-not just be good every few years, but to be consistently good top to bottom-regardless of the talent level. Most years, Arroyo’s talent level is not much better than any other school in the MVL-it comes down to what you do with that talent that makes or breaks a PROGRAM. Coaching stability, discipline, using the talent you have at your disposal is what breeds consistency and success. I have seen many MVL teams with good talent at their lower levels-what happens to them when they get to the Varsity? MV, Rosemead, Gab had a lot of talented lower level teams, but they could not build on that? EM and South have been able to build on their lower level talent recently which is why they have had more success at the Varsity level. If you put Mac Kinnon, Singiser or Leonardis at any other school in the MVL-including MV-they would build a program that would contend for play-offs spots and league titles almost immediately. You can agree or disagree, but what they did at Arroyo goes a long way to proving that they could.
Last time Mt View beat Arroyo was 1980. So about 44 years not 30 years. I believe the score was 50-0.
No disrespect to McKinnon or Singiser but Arroyo was good because they had good players. McKinnon and Singiser are indeed good coaches but if their career started at Mt View and not Arroyo they don’t have close to the same success. They probably never win a league title.
What do y’all think?
An honest evaluation of the MVL heading into the season-based on what I have seen and heard from people that I know and trust their opinions.
(Alphabetical)
ARROYO: The skill players are still pretty solid. 2 good RBs that compliment each other, QB that was the starter in league, and a solid group of WRs. But the strength of the Knights over the last 10 years-in addition to having a great coaching staff-was the offensive/defensive lines. Definitely not what they have been up front. Should have returned all 5 starters on OL, but injuries and other issues have hurt their depth. Defensively, they lost a lot to graduation-time for those other kids to step up into bigger roles. Arroyo has always been successful due to very good coaching, toughness and discipline-remains to be seen if this group has what it takes.
EL MONTE: Lions were better last year than most people thought. RB is a TOUGH kid! Good size and tough OL, and a solid QB. Defense is the key for them. Saw them during the summer with mixed results, but the potential is definitely there to make a run in league.
GABRIELINO: New coaching staff (again), but they looked vastly improved over the summer. They have the best athletes in the league on their campus! If they could get those basketball and track athletes out for football, they could be scary good. Back in the late 90’s early 2000’s, they did have those kind of kids that played multiple sports-and they were successful in football. They did seem to have a few more athletes out this summer, so that should help. The last few years their OL/DL have been awful-that needs to change if they want to compete.
MTN. VIEW: They are definitely heading in the right direction. Some stability with the coaching staff always helps in that regard. They are going to do what they do offensively and try to control the clock. They do seem to be better defensively that they have been the last couple years. They have improved every year with this staff. Enough to knock off Arroyo or El Monte-probably not, but stranger things have happened.
ROSEMEAD: Hard team to figure out. Another school that has athletes on their campus, but they only have 30 or so players. Rumor has it that new soccer coach has told his kids not to play football-don’t know how any school in the MVL can survive without having multisport athletes. Hear they have a pretty talented freshman QB, and they always have some size and toughness. This is 3rd year with this staff -they should be much better this season.
SOUTH: This is their title to lose-no question. But they were 8-0 going into the Arroyo game last season and got dominated on both sides of the ball. QB is very good, WRs have speed, size and toughness. They have some solid RBs, and they should be very good up front-best OL last year was a freshman! Should be tough defensively at all 3 levels (DL/LB/DB). If they can get over the mental block that has been Arroyo, they are talented and well coached enough to win the title.
Like someone else stated, the MVL has had some really good teams-dominant teams-going back to the mid 80’s. It is still a pretty competitive league, just do not have the same type of players as they had even 5-10 years ago. I still believe-especially in the MVL-coaching and discipline matter more at these schools than it does at many other places. Having stability, establishing a culture of discipline and building a PROGRAM still means something! Best of Luck to all of the teams as we begin the 2024 season!
Arroyo is done, Moyé was an awful hire to begin with. He’s only got 3 coaches on staff. He’s never won where ever he’s been. If he doesn’t get fired after preseason. Knights are 0-5 or 1-4 at best headed into MVL. Knights may only get 1 -2 wins in league at best and that may come at Rosemead and Gab. SEM/EM will destroy AHS. MV may also beat the knights for the first time in 30 something years. Program tradition is gone. Moye should be fired just like his short tenure at Sierra Vista.
During the eighties and after both teams were good
You have the correct opponent in game number one to get a victory. Of that doesn’t happen, will be a long season,
@SEM, why even play the season. Everyone go home, SEM has got it. lol
Really hoping Gabrielino does not go 0-10 again.
We have the best QB returning, we have the best RB returning and we have the player of year returning in Aguliar at WR. It’s a lock.
The league was always decent. Arroyo and Rosemead used to have great squads. The MVL doesn’t have one team that’s top 20 in the valley.
This used to be a good league ….::Rosemead demise , now anticipated Arroyo collapse at the top SEM assumes rule of roost ….D12 at best
Let’s go South El Monte!!