By Tim Peterson
Is Jose Rojas from Pioneer the best receiver in the Mid Valley area heading into the 2025 season? I don’t know but he sure is getting the support.
As of this writing Rojas had 56 votes in the Mid Valley poll which is three times more than the next highest vote getter – Don Lugo’s Blake Laporte. It’s hard to say Rojas is the best, there are several receivers with Division 1 offers, but you got to love the support.
The Pioneer faithful are showing up and showing out. The Titans are now excelling on the athletic fields as well. Last year the football team, with Rojas on board, won the Division 14 CIF championship with a 13-6 win over San Gabriel and advanced to the State Finals before coming up short. The baseball team is playing in the CIF Division 8 semi-finals Tuesday against Valencia. Remember the Titans! Pioneer! O Pioneer!
As for the D-1 offers Isaiah Lucero from Northview has received several with San Diego State high on his radar. Downey’s Cam Vasquez has committed to Fresno State and Mayfair’s Chaz Gilbreath has recent offers from Portland State and Nevada. Yeah, it’s a solid list.
Not everybody was on the list. We only went with 10, but keep an eye on Quenten Hall from Cathedral, Nico Vergara from Maranatha and Schurr’s Caesar Aguila…all talented skill guys.
The best of all of them may be one that is a little out of our coverage area. If you haven’t seen Josh Mensah from Rancho Cucamonga he’s well worth the drive down the 210. Some have called him one of the top five athletes in the nation. He hasn’t committed yet but he has offers from Georgia Tech, BYU, North Carolina and Colorado State so far. He made plays at the Charter Oak Tournament last Saturday that had coaches and bystanders gasping.
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The consensus is that Northview is the team to beat in the Valle Vista. While the Vikings should be considered the favorites San Dimas, ever the nemesis, cant be counted out.
Did you know that the Saints lost only two games last year in the regular season and both losses were to teams that went 10-0? They lost to Bonita in the Smudgepot and Northview in league. The Bearcats and the Vikings were both 10-0 heading into the playoffs. San Dimas has quarterback Brandon Meredith returning as well as key pieces in Liam Loyola, Jacob Gallegos and Joey Zamarano.
A quick look at the schedule shows their two toughest games will again be Bonita and Northview. Mark Holman will have the Saints ready.
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La Canada was 3-0 in the Rio Hondo League last year and 8-0 overall heading into their last two games. The Spartans lost to Monrovia 28-21, in a game they should have won, and then fell to South Pasadena 28-10. La Canada has 17 starters returing from the playoff game last year including quarterback Joe Bell. The Spartans are set up front with four returning offensive linemen and three returning starters on the defensive front.
Head coach Dave Avramovich had the Spartans close to the league title last year. This seems to be the year he could get them to the top. My way too early pick in the Rio Hondo is La Canada.
I’m sure the Monrovia fans will have something to say about that. The Wildcat faithful can start by casting some votes for Troy Grise in the receiver poll. Grise, one of the most talented kids in the area, has yet to receive a vote. Let’s go M-Town!
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tim.midvalleysports@gmail.com or on Twitter (X) @tspeterson40. Facebook-Tim Peterson.
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@ Sports Man: On the topic of Division 14 football, its existence means 18 additional playoff games for the CIF Southern Section. We’re talking about 15 games between the first round and the division championship game, plus two state bowl games and the state title game.
All of that must translate into more money from Ford Motor Company and other sponsors, and CIF also gets a sizable cut of the ticket revenue.
Although I enjoy high school baseball, I don’t have time to follow it as closely as I’d like. However, I think I can offer a few salient observations:
1. CIF moves in mysterious ways. In 2012, Alhambra advanced all the way to the Division 3 baseball championship game at Dodger Stadium, where the Moors lost to the Bonita Bearcats. But what happened the following season? CIF dropped AHS from Division 3 to Division 4. (And, as I remember, there were seven divisions for baseball at the time, instead of the current nine.)
2. In my view, eight divisions might be justified if there are more schools competing now. That could be possible, given the movement toward private and charter schools in the last 10 to 15 years. (Perhaps somebody can come up with the statistics on that.)
3. I agree with Detached Observer that public schools which have much larger enrollments shouldn’t be playing in the same division with smaller private schools and charters. Where’s the competitive equity there?
Bottom Line! And this lack of common sense/logic just occurred with addition of D8 and D9 for high school baseball playoffs. At least in football D14 (ok ok , but has D14 in football been around a few, or several , years now?) And of coarse the extra division’s twenty or so games in tournament play brings in $$! At least( i might be a little far off on records and league standings0 )Pioneer football , whose long time head coach , is coached very well and did they finish in 3rd or 4th in league? My focus is similar to yours concerning not very good teams being rewarded like ‘youth basketball leagues’ every kid gets a trophy
Ron Vrooman? ! Did MV baseball deserve or earn this chance? In your commentary you agreed with me that “Division 14′ in playoff football ‘is just way too much’ weakening the quality of the game. Exactly my point concerning Division 9 in baseball, with MV gifted as ‘earning a CIF Playoff Berth’! Personally, I never heard of a few of the teams they faced in the playoffs. SEM beats them 23 to 1 in league. SEM loses in first round i think and MV has a perfect opportunity to be a ‘CIF CHAMPION? This is the same California Interscholastic Federation that allows males to kick around girls in high school female competition. And in the locker rooms too
Anonymous? Well both head coaches and very possibly the AD might be involved , especially if he uses his ‘power’ to override the head coach. What happens when a football program needs two more games to complete the ten game schedule? And when searching ‘CiF games wanted” realizes he can’t find two games against opponents that he wants to play? There a few reasons a coach will not want to schedule certain teams. One logical reason could be that he knows the chances of beating the team “is slim and none!” BUT because creating the Coach’s ‘perfect schedule’ is often impossible. SO! (I agree to never go into competition not thinking about winning) Very often each program must accept what they can under adverse conditions, and play teams much greater than they are in order to fill the ten game schedule. I believe the opposite is true also. A program must accept one game/or back to back season games versus a very below average team, when they wanted to schedule schools with about equal talent and culture
Do you guys think coaches can just schedule anyone they want? Do you think when an opposing team accepts a contract they think they are going to lose that game? When schools select teams to play both parties think they can win. I dont understand your logic of just play bad schools.
@ Bonald Denard: You’re right; I never played tackle football. However, I’ve spent decades talking to coaches and others who have. I know it’s not the same thing, but it’s a lot better than nothing.
As I said before, I like lower-division football, but we don’t need Division 14. Having that division dilutes the quality of high school football in the Southern Section.
Frankly, I’d rather have Alhambra miss the playoffs a time or two than have the team assigned to the lowest possible division, one that didn’t even exist until four years ago. Division 14 is an absolute contrivance, and I’m sure money for CIF was part of the equation there.
If you want San Gabriel to be a perennial competitor and occasional king in Division 14, I guess that’s your thing. But shouldn’t you be aiming a little higher with all the talent the Matadors have?
Alhambra might make the playoffs again sooner than you think; we’ll just have to wait and see about that. If the Moors can pull it off sometime soon, here’s to hoping they get into a division higher than No. 14.
Nothing wrong with tweeking the schedule and maybe resting stars to get a more favorable league position as long as the team is trying for a ring. That is what CIF wants apparently. Smart losers and dumb winners.
@ron you have watched football but have never played football. You and detached observer wouldn’t know good football. Schools that play with neighborhood kids and run clean programs is the best football. Stick to the stats, if you don’t like the lower division don’t watch it, but you probably have to because that’s where the moors will be if they ever scratch the playoffs again.
@ Bonald Denard (riffing on a San Gabriel Matador legend?): Ah, some Clint Eastwood smack; how creative. I’ll make a brash prediction, which is that the current playoff system won’t make it to 20 years; it might not even last ten.
Also, I think the Southern Section did well enough before there was a Division 14; the bulk of the teams which get assigned to that division would have been either low seeds in Division 13 or not in the playoffs at all.
I remember seeing some pretty good playoff games over the years in Divisions 7, 11, and even 13. You cannot sell me on the idea that Division 14 represents a high quality of football.
@FBFan your goal is to get a favorable seed in a favorable division. A division that you feel puts your team in the best position to WIN. To win a CHAMPIONSHIP. To win a championship for your KIDS. It ain’t about coaches or parents, it’s about giving your kids the best chance at winning a CHIP. You can ask any player out there would you rather lose in the first round or win a championship. I guarantee every player chooses to win it all. @Bonald Denard I 100% agree with you
To the commentor that says coaches need to understand the system. I don’t know of 1 coach that doesn’t understand the system. Trying to weasel your way through the system is not the way to go. How’s that working out for Lincoln Riley’s rep these days?
Your suggestion is that you either schedule bad teams on purpose or purposely lose games. Either way, it’s not the way good coaches operate. If your only goal is to get a favorable seed in the playoffs, then the coach isn’t doing what’s best for kids.
It’ll be 20 years later and detached observer and Ron still complain about the new system and d14 not being good football. Give it a rest guys, shouldn’t you be yelling at someone on your lawn
@ Detached Observer: You provided many excellent points. In my opinion, the arguments that several of us have made against the current playoff system are overwhelming. CIF Southern Section needs to go back to the drawing board.
@Anonymous: Spot on with your take. Only problem is what is the remedy? One might be once the playoff teams are decided in each division let them set the brackets through random selection rather than 1 playing 16 you could get 15 playing 16. Not perfect but a thought.
Either your coach understands the system or he doesn’t . It’s the new game, you can complain about it or figure it out. Most people complain about it.
My problem with the CIF system is that a once a generation team within a program will get punished and an average team will get rewarded.
A few examples, this year’s Northview team was WAY better than their team that won a CIF championship a few years ago, but the average team is able to put up a banner. The difference? This year’s team had to play Long Beach Poly, the championship team had to play St. Anthony.
The CIF and state championship El Monte team would not have won a championship in this current format.
This year’s finalist El Rancho team was not nearly as good as the team they had when they lost to a loaded Leuzinger in the first round a few years ago. The difference? They got to play Bell Gardens in the first round.
Hopefully La Canada learned a bit from their slide at the end of the season last year. After coming up short against Monrovia they only scored 1 TD in their last two games. 1 against SP and 0 in their opening round playoff loss.
@ Question Mark: I mostly like the idea of lower divisions, although having Division 14 is a bit much, in my opinion.
I actually said in my previous post that the playoff games in Divisions 12 and 13, for instance, were better before CIF changed the format. You should have been able to gather from that comment that I don’t have an inherent disdain for lower divisions.
Alhambra was in Division 13 in 2019 and was highly-seeded in the playoffs based on an Almont League championship and an unbeaten regular season. Also, at least two of our victories during nonleague play that year were over teams which were a division or two higher.
In addition, our only loss in 2019 was on the road in a semifinal game against Ramona, which was 10-2 going in. Alhambra and Ramona had good teams which deserved to be in the playoffs.
I believe that the year you’re thinking about is 2021, which was the first season with the current playoff format. (It was also the first year that there was a Division 14, if I remember correctly.) Alhambra rebounded from a 1-4 nonleague showing and finished second in league, so we deserved to be in the playoffs somewhere.
But we shouldn’t have been the No. 2 seed, as far as I’m concerned. We did win two playoff games before losing to Loara in the semis, and we finished the season with a record of 6-7.
I have always believed that the existing format is badly flawed, and the ridiculous seedings are one of the main issues. I also have been consistent and candid in stating my opposition to this format. However, I wouldn’t expect Alhambra or any other school to turn down an opportunity to compete in a playoff game, which is one of the primary goals of playing in the first place.
The problem is with the system that has been set up by the CIF Southern Section, so let’s change it.
Placentia- Valencia 1- Whittier Pioneer 3. Remember the Titans Indeed!!!!!
@RV: I find your remarks disingenuous. You certainly posted somewhat giddy 1n 2019 I think about Alhambra’s deep run in the playoffs. I dont recall you ever calling those games “mediocre”, even though they were in D 14. Keep on rooting for lower divisions. It makes a football fan happier.
@Ron et al. Nobody is saying to not get excited and root for your school ! Please do .
Still. we are remiss if we don’t acknowledge some schools are adversely impacted by playoff structure and in big picture the quality of athletics in SGV is trending in wrong direction because of rewarding mediocrity in playoff structure.
In previous baseball post , a fan noted how SEM was far superior to MV , but lost first round game in D6 . Meanwhile MV rolling to semis vs school that has 150 high school students .
So how are divisions formed and created ? They are formed by ranking teams in CIF from best to worst , and slicing the pie exactly on the lines of power rankings . Therefore by definition D14 in football are the worst 16 qualifiers in the section ; they’ve proven themselves throughout course of season. Same in baseball: D9 is the weakest 10% of all teams qualifying in playoffs including many obscure leagues with small schools . CIF won’t say this because it’s a bad look in those terms ( it’s all about close games.)
One fan commented that MV looks so much better now in playoffs. While not entirely discounting possible improvement , every team that has been playing better teams will look better when they only are playing the worst . Coastal Christian has about 150
In high school so I can see why they would be in that Division, but MV ? What’s your excuse ?
What I see as problematic is that MV AD thinks they had great success this year and is content with level of play because CIF coronates mediocrity .
Why should SEM be in far different Division and end season with sour taste while MV plays gleefully into the semis ? It’s a valid question.
Same in football. Rosemead won first round D14 playoff game in 2022 vs Silver Valley.
( somehow qualifying with a losing record ) , a school with 350 students in the middle of the desert . I can only assume that this curiously validated the new hire for Rosemead administration when really the fall into D14 was the harbinger of disaster . Since then, what had been a solid program and contender in MVL has fallen to the depths , and the league as a whole has declined markedly.
So yes be happy and excited for your schools success , but fans of the area that love high school have feelings and opinions on the criteria that define said success.
@ Question Mark: While we’re frequently on the same page, I have to disagree with you on this one.
I believe that the matchups in the lower divisions (such as Divisions 12 and 13) were better before the current playoff format took effect in 2021.
You can’t make third-place or even fourth-place teams the top seeds in the lowest divisions and still expect quality football. That’s simply promoting mediocrity or worse.
Playoff excitement and deep runs into semis, finals and state are usually found in the lower divisions in the MVS coverage area. You don’t like it? Tough! Read the Times. Go Pioneer!!
@ FBFan: I second that.
Spot on comment DO!
I’m not so concerned about the negative power ratings . Many decent teams are in the low negatives, around zero. It’s the randomness of it all…..Pioneer was 5-5 and 3rd place in 4 team league , but gets 2 seed and home game vs team with -60 rating . Gets championship by beating team who can’t kick extra point and beats no team with better than -30 rating . On other words , Pioneer was big favorite in their division . Their team prior year was probably better and lost a close game in first round of Division 13 against better team than they saw entire playoff run until State championship debacle .
Happy for the Titan Nation , but CIF championship means devoid of perspective for all those involved in the random act of kindness from governing body .
I’m rather disappointed with Peterson’s excitement over Pioneer’s D14 antics. I would have hoped the man had a memory of what real playoff action was like, before they let all those negative power rated teams into the dance. Just because the money-hungry federation has sponsored a slew of lowly divisions, it doesn’t mean we all have to pretend those groupings are in any way noteworthy.
From T. Peterson: Remember the Titans!