Baldwin Park looking good in the Hacienda.
By Tim Peterson
Anybody can win the Hacienda League. Oh sure, we can pick a favorite and try to project who’s going to finish where but all of these teams have talent and can win on any given Friday night. All of the teams were representing at Los Altos High School Friday at Hacienda League Media Day.
Los Altos says they’re ready to go.
Baldwin Park has skill guys in quarterback Lequand “Jack Jack” Jackson and receiver Dahryion Vaughn. Diamond Bar has a good young quarterback in Ryan Manning and a strong offensive line led by senior Joe Nemeth.
West Covina, traditionally a ground and pound type team, is going to throw it around with quarterback Elias Irvin. Isaac Villescas, who does a little bit of everything for the Bulldogs is a threat at wide receiver and will play defensive back as well.
Ryan Manning and Diamond Bar are anxious to kick it off.
Chris Williams, a great offensive mind, has taken over as the head coach at Covina. He has a good young quarterback in Ethan Hayes. Chris Muro, a senior who plays strong safety and has grown up in the Covina program, returns as well.
Luke Rodriguez has taken the baton from Diego Castillo at quarterback for Los Altos. He has had a great summer and is looking forward to a successful year. He has some nice targets in Benjamin Cortez and Alonzo Guerrero.
South Hills has a big front line.
South Hills has two linemen that look like they should be playing in the Big Ten. Dominic Gonzalez and Cody Tuitoelau are going to pave the road and protect quarterback Fabian Marez. Max Rodriguez, a receiver who transferred in from Upland, stands 6’4″ and is going to be a nightmare for defensive backs.
It’s hard to pick anybody to win this league and rest assured nobody is going to run away with it. They may be beating each other up every week. It will come down to who is the last man (team) standing.
West Covina may air it out on offense.
But we have to make a projection. That’s what were supposed to do right?
Here’s how we see it. Don’t bet the farm
Covina can jump up and bite somebody.
Hacienda League: Projected order of finish.
1. Baldwin Park
Head Coach – Robert Maxie
Key Players: Lequand “Jack Jack” Jackson QB, Dahryion Vaughn WR/DB, Cobey Lacy OL/C, Isaiah Rodriguez LB, Joseph Puente OL/DL, Jacory Coleman WR/RB, Choyce Hampton RB, Donovan St. Cyr WR.
2. Los Altos
Head Coach – Dale Ziola
Key Players: Luke Rodriguez QB, Arthur Estrada OL/DL, Evan Rojas RB, Benjamin Cortez WR, Alonzo Guerrero WR.
3. Diamond Bar
Head Coach – Matt Castaneda
Key Players: Ryan Manning QB, Joe Nemeth OL, Joseph Oliva DB/WR, Chris Lin OL, Elliot James WR
4. South Hills
Head Coach – Jacob Calderon
Key Players: Fabian Marez QB, Dominic Gonzalez OL/DL, Cody Tuitoelau OL/DL, Jesse Perez LB, Jacob Gallardo WR.
5. West Covina
Head Coach – Bai Kabba
Key Players: Elias Irvin QB, Isaac Villescas WR/DB, Moses Gogue WR/DB, Owen Reid OL/DL Julian Duran OL/DL.
6. Covina
Head Coach – Chris Williams
Key Players: Chris Muro SS, Adrian Mendoza OLB, Nick Jimenez OL, Ethan Hayes QB, Cortavion Stewart PL/DL.
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@TP
You’re right I totally forgot about that. But even if they got bumped up Maxie has shown that he could compete as a coach with those guys, they loss to Aquinas by 10 that year after beating Thousands Oaks, La Mirada who was still a pretty good team at the time.
Come on, man. Pasadena was D14 the year after that D3 year. That’s not program building – that’s a different thing altogether. Not what public HS football should be about. Ain’t nobody should want that for kids or schools.
Where are the real program builders? The people that take the kids from the local community and build them into a competitive program.
All the talk is privates and guys that recruit kids away instead of developing their own. That’s not really HS coaching. That’s sales or recruiting. Bad for kids. Bad for the community. Bad for education. Bad for the sport.
CIF should be embarrassed by what is happening. So should these schools and districts that are doing sports this way.it’s all embarrassing.
@FBFan Without searching the internet who was the last team to jump from D11 to D3? Even in baseball and Ganesha with all those D1 kids they went from D7 and D2 in 3/4 years. Inglewood in football went from 13 to 2 in a couple years, RHP went from 9 to 5 in 3 years. Now in 2 or 3 years if they aren’t in D5 or 4 with those guys they get than maybe.
From T. Peterson: Pasadena jumped to DIV 3 in 2022 when Maxie and Sham were there. In ’21 they were in DIV 7 so it was a jump of 4 Divisions. Prior to that they were usually 10 or below.
@ The Watcher,
It would be a shame if BP played Monrovia or Paramount. They should be playing teams that are playing the same game they are. That’s the whole point of the new playoff format. If BP is in division 9 or 10 with multiple D-1 prospects while other teams without any d-1 prospects are in higher divisions, then Maxie is not a good coach. Now if they end up in d3-5 like they should, then I’ll recant that statement.
I see what Maxie is doing but you can’t hate just cause he does it better than your school. Maxie is a better coach than people are giving him credit for plus he does his thing and he’s not on X talking all crazy. I say Baldwin Park Braves are a solid D9 D10 school that should make a solid run. I would like to see them in a playoff game maybe against a school like Monrovia or like a Paramount.
Los Altos
West Covina/Baldwin Park (toss up)
South Hills
Diamond Bar
Covina
All part of the plan, transfers don’t play in preaseason, bp goes .500 in the pre season then magically the transfers get cleared after the sop,
Maxie eases them into league play, they go into D11 and will somehow lose in the semis to a team doing the same thing but with a better coach.
Interesting as of Saturday afternoon, there have not been any transfers submitted by Baldwin Park for the 2026-27 school year according to the CIF website. The last time a decision was made on a BP transfer was 1/28/2026.
Question: does all the 25 transfers have to sit out half the season? Some admitted in their interviews that they did not move addresses. Also how does CIF rank them after the transfer sit out period with all these new players, it will have complete different starters? Can you please enlighten us on the process? Finally, what if they have false statements on the transfer paperwork? I will wait for your expert opinion. Thanks.
From T. Peterson: I just report the transfers…what players are at what school, etc. But I don’t work for CIF. You might want to check with them. “Not my problem” as Mr. Chow once said.
How’s that diamond ranch kid going to play for Covina? If that’s not following your coach not sure what is
Left out another key guy in Junior LB Nick Castillo Los Altos, he’s been leading that defense since he was a freshman looking for a huge year out of him!