{"id":5505,"date":"2010-02-04T20:15:23","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T03:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=5505"},"modified":"2010-02-04T20:15:32","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T03:15:32","slug":"ike-likes-iowa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=5505","title":{"rendered":"Ike Likes Iowa"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

San Gabriel Matador Isaac Valdez inks with Iowa Wesleyan.<\/p><\/div>\n

(San Gabriel)- San Gabriel quarterback Isaac Valdez, a three year starter, signed a letter of intent Thursday to play football at Iowa Wesleyan University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a big dream I\u2019ve had for a long time,\u201d said Valdez surrounded by Matador coaches Keith Jones, Jude Oliva, and Donald Bernard.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done an awesome job,\u201d said Jones. \u201cHe was all class on and off the field. Again, I give credit to Coach O (Jude Oliva), he\u2019s the one that works to get these kids out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valdez joins several other SG alums that have moved on to play college football. Players like Juan Magallon, Marco Mora, Alejandro Bobadilla, and Patrick Courtney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of him,\u201d said Oliva. \u201cI know this day was something he\u2019s been looking forward to since he was in the sixth grade. He\u2019s earned it and we\u2019re gonna miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earning it came in the form of starting 34 games at quarterback throwing 945 passes, completing 570 for 7,944-yards and 50 touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish he played defense,\u201d said Bernard. \u201cHe\u2019s a prime example of hard work. I\u2019m very proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valdez complemented his passing by picking up 1,763-yards on the ground and 18 touchdowns. His combined offense totals come to 9,707-yards while accounting for 68 touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsaac was more of a double threat than some of the other quarterbacks I\u2019ve had here,\u201d said Jones. \u201cFrankie (Bernard) and Saile (Ramirez) were more pocket guys. Isaac would see something and make plays with his legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valdez gave consideration to other schools but settled on Iowa Wesleyan when they expressed how much they wanted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to the coaches and they said they really wanted me,\u201d Valdez said. \u201cThey said they have a really good team and needed a quarterback and wanted me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chance to compete for a starting job right away was deciding factor, Valdez said. He also said he is very aware what it means to be leaving southern California and going to a state where he knows nobody.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Signing Day has become a tradition at SG durning the Jones era<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cMy parents were asking me if I was sure, and I said I was. It\u2019s time to mature and become a man, to be responsible for myself. I\u2019m also excited because there so many players from so many different places around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valdez hopes to study either kinesiology or sociology, and hasn\u2019t ruled out being a firefighter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(San Gabriel)- San Gabriel quarterback Isaac Valdez, a three year starter, signed a letter of intent Thursday to play football at Iowa Wesleyan University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2049,2048,1432,514,1433,513,389,2051,2050,1437,440],"class_list":["post-5505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-school-sports","tag-alejandro-bobadilla","tag-donald-bernard","tag-frankie-bernard","tag-isaac-valdez","tag-juan-magallon","tag-jude-oliva","tag-keith-jones","tag-marco-mora","tag-patrick-courtney","tag-saile-ramirez","tag-sg"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5505"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5510,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5505\/revisions\/5510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}