High School Football playoff scores from around the area:
Thursday November 14
El Rancho 40 Los Amigos 20
Friday November 15
St. Francis 28 Muir 27
Edison 24 Bonita 0
Dana Hills 38 San Dimas 35
Rio Hondo Prep 28 ML King 7
Pasadena 22 San Marino 16
Duarte 27 Nordhoff 21 OT
Baldwin Park 28 Big Bear 21
La Serna 56 Rio Mesa 35
Glendora 31 Rancho Verde 13
Highland 42 Burbank 28
Ganesha 43 Century 42
Palos Verdes 27 Mayfair 13
Warren 40 Golden Valley 14
Wilson 27 Estancia 12
Silverado 35 Chino 32
Gahr 34 Artesia 7
South Pasadena 34 Valley View 31
San Gabriel 41 Costa Mesa 35
Pioneer 27 La Quinta 20
Wilson LB 19 Village Christian 17
Lynwood 44 El Monte 37 OT
Salesian 20 Irvine 10
Mater Dei 33 Sierra Canyon 13
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@Anonymous
You guys are in shambles. It’s already a done deal. Sorry you guys can’t compete with LS and have been crying for LS to be out of the league for years now. Cry harder we don’t give af. You guys don’t realize that leagues don’t mean jack anyway. lmao
We are ready to swap out Bellflower for La Serna. Easy peasy. But La Serna crying loud.
Lies, you know you wanted no part of the Gateway, time to go stock up on more Samoan kids from out of state because you don’t trust your Whittier boys to do the job.
@anonymous
lol you are misinformed. La Serna is happily going to be joining the Gateway league so they don’t have to deal with beating the crap out of poor ER, Cal, Whittier, and Semi-Fe year in and year out.
The seedlings and home games are random. CIF creates the boundaries for divisions ( via Cal Preps yes) and then says yes or no for wild card on this division or not .
I’m Pioneer fan but why should they deserve high seed ?
@lp you use two private schools as your example, nice lol random Divisions they go through cal preps
There would be other good teams in lower divisions. There used to be some very tough D13 teams when that was lowest division . A very good Rio squad lost to Salesian in semis 2013. If your point is that to randomly assign teams to good seeds and create caste based divisions is good so everyone gets a chance to win , then I proved it .
They would have moved up this year base on last years championship.
@lowprofile you are proving my point. In the past a team could transfer in kids and dominant their league and division. Now you will have to play teams with similar talent in a division based off your season. That’s why don lugo losses because now they have to matchup with similar teams and they get out coached. Rio Hondo is a private school with kids who have been running their plays since 6th grade. Can you imagine if there was no competitive equity RHP would be killing d14 teams by 100.
I agree with the sentiment , but it’s random . Last year , they were just a bit better got placed in D13 and lost close first round game .This year they were 5-5 3rd place in 4 team league and got #2 seed . They could have easily been left out of playoffs altogether. Take it for what it’s worth
“ Every division has equal talent in that division “
No , did Charter Oak have the same talent as other D8 cohorts last year ? They had 3 top tier D1 recruits ; most in that division had nobody going D1 .
The number of transfers does not equate to quality of football. Sure some programs at the top recruit heavily. Don Lugo had several transfers and couldn’t win D11 playoff game . They were beaten by a team with no transfers . Winners win . How many transfers does RHP have?
That was in the works however the staff and admin at LS threw a fit and basically nothing will be changing anytime soon, a team will probably be leaving the Del Rio soon though.
Will CIF officials take a longer look at releaging LS after the way they dismantled D4 And D5 powerhouses for the last several years.
@LP every division has equal talent in that division. So now you go against teams that are similar to your talent level. That’s what this new model does it puts similar teams together for more equitable games. Now it comes down to coaching, scheme,culture. Not just who has more kids transferring in.
All we need to do is count the number of people in attendance at the various playoff games, and then we’ll know which divisions need to be cut. It’s getting so bad, there are almost more bodies on the field than in the stands.
I don’t know what you are talking about . There are some terrible teams in D14 that are automatic qualifiers ; for example Vasquez . There are 16 teams in every division except D1 . There are 228 teams in the playoffs ; by definition the 16 worst teams in playoffs are placed in D14. That’s the bottom 6% . How is this then difficult to win? Because Keppel, Workman , Bosco Tech et al are also in the division ????
SG winning in the 13 and 14 divisions is impressive . They are one of the few schools that gets no transfers and plays with neighborhood kids. They went the exact opposite of what Jude used to do and they are winning with the kids from the community. Hate all you want but they figured out the game.
1,047 teams playing 11 man football in Ca. With the top 5 Divisions comprised of just a few teams each with most if not all making the playoffs. The bottom divisions are loaded with 60 or more teams. So Ca. D14 is one of the most difficult to win with the amount of teams in the running. D1 only 8-10 teams to beat In the S/S. D14 has 100 give or take competing for a spot. Make that what you will.
So Sportsman. I imagine you poop and toss out your boys participation trophies? They are mraningless right? Nice. I’m a bad dad and cherish all of my childrens medals and trophies no matter how they got them.
Correct!! Bad Optics!! It’s hard to pump your chest! Winning a double digital CIF championship.. BTW Montebello sucks!!
Bad Optics = Well does 14 divisions makes it very possible for the high school football teams who may have had a history of losing all the time to have a chance at winning? Pioneer , over the last (I am not definitely correct in number of years, but close I think) two decades , have seldom made the playoffs when playing in the Del Rio League and now in whatever weaker league they compete in. It does remind me of , when one of my sons was five or six more than two decades ago, attending the NJB end of season celebration. My sons team went 0 and 10 , and some of the lesser teams had almost the same records in each age division. Well the ‘everyone gets a trophy’ ideology was just starting out and I hear that saying often. But I am not against Pioneer Football earning a big championship trophy because Juarez has been a good head coach for decades, and when he was given some more talented players he did well
The real ones always believed in his coaching, he had no control over the plethora of injuries the team had in 2023, many of us predicted a huge rebound this year, here we are.
Funny Stuff: Many on this board were calling for Coach Medrano’s head last season and earlier this season. Now some of the same jokers are praising him.
Bottom line: He is a very good coach whether his team goes 2-8 or 8-2. Always has been and always will be.
There are many variables that create a winning or losing season.
Coaches just don’t forget how to do it and then suddenly remember how to do it again.
@DO,
Facts! Los Amigos didn’t know what they were getting into when they played The Ranch. Assumed they were just another D-11 team. This is the same trap ER can’t fall into with San Gorgonio although I’m sure Medrano and staff are a little more knowledgeable of CIF-SS football than Los Amigos was. But San Gorgonio is NO joke and their schedule was no joke and their league was no joke! I’m not sure how the likes of San G and Grand Terrace ended up on D-11. I’m pulling for The Ranch and I’m sure they’ll compete like they always do but I said a couple weeks ago that the true D-11 championship will be played in the 2nd round between San Gorgonio and Grand Terrace and from the score, it looks like that one was a riot!!!
Call me old-fashioned, but a CIF championship is supposed to mean your team is the best of the best. Today, with everybody and their uncles being thrown into the mix, the Federation is presiding over several low-quality elimination derbys that are supposed to indicate some kind of supremacy. Proof of the poor quality here is that attendance for these lower division games is WAY down, down to the level of many preseason events.
Many remedies have been proposed to fix this playoff situation, but the best I’ve considered is the exclusion of all teams sporting a NEGATIVE POWER RATING at season’s end. This year, that would mean having only 9 divisions, not 14. It would mean that, at long last, a CIF crown would once again mean your team was the best of the best.
Own up to your own words”: the boys were more joyful and that’s what matters”
I’m rooting for Pioneer . I’m just realistic about what it means .
Los Amigos played in a weak league and had a cupcake schedule preseason. They have no tradition . They barely beat Calvary who lost at home to El Monte .
Great win , good coaching , sure . But ER played in a much better league and had tougher competition all year. Strength of schedule does matter. Not that much of an upset
It was all part of ER’s game plan. Forcing LA to do things they weren’t used to doing. Take away their strength and force them to throw. Frustrate them into making costly mistakes. By the way. ER staff was at San Gorgonio’s game filming and taking notes. So there’s that
Stat man: ER came right back and scored. 21 -20 @ the half. LA didn’t win the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th qtr.
One at a time anon.
PO: LA led 20-14 with 5 minutes left in the half. ER was not able to stop their runnung attack.
At this point, everyone is going to have film on everyone, ER staff saw SG and GT last night in person, coaching, execution and a little bit of luck will the be the formula going forward. I welcome an ER vs Baldwin Park CIF championship game however not sure the BP stands are big enough to hold the crowd.
Los Amigos never lead in the game. On their way to winning?
😁
Like I said ‘haters gonna hate’. And don’t put words in my mouth. I did not say the purpose is to make kids happy. I just don’t understand the downers. Why do you bother to post? Heaven forbid the Titans win next week. Like the old saw says “if losers are hating you,you must be doing something right.”
IMO Medrano did two things that flumoxed LA. After going up 9 at the end of the 3rd he kept the pressure on. He blitzed the gaps and challenged LA to throw. Not a throwing team their coach did not know what to call, constantly running down the clock and calling dumb plays when he should have speeded up. That went against what they typically do. Those two points made them panic and it looked like it. Failure in turn put the pressure on their tiring defense and they were done. ER”s ability to pass and run, go slow and fast makes the other team have to respond quick. The game was won in 7 minutes of the 3rd and 4th quarters. Keep in mind this was a 11-0 team and was favored by 10 p0ints. BTW San Gorgonio was there scouting and taking film and notes so there’s that.
If the purpose is making kids happy, the current lottery playoff system is great . Pioneer gets its day in the sun at 5-5
The current system is perfect for SG and has given them perfect position for title runs the past 3 years , I assume the administration is happy with this , and would see no reason to improve . Why struggle to improve and actually have to play some mid teams D8-D11? Nothing mid about D14 or even 13 for that matter from my point of view. This is a flaw in the system where best of the worst is great .
Genius calls by medrano.
Pioneer does not have the pick of the litter! Love to see a Mater Di or SjB,or any private high school coach that has success,win at a public school.(Pioneer) Don’t compare Apples to Oranges.
@BO: You are the epitome of “haters gonna hate”. What happened pal, did you get cut from Pioneer football back in the day? If you look at videos of the winners the boys are far more joyful than the upper level teams and in the end thats what matters. So enjoy gumming your graham crackers. Go Titans!!!
Both situations have happened concurrently , so it is confusing and muddled . However , thevexpansion of state playoff system did move up week zero by one week on the calendar so that state championships would be before Christmas break. I think it was before 2018 season.
I noticed Pioneer is playing in the D14 semifinals this coming week. This program has a ‘power’ rating of -29.4. Compare this with Mater Dei’s rating of well over 100. Does it seem right that the championship plaque for both divisions should look the same and weigh the same? If we were to reduce the size of the award to reflect the relative stature of the achievement, we would arrive at a D14 plaque that is roughly 1.5 x 2 inches, and about 1/8″ thick, about the size of a graham cracker. Come to think of it, the graham cracker would be good enough for this division’s prize.
Hoy take here, obviously SG the best of the worst. I would argue that they are the only bottom to mid tier school with the right student number, fan base, admin support, and infrastructure to be a top tier team. Assumption here is the right hire and heavy investment in image and community presence.
Yo how about Medrano’s ballsy analytics? Went for 2 to be up 9 instead of 8 and then went for 2 again to go up 17 instead of 16. First making it a 2 score game instead of 1 and then a 3 score game instead of 2. Could have looked bad if they didn’t work.
Then when the Done were killing the clock, the hey had 2 questionable false starts. Questionable because it looked like they were done on purpose so ER could kill more time.
The Old Pro? Well I am not going to fully disagree with you , but I suggest that football season games starting in August was changed from very early September for another reason. I suggest that reason was based upon high schools had more (school district basically) cause to change the football starting point for football only because football games must be aligned with the beginning of the academic school year! And the academic school year ( more than a decade ago) was changed to begin in about early to mid August so the curriculum could cover much more of the California State Standards in each subject focus before taking the State Standards Exams usually given in April or close to April. Since these state tests , which for some districts /high schools are much more important than football is, are not given in May or June a lot of each (I will use biology test as an example) . The tests are taken much earlier , so some of the subject matter was not taught /covered when the tests were given. Therefor the students;s scores were lower than scores would have been if all focuses of biology (like cell bio, genetics, ecology, physiology, etc) had been covered (the whole biology curriculum) before state tests were given. School district /and each schools academic success, or lack of success, became how each school and district was graded. It was very competitive and districts/schools with low scores could be challenged by State Grading Committee. So districts began to start school much earlier than before to guarantee that as much of each subject matter has been taught and learned. This , I suggest , is the reason football games start early, not because of the cif committee.
Go Matadors!!! On to the semis.
Go Matadors!!!
Once upon a time practicing on Thanksgiving day for CIF football teams was a very big deal. It meant you were one of the few teams still alive in the tournament and playing almost to December. Cif in their infinite greed started teams playing in August to accomodate more bowl games effectively killing the beloved tradition. Now you have to be in the championship game to enjoy that special treat. So in lieu of that I give you the poor mans Thanksgiving practice next week. Enjoy it boys, you earned it.
The 11-0 Los Amigos team looked like they were on their way to winning with 200 yards rushing in the first half. Then something happened. They received the kickoff to start the 2nd half and I think everyone assumed another TD drive. Nope their offense stalled out and could not get it started again. I can’t dissect what El Rancho’s defensive gurus did but LA went from 200 yards rushing in the first half to 30 yards in the 2nd half and thats all she wrote. Not quite their A-game because of about 10 procedure penalties but a solid B+. By the way the Dons receivers are getting very good at one-handed snags. El Rancho peaking at the right time
I was at the El Rancho Vs Los Amigos. El Rancho totally dominated Los Amigos. Didn’t see that coming. From the beginning El Rancho drove down the field to score. 2nd half Los Amigos was absolutely shut down. El Rancho’s pressure forced Los Amigos into making terrible mistakes. Los Amigos was clearly out coached and out played. Hats off to El Rancho.