Aaron Silva and the La Puente Warriors host Montebello in the Division 13 Semi-Final. (Photo by Duane Barker).
All Kickoffs are at 7:00 PM unless otherwise indicated:
Friday November 21
DIV 5
La Serna (9-3) at Rio Hondo Prep (12-0) (West Covina HS)
Rio Hondo Prep could be playing Ohio State at this point and I’d still take the Kares. They dropped 50 on Thousand Oaks in the first round and shut out a good Troy team 28-0 last week in round two. La Serna is solid. The Lancers have experience in the post season. If the opponent was anybody other than Rio Hondo Prep they would be the pick. The Kares are locked in. They will advance to the Division 5 Final.
Rio Hondo Prep 24 La Serna 17
DIV 9
Valley Christian (9-3) at San Dimas (7-5)
San Dimas rallied to beat Rowland in the first round and then rolled over Poly Riverside last week. Jacob Gallegos has been running wild. Valley Christian has won five straight including its last two playoff games over Chino and Warren. The Defenders like to throw it around the yard but the question is can they stop San Dimas’ running attack? It’s tough to deal with if you haven’t seen it before. Saints run into the Finals.
San Dimas 28 Valley Christian 21
DIV 11
Baldwin Park (7-5) at Western Christian (12-0)
Baldwin Park’s offense has been clicking lately. After losing to San Dimas October 23rd the Braves have won three straight and averaged 44 points per game in the process. They have several offensive weapons including quarterback Valentino May and running back Jacory Coleman who have been leading the way. Western Christian is still undefeated after surviving last week against El Monte. The Fighting Lancers season comes to an end this week. Braves advance.
Baldwin Park 35 Western Christian 21
South Pasadena (8-4) at Valley View (7-5)
South Pasadena made the long trek up to Palmdale and came away with a victory that lot of people thought was impossible. The Tigers run the ball and Trey Freking is one of the best at doing just that. He has been on a heater lately. Last week he led the Tigers to a 41-7 rout. Valley View had lost two straight coming into the playoffs but then beat Dominguez and Gahr in the playoffs. South Pas will run the ball and eventually wear Valley View down.
South Pasadena 31 Valley View 20
DIV 13
Montebello (6-6) at La Puente (9-3)
La Puente hasn’t lost since early October. The Warriors have won six straight including the two playoff victories. Last week they hit Viewpoint with a 50 burger. Running back Aaron Silva and receiver Ivan Lopez have both had big years. Montebello was 3-6 after a loss to Schurr back in October but the Oilers have won their last three games including a close 27-25 second-round win over Linfield Christian last week. The Oliers can score but they might not be able to score enough to hold off La Puente. Warriors win a shootout.
La Puente 38 Montebello 31
DIV 14
AB Miller (7-5) at South El Monte (8-4)
South El Monte is in a good position to make a championship run. After finishing third in the MVL the Eagles beat Indian Springs last week in the rain after taking care of Channel Islands in the first round. AB Miller has won six straight after knocking off Ontario last week. This will come down to a big play in the fourth quarter. South El Monte does enough and holds on.
South El Monte 20 AB Miller 17
Quick Hits
DIV 3
Pacifica/Ox at Chino Hills – Chino Hills
DIV 12
Bellflower at Santa Paula – Bellflower
DIV 14
Pioneer at Anaheim – Pioneer
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First off RHP is a good football team but…..After reading RHP Musings post I have some thoughts. He says the team “abondons everything except their “dedication” to football. He says the tightly knit parents and alums pass the RHP traditions and philosophies down to their offsring sort of like a “secret society” that generates an “extreme discipline. RHP’s success is based on families coming together to keep the “quasi religious” football creed alive. “Strange but true” he states. Strange indeed! To me he is not describing a philosophy but a cult. No Thank You.
Did you watch the game? RHP dominated all aspects of the game- without their star running back/safety for half of the game!
Questionable Solidity made perfect sense, given the fact that La Serna’s luck has completely ran out! Northview is overrated, the LS coaching staff is full of themselves, and the injury excuse from LS won’t cut it anymore. RHP’s defense was definitely something the LS offense has no clue how to overcome. The line of scrimmage was completely controlled by RHP and the only answer was a fake punt lmao.
And dominance in the Del Rio argument is laughable and TIRESOME… like why do you think its done for? Because LS outgrew it and are now in for a culture shock next season.
Andy George is the guru at nothing lmfao
Yes! Thank you! This IS the worst LS team since 2017!!! Courage, Character, Commitment is a sham
Still “Self appointed genius ANONYMOUS’ has stated ‘ LS is trying to influence ‘ the school board to not change their league’s teams! And does he possibly truly believe we believe his bull feces?
Yup, 2 great programs with 2 great coaching staffs, should be an awesome game.
Congrats to both schools for being 2 of the best programs in the area and doing it the right way & consistently for years.
There’s only about a 10% chance of rain during the hours of tomorrow’s games. That means a great deal for attendance at these events. I was watching a replay of last week’s Bosco-Lutheran game and with all that rain, the stands were virtually deserted. By the way, it looks like the La Serna-RHP game is all set for West Covina High.
RHP does it the right way, LS still pleading their school board to make the Del Rio league stay as is so they can keep playing Whittier and have even begun to propose bringing pioneer back.
@RHP Musings
I hate’em. Everybody hates them. Here’s why….
RH Prep is a school that recruits the best local talent away from the public school FB programs in the area, which deprives fans of having any good public HS teams to cheer for in their local community.Yes, CIF Allows them to recruit since they are private but it’s catastrophic to the local FB community.
When you have over 50 players on your FB team and you are 2-3 deep at every position, you are a very good HS FB program, not a little engine that could. Teams that have less than 30 players CAN describe themselves as a little school doing amazing things at the big boy level. But a not a team of more than 50, full of all-stars poached from Burbank, La Canada, Pasadena, South Pas, Altadena, San Marino, Alhambra, Monrovia, San Gabriel, Rosemead, El Monte & other local communities, who thanks to your affluent Prep school, have nothing but DDD (double digit div) playoffs to look forward to for the imminent future.
Sorry but there is nothing special about your coaching staff either or the system they run, as Uncle Rico could coach and win with your all star team and tiny school schedule You could run the greatest offense ever like the Flex Bone Veer West Coast Single Wing Pistol Run & Shotgun Air Raid Spread Option RPO Zone Read Heavy Jumbo 👀Formation or run whatever that thing Chip Kelly is running for the Vegas Raiders, and it wouldn’t matter.
You would win on talent alone & because you have a Penururi. My wife could coach your team to a 12-0 record, and just like every other supermodel, she knows nothing about football.
Oh and I almost forgot about how RHP sandbagged against the 2 largest schools they played to avoid being put in D3 or D4. An 11 pt win over Schurr and a 7 pt win over Quartz Hill, hmmm just happens to coincide with the CalPreps margin of victory bumps in their computer algorithm. You really want me to believe that this monster of an Offense at RHP could score only a 6-3 lead over Schurr at halftime. Maybe the algorithm was calling the plays. Hmmm maybe we sit out the star RB for a few games also & say he’s hurt so RH Prep can position for D5.
Sound familiar folks? Like that cheating school on the hill La Serna & their sickening open enrollment. Btw this is the worst La Serna team since like 2017, so even if you do beat them, big deal, but at least you can keep thinking you’ve done something. Lol.
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RH PREP PEOPLE – All of what I wrote above is satire. I just wanted to welcome you to the website with the same type of troll La Serna gets non stop on here from a few pathetic posters.
Ok, so how did I do? I think I hit all the main trolling points. Lots of pathetic jealously, conspiracies and other nonsense. Felt real douchy but luckily I’m just pretending to be pathetic, not living it like the LS trolls.
Anyway. I actually think RH Prep has a great program, they deserve their success and wish them nothing but the best of luck going forward.
All the positive comments on Pioneer i respect very much, but suggesting their preseason schedule was very smart ; and they are playing their best and peaking at the right time is not necessarily truth! They are now competing with lesser teams who are not, and have not , had decent seasons for a while! So you guys who have less knowledge of what is going on with these lower ‘everyone gets a trophy divisions’ enjoy
RHP opened its doors in 1964 and quickly established itself as a football power in the 6 man category. It took all the years until 2001 to become an 11-man operation. Football isn’t something this school takes lightly; the sport is the institution’s virtual identity. RHP has never had a student body of more than 103 students, so half of them are football players. The team has 10 assistant coaches, many of whom are former players (including a former star named Mark Carson). The other key name on the coaching staff is Kevin Drain, who was the head coach from 01-17.
This institution is fascinating to me, because I have always spoken to St Paul people about the need to abandon everything but their dediction to football. That’s the way to return to the Santa Fe Springs’ glory days. I am also intrigued by RHP’s running attack. It appears to be a hybrid of the double wing and the veer, and it is executed in a precise, devastating manner. In short, RHP is a small school version of what Concorde de la Salle used to be (and to a great extent still is).
I believe there is a tightly knit group of alums and parents who pass the RHP philosophy and tradition down to their offspring, sort of like a secret society. That kind of bond between the past and present is something that generates an extreme discipline and desire for excellence. Nobody wants to let any of their people down.
So RHP’s success is really not due to poaching a wide area of its talent. It’s more a case of families and friends of families coming together to keep a quasi-religious football creed alive. Strange but true. With this super-intense approach to football, it’s no wonder most other programs fail to matchup. If La Serna does succumb to this team, well, so have a whole lot of others.
Hope this helps everyone to put a handle on the RHP phenomenon. It’s football taken to the extreme, and it’s really something to behold.
Smart move. Pioneer played a beefed up pre season schedule to prepare for the playoffs.
La Serna deserves lots of respect within this division. i will look up RHPs schedule before i think much. should be good game
@ T Peterson,
For next season’s new Pacific and Rio Hondo Combined Leagues, will they place the schools in the A, B & C divisions based on this year’s results? Would A be made up of Muir, Burbank, Pasadena, La Canada, Monrovia, and South Pasadena? I am not sure what they are going to call the three divisions, I am just using letter designations as a place holder.
LS has a tough matchup against Rio this Friday, and it’ll be interesting to see how it all plays out. I was just wondering, does anyone know how long Rio has been playing 11 man football? They’ve built a premier program, and I’m curious about their history.
RH over LS for sure. That is unless a ref decides to make LS the winner.
If you haven’t looked at the CO overtime win over San Jacinto, that was taken away by a horrible call, check it out. No player should have their success stolen like that. Those refs should be ashamed.
@Rise …. It looks like you need a math lesson :
There are 216 schools in the football playoffs .
8 in open division=8
16 in D2-14. 13×16 =208…:. 208+8=216
Division 14 is defined as the 16 lowest rated qualifiers based on their performance over the whole season . In clearer terms , they are the worst teams.
16/216= .075
So these teams are defined as the bottom 7.5% of qualified teams .
If you went to a doctor , a dentist or a restaurant, would you choose the provider rated in the bottom 10%. ???
Furthermore , Pioneer has been incredibly fortunate in drawing a 2seed in this Division . At least this year they earned an AQ berth . Seeding is random in new format . The probability of getting one of two top seeds in consecutive years is 2/16x 2/16 = less than 2%.
Yet, Pioneer was the benefit of this occurrence in 24-25.
2023 season was the opposite . They were just a bit better team, and drew in at bottom of Division 13? They lost a close opening round game against Bishop Montgomery instead of playing Vasquez or some other patsy that is worst team in entire playoffs .
Why should Rowland get placed several divisions higher ? Are they a different type of school? Enrollment ? Transfers ? No , they lost in a tough division because they were much better.
Please be happy and excited for your kids and program; the new format is designed to give everyone a chance . It works in that regard . But please don’t confuse CIF success in D14 with being good ; don’t further antagonize with false bravado. Accept the good fortune with grace .
Thanks to Pioneer’s Riser, now I know where to focus my attention. I hadn’t considered that, it its own way, D14 offers the best bang for the buck. Before I go whole-hog into supporting PI-HI, however, I need to know: are the Titans solid?
From T. Peterson: @ Questionable Solidity: No, they’re not solid like La Serna due to their lower Division status. Although if they keep winning and move up a couple of divisions maybe they will be upgraded as such. That being said they have a shot at a title in D-14. Wow that word “solid” really got under your skin. First time I’ve ever seen anybody offended by that word. Funny.
Good call on the biggest Division in high school football. Southern Section D14. Toughest division to win.
Peterson, you wanna revise the SD score? Don’t wanna say anything to jinx my boys. Just saying.
@Questionable …Which LS teams shows up ? The team that beat Edison or the team that somehow only beat ER SF and Cal by 15 measley points . Or was it the same team just jockeying for position ?
That comeback would be cute if it weren’t for the fact I’m talking about this year’s team, not a running average of the last decade. I’ll take a wild guess and say Andy George is a tad concerned, given that RHP’s defense is probably better than the two teams he just played. The ghosts of La Serna’s past teams aren’t suiting up Friday, so this is a problem.
From T. Peterson: Oh I picked Rio Hondo Prep as you can clearly see but questioning if La Serna is a “solid” team is just
ridiculous. They’ve lost two games since September and those were at the hands of Northview and Crean Lutheran. Truth is if they were playing anybody other than RHP I’d take La Serna. The La Serna hate is so old and tiresome.
LS is going WIN.DO NOT BE SURPRISED…
24-14
To say that a team which has averaged just 8.5 points per game in the last two outings is “solid” requires a change in the definition of that word. All credit to La Serna’s defense, but come on, that offense needs a look under the hood.
From T. Peterson: You’re right. Taking into account La Serna’s success over the last decade or so and their dominance in the Del Rio league “solid” doesn’t fit. “Great” is more appropriate.