Monday Morning Quarterback
A look back at championship weekend in the Valley
By: James Escarcega (Twitter: @James_Escarcega)
It was a big night of football in the area with Northview and St. Francis each playing in a CIF Southern Section divisional final. For two parents, the journey they have taken with their sons (James Arellanes and Max Garrison) has seen them experience the variety of emotions that makes high school sports so much fun.
For the next two weeks, I thought that for our mega-expanded edition of the Monday Morning Quarterback, we take a deep dive into the lives of both Jim Arellanes Jr and Lisa Garrison and allow them to give us an insight on their sons that no box score or game story could give you on one of the biggest stages of their young career.
Here is Arellanes’ story.
Jim Arellanes Jr.
Standing alongside a 4-foot fence that separates the stands from field access at Covina District Field 45 minutes before kickoff, Jim Arellanes Jr looked as if he could still strap on some pads and play football. The six-foot four-inch Arellanes, who is currently the Athletic Director at Bassett High School, is considered one of the living legends at El Rancho High School.
During this time at “The Ranch” Arellanes (1988-1991) helped lead the Dons to Del Rio League championships and deep runs in the playoffs. The only thing that was a blemish on his resume was winning a sectional title. And as irony would have it, there is a Northview angle.
“When Northview won (in 1986, defeating Los Altos 21-18) Brian Beveridge was the head coach and then he went on to coach at Nogales and they knocked us out of the playoffs in the semifinals in my senior year,” Arellanes said. “I texted (South Hills Athletic Director and baseball coach) Darren Murphy asked him if he was your coach at Northview and he said ‘yes.’ Did he go to Nogales and he said ‘yes.” He was the same guy that knocked me out.”
After a brief stop with San Fernando Valley coaching legend Jim Fenwick at LA Valley College, Arellanes accepted a college scholarship at Fresno State where he was a teammate with someone that would move up rapidly in the college coaching ranks, a guy named Lane Kiffin (who is currently the head football coach at the University of Mississippi).
Two other prominent teammates included former Crespi football coach Jeremiah Ross and Scott Thompson (who worked for Kiffin at USC). Arellanes had a very productive college career at FSU for legendary coach Jim Sweeney, throwing for 4,026 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Then came a four-year career in the NFL Europe with the Rhein Fire in Germany and two years in Arena Football. His sweet spot in her career came in 1999 when he threw for 1,325 yards and 15 touchdowns in leading the Fire to a 6-4 record.
After his playing career was over, Arellanes got into the coaching ranks. His stops included El Rancho, Rosemead, Northview, Los Altos, and Pasadena Marshall. One of his coaches during his time at Northview was an up-and-coming defensive mind named Brian Zavala, but we’ll talk about that later.
In 2015, Arellanes decided to make the move towards being a school administrator, and, in his mind, he has the goal of being principal at a school within five years.
For now, Arellanes is playing a more reserved role of a father these days, watching his son James blossom in front of his eyes. That process began early this season with a key moment arriving in week 4 in a road game loss to California High.
“He drove them down the field and with six seconds left he throws an interception in the end zone,” Arellanes said. “And it was hard. I talked to him and told him don’t worry about it, you are going to get better. And he told me, “I’m not going to let this break me I’m going to work hard and get better.’ This is a 17-year-old kid saying this. To see him say that was awesome.”
James did get better as he has led the Vikings to win six of the team's last seven games. What’s more impressive, according to Jim, is the development of his mental toughness.
“Watching him respond to those bad stretches and seeing what happens has been nothing more than awe-inspiring,” Arellanes said. “Seeing him grow each week and still stay focused and have the positive attitude – I couldn’t be prouder.”
As a former quarterback, you would think that at home Arellanes would pick up where the coaches leave off on the practice field or after a game. You would be right – to a certain extent.
“I stay away from the coaching part of it,” Arellanes said. “We don’t talk about schemes. We talk demeanor and leadership and those kinds of things. I think this staff is doing a great job. I try to be more of a dad than a coach.
“I’ve never pushed him at this position because he first came in as a wide receiver,” said Arellanes of his son who played wide receiver and tight end for the Covina Vikings youth football program. “Then they moved him to quarterback (two years ago) and I said ‘Ok, you do what they tell you to do.’ He’s that team guy that says he’ll do whatever the team needs me to do.”
Football brings out the emotion in everyone For the Arellanes family, that moment came in a semifinal win over Palmdale. “My dad is sitting right next to me and he broke down,” Arellanes said. “And he said that ‘the first thing that I thought about was you guys and our heartbreaking loss.’ We hugged and we cried.”
This brings us to championship day and the moment when Jim dropped off James for the pre-game meal before Friday night's historic win. “I told him the same thing I always tell him every week, “Go have fun” and he had this big smile on his face,” Arellanes said. “He is one up on me for sure. You don’t get this opportunity this often.”
James took advantage of that opportunity, completing 11 of 15 passes for 122 yards, and will go down in school lore as the quarterback that led the Vikings to its first CIF Southern Section championship since 1987 with a 27-20 win over St. Anthony.
When Friday’s night game was over and James took the final snap and dropped a knee to seal the win, there were more tears in the stands for the Arellanes family. James had done something that his father tried valiantly to do, win a CIF Southern Section title.
As you could imagine, sleep wasn’t in the game plan for the older Arellanes. He didn’t get much sleep on Friday night, “I couldn’t decompress from the game,” Arellanes would say the next morning. But the celebration party continued at the parking lot of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where the family was tailgating before USC’s home season finale against BYU.
They’ll be more celebrations in the next two weeks as the Vikings will play in a CIF State regional against host Colony. It’s just another step along the road to legendary status for James – whose father knows a thing or two about being a local football legend.
The six degrees of separation that is Northview vs. Colony
As you already know, Northview will travel to Colony to play in a CIF-State Southern California Div. 4-A regional on Saturday at 6 p.m. There are many subplots to this game but the biggest one comes in the coaching box.
When Jim Arellanes Jr. was hired as head coach in 2006 (replacing Todd Quinley), he brought in a brash new defensive coordinator that was well respected in the area. His name was Brian Zavala (a graduate of Temple City HS). Guess who the coach at Colony HS is that will be going against Northview and Arellanes’ son James?
Brian Zavala.
Arellanes Jr has been so engrossed with Northview and the performance of his son James that he forgot that Zavala’s team had made it to the finals.
“I didn’t realize it until the other day,” Arellanes said. “I texted him (Friday) morning and told him to go get’em. We started coaching at El Rancho together in 2001 and then we went to Rosemead for a year and when I got hired here (at Northview) I brought him over. He was a guy I wanted to get here immediately.”
Colony made it to the state tournament with a thrilling win over St. Margaret’s 49-41 in the Div. 9 championship. There was a local angle in that game as well. The coach at St. Margaret’s is a Bishop Amat legend in the San Gabriel Valley that many consider the be the best defensive player ever to hit the field – Kory Minor.
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For those that many have missed it, here is Pete Marshall’s game story from the game. https://www.dailybulletin.com/2021/11/26/colony-football-team-outlasts-st-margarets-to-win-division-9-championship/
Some observations for championship weekend in the valley:
- Friday was the first time that I got to see Northview in person, and you can’t help but be impressed with the way they play on defense. Their pursuit to the ball is impressive and they are physical at the point of attack. Coach Marcel Perez oversees the defense and has turned in one of his finest jobs as coordinator.
- While everyone was giving Cheo Medina a lot of publicity for his running exploits, there are five guys that need to be mentioned for a lot of his success.
Adrian Delgado, Vincent Gonzales, Anthony Troncoso, Daniel Santillan, Noah Rodriguez and Noah Martinez. These are the gentleman on the offensive line that completely dominated the line of scrimmage from the first play to the last. Two of these linemen (Santillan and Gonzales) return next season. You can understand why Perez smiles when the subject turns to 2022.
- Among the area coaches that were in attendance for Friday’s game were Monrovia coach Chris Williams (former offensive coordinator at Northview) and former Los Altos coach Travis Brown.
- One person that was not in attendance but should get a major nod of thanks is former Northview principal Manny Burciaga. He helped create the momentum within the athletics program that allowed for evenings like Friday.
- Northview has made its reputation as one of the top wrestling programs in the state thanks to the relentless effort of David Ochoa. Ochoa has now turned that energy over to creating Northview as one of the top athletic schools in the valley and is well on his way.
In addition to the football team’s exploits on Friday, the girl's basketball team won a sectional title in 2020. Combine that with the baseball team thriving under coach Dan Roddy and you can understand why the Vikings are trending upwards in athletics.
- In this new world called “metaverse,” the script could have been written that had St. Francis’ Max Garrison starting his role as “Superman,” unleashing eye-popping runs to help lead the Golden Knights to an improbably win over Long Beach Poly.
But in the real world, there was not much that Garrison could do in St, Francis’ 38-7 loss to visiting Long Beach Poly. Garrison rushed for a season-low 29 yards and never could get his game going. Credit the Poly defensive coaching staff for a well-executed game plan.
- Garrison’s class was on display when the game was over as he made it a point to find Long Beach Poly coach Stephen Barbee and congratulated him on his win. Not many players would do that. Emotions were raw when Garrison hugged each member of the Bonds family along with his mother Lisa.
- St. Francis will be just fine next year with an experienced offensive line returning, along with quarterback Jack Jacobs. Coach Dean Herrington will have a full offseason to get his run and shoot offensive installed. St. Francis will be just fine in 2022.
Travis Brown’s Departure at Los Altos
Last Monday was a reminder for anyone that follows football around the area on how things can change swiftly in the coaching carousel.
At 9:00 in the morning, I departed for Long Beach for the CIF Southern Section Football Finals luncheon at The Grand. It’s one of the more enjoyable days on the high school sports calendar. Players, coaches, prep writers converge and feast on a lunch that is pretty good (memo to CIF, the roast beef on a scale of 1-10, 10 being best, was an 8 with me – very solid).
As I was making my way to the luncheon, I got a text telling me that Travis Brown was no longer the coach at Los Altos. I rushed to my cell phone to get on Twitter – and sure enough, there was the tweet from Brown (one of the school’s biggest legends for his play several decades ago) saying he was gone at Los Altos.
Here is Fred Robledo’s story on his departure. https://www.sgvtribune.com/2021/11/24/los-altos-football-parts-ways-with-coach-travis-brown/
I had a chance to cover several Los Altos games in the spring and the fall. Whenever I cover a game, I make sure and talk to the coaches before the action begins and have a productive conversation. Every time I spoke with Brown, I got the impression that he was fighting an uphill battle and it was taking a toll on him.
I concluded after watching the Conquerors lose to San Dimas late in the year that 2022 would be the last season for Brown at Los Altos. Obviously, it came much sooner than I expected. The good news for Brown is that if he wants to be an assistant coach, there are plenty of schools that would love to have him on their staff.
He could also wait for a short while and see what is available in the area if he wants to take another shot as a head coach. One thing is for sure, Brown is as solid a coach as you will find in the area. He works hard and always puts the players at the forefront of his priorities.
30 minutes after I received a text about Brown's departure, I found Northview football coach Marcel Perez at his assigned table at the luncheon. He hadn’t heard the news that Brown was gone from Los Altos, a school that his team lost to in the final week of the regular season.
I asked Perez if he felt bad for someone like Brown who works very hard and then suddenly, the expiration date hits. His answer was very interesting.
“I think it’s in our whole profession right now,” Perez said. “Everybody expects the world from you, and you are given what you are given. You try to work with what you got and make things happen. Sometimes we are fortunate and sometimes we are not… (Parents) expect greatness and rightfully so. It’s tough in today's climate to make everyone happy.”
5 things that will be on my mind in the offseason.
1. Here is my way to early top-10 rankings for the 2022 football season.
Bishop Amat
St. Francis
Damien
Bonita
Glendora
St. Paul
Monrovia
La Serna
Pasadena
Northview
2. Where is the charismatic Matt Villasenor going to be coaching?
The highly popular assistant coach who made a name for himself at Sierra Vista and Bishop Amat could be a important figure to follow in the coaching carousel in the area. While he rubbed many the wrong way on social media during his time at Sierra Vista (count me in that crowd), he has turned the temperature down as an assistant coach at Bishop Amat.
One thing that I like about Villasenor whenever a coaching position opens, and we talk about it, he always views the glass as half full rather than half empty. In my conversations with him about jobs at Muir, Los Altos, and other places in Southern California, he is quick to point the positives of coaching at the school.
Since Bishop Amat was eliminated from the playoffs at the hands of Alemany, Villasenor has made the rounds watching other area teams play. He’s doing what a person with his personality is supposed to do – make observations, talk to people, and do his homework.
Now comes a big decision for Villasenor. Do you throw your hat into the mix for the openings that are available in the area, or do you stay at Amat and continue to help bring in many of the top eighth-graders to the La Puente-based campus and play a role in helping Lancer players play at collegiate level?
Don’t look for Villasenor to give you any indications on where he is going. He does a really good job of keeping the hand that he was dealt at the poker table close to his vest. Right now, the job openings are at Sierra Vista, Los Altos, and Muir. Don’t be surprised if you see two more openings before New Year’s Day.
If he decides to pursue the Muir job, a lot of factors must converge before an offer is tendered. The most important question of which is this - Is Muir comfortable hiring a coach that is brash and outspoken? The last two coaches that sat in the head coaching chair (Zaire Calvin and Antoine Sims) weren’t exactly the most outspoken coaches in the area.
When you add to the mix that Villasenor would clash heads with Pasadena High School assistant coach Robert Maxie (another coach who is outspoken on social media daily and is a very close friend of Villasenor) when pursuing the top players in the Pasadena area, that might be too much for Villasenor to handle.
In my conversations with Villasenor, it’s clear that he wants to be a head coach in the area. The tricky part is finding the right place at the right time. If Villasenor doesn’t like what is available, there is nothing wrong with spending another season at Bishop Amat with Steve Hagerty. The bottom line is simple, it’s good to be Matt Villasenor these days.
3. What is going to happen at South Hills?
Let me be transparent, I was an assistant coach at South Hills from 2004-2009 with current Bonita coach Steve Bogan. I was part of the final chapters of what I used to call “Camelot” when it came to the program. When anyone talked about South Hills during the seasons I was there, winning league and sectional championships were the standard for the program.
That’s why for many, it hurts to see where the Huskies program currently resides. The Huskies went 0-10 this season (yes, that is not a typo) and haven’t won a game since Oct. 18, 2019, when they defeated West Covina, 42-13. Do the math, it’s been two years since the Huskies were on the right side of the scoreboard.
Something major must change at South Hills. Whether that means a change in leadership at the top of the program or a major overhaul under the hood, something must be done. This is a program that has too much tradition and infrastructure there to be languishing as one of the underperforming programs in the area.
They have a great practice field, an impressive weight room, and players that can play if they are coached up properly. One thing you can take to the bank, South Hills doesn’t need Steve Bogan to return. Bogan is very happy at Bonita and has no interest in returning to South Hills. Look for a decision to be made soon about Danilo Robinson’s status as the head coach of the program. If he decides to leave, this becomes the most prized coaching position open in the area.
4. Is the current playoff system working for football?
I love the playoff model – and I am not the only person that loves it… so does CIF Southern Section Commissioner Rob Wigod. When he was an assistant commissioner in the 2000’s he made it clear that he was not happy with first-round games because of the lack of competitive games. When he was appointed commissioner in 2012, one of his top priorities (in his mind) was to revamp the playoff system.
If you listened to my podcast last week (https://player.captivate.fm/episode/090254ee-6cfe-40a4-aa10-4f51e6070cef), Wigod said that having divisions based on geography, enrollment, or past performance in the last two seasons, was not to his satisfaction. In his mind, the current system answers the tricky element of players transferring from one program to another at a high rate. It also brings parity back to high school football.
On our Twitter Spaces post games shows, most of the writers like the new system for the same reason that Wigod likes it – the games are much more competitive.
In short, don’t look for a lot of changes for the next several years when it comes to the playoff system – it is here to stay.
But I do think, it needs to be tweaked just a little bit. Call me an old-school guy, but the “eyeball” test must factor in somewhere. A team like Simi Valley that was slotted in Div. 10 two years ago and was in Div. 2 this season doesn’t seem to be fair. And those that saw Yorba Linda take on Bishop Amat in a Div. 2 first-round game came away with the conclusion that Yorba Linda was better off in Div. 3.
Locally, Rio Hondo Prep had a very good season. It was unrealistic to think that they were going to advance past the first round of the playoffs in Div. 7. In the old system, there’s a very good chance that they would have been had a playoff run like El Monte in 2019. That would have been fun to watch.
I’ve told people that the current system reminds me of the NCAA basketball committee seeding the tournament solely on the RPI Rating index. I would like to see a committee of former coaches come together for the weekend that the brackets are put together, make the necessary adjustments, and then release the brackets that Sunday.
Here is one of the main reasons why I love the system - it puts coaches out of their comfort zone. There was a feeling that if you won a league championship that you should get a free pass in the first-round of the playoffs. I disagree. Championships should be earned and that is the case in this situation. If that means that coaching staffs must work a bit harder than usual, so be it.
Bishop Amat coach Steve Hagerty had it right when he told SGV Tribune’s Fred Robledo that we all should stop looking for “the holy grail” when it comes to a perfect playoff system. He is right - there isn’t one out there. But there is nothing wrong with making a slight adjustment to make sure that teams like Rio Hondo Prep are properly aligned.
5. How are teams going to put together preseason schedules in 2022
One thing that the new playoff season has done is forced coaches to reevaluate how they construct their preseason schedules. Many teams “scheduled up” before the implementation of the new playoff season and might have not been rewarded by the computers.
When I worked for Steve Bogan at South Hills, one of my responsibilities (along with my good friend Brian Johnson) was to help put together a preseason schedule that got our team ready for the San Antonio League action.
The template we used then is the same template I would use today.
- Find one or two tough games (teams that you could easily project being in a division higher than yours).
- Find one or two games in which you could projection a close margin at the end of the game.
- Find one or two games locally based games in which you could project your team winning. (That could be tricky because you must convince the team you are in negotiations with to view it as a win situation for them.)
For the argument that this template would be great in the old system and not in today’s environment, I strongly disagree. At some point in the season, you need to find out how good your football team is. When you get out of your comfort zone, that’s where the answers are found.
That’s why we always scheduled tough games against the likes of Esperanza (which were in D-1 in 2004 and 2005), Tesoro, and Rancho Cucamonga. And if you need a more current model, just look at La Serna’s schedule.
If you are a coach that adopts this model (or something similar), and you come out on the short end in those games against higher-rated teams, you’ll see the benefits when the league portion of the schedule arrives.
A look at the current CIF-SS game wanted board on its website shows that Pasadena, Maranatha, Sonora, Baldwin Park, West Covina, La Salle, Rowland, Santa Fe, San Dimas, San Marino, and Nogales are looking for games. Is there any chance we can get West Covina and La Salle to hook up in a game? Can we get San Dimas to play Orange in a Week 0 game?
Ok, I’ll stop playing the role of Don King. But it’s going to be very interesting to see what happens with preseason scheduling for 2022.
CLEARING OUT THE NOTEBOOK
- Arlington won its first sectional title Friday night with a 23-0 win over Montclair. It was the Lions’ first appearance in a sectional final since 1990. The head coach of Arlington is Kevin Argumosa, who played his high school football at Montebello HS in the early 1990’s under legendary coach Doug Rihn.
Rihn, who was recently an assistant coach at La Habra, along with another coaching legend from Montebello, Bill Drulias, attended Arlington’s game to give Argumosa support. Kevin’s older brother David Argumosa is the boys and girls water polo coach at Schurr High School.
Here is Eric Paul-Johnson's story from the win. https://www.pe.com/2021/11/26/arlington-football-captures-division-13-title-with-defense-running-game/
- One of the members of the Long Beach Poly coaching staff is Jermaine Jackson, who played high school football at Schurr High School. Jackson played college football at Oregon St. This was the second championship that Jackson has won as a coach. In 2006, he was part of the staff at Schurr High School that won the Div. 7 title over Santa Fe. Another coach on the staff that would go on to bigger and better things is Rob Frith, who is currently the head football coach at San Juan Hills, in South Orange County, and won a sectional title in 2019.
- Manny Alvarez had ranked the top-40 student sections in Los Angeles County. Many student sections in the area are on this list.
http://www.studentsectionreport.org/2021-los-angeles-top-40-football-student-section-rankings/
BEST OUT OF TOWN READS:
I consider Mark Whicker to be the best sports columnist in Southern California. He is in a league of his own when it comes to penning a great column. And he did it again on Saturday morning on why Mater Dei coach Bruce Rollinson should be relieved of his duties as coach – but probably won’t. It is a must-read column.
Two of my good friends, David Delgado and Manny Alvarez covered their first football sectional championships for the Orange County Register and did a nice job. Here are their stories.
Delgado: Northwood vs. Long Beach Jordan - https://www.ocregister.com/2021/11/26/adam-harper-carries-northwood-football-to-first-ever-cif-championship/
Alvarez: Loara vs Rialto - https://www.ocregister.com/2021/11/26/loara-footballs-defense-stars-in-win-over-rialto-in-division-14-final/
You want a terrific inspirational story? The Press-Enterprise's Eric Paul Johnson accompanied the California School of the Deaf on their trip to Avalon for their semifinal last week. The story ran in A1 (front page) of the paper on Saturday. You won’t find a better story about the program.
What if I told you that one of the biggest games of the year in the state was delayed because of gunshots? That’s what happened with the CIF Central Coast Sectional final between St. Francis and Serra.
Here is Darren Sabedra and Jakob Rodgers’s unbelievable story from the game Friday night.
HELMET STICKERS
Marcel Perez (Northview) - Leading Northview to its first championship since 1987 with a 27-20 win over St. Anthony’s
Choe Medina (Northview) - Rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown in the win for St. Anthony’s.
FINALLY
I will put out my choices for the Players and Coaches of the Year for both regions of the San Gabriel Valley and the Whittier area. I won’t do a first or second team all-area, just because I didn’t make it all the games that I wanted to attend. That won’t be the case in 2022.
Next week, we’ll look at the St. Francis game through the eyes of a mom that loves her son and the game of football.
THE BEST TWEETS OF CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND.
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