SGV/Whittier Prep Sports Zone: Mondays with Escarcega: La Mirada's Road to the Open Division: Intensity, Talent, and High Standards Fuel the Matadores' Championship Aspirations

We also take a look at the success of Sierra Vista's boys basketball season, recap of final weekend of tournament wrestling action, and area football notes.

La Mirada team photo at the Damien Tournament (Photo: La Mirada boys basketball on X.)

This past summer, on a day in June, when the temperatures were in the low 90s, and the thought of a cool January rainstorm was a figment of imagination, a school visitor went to the gymnasium to visit basketball coach Randy Oronoz.

Just before the visit was over, Orodoz pulled the visitor to the side and said, “Gene (Roebuck) and Julien (Gomez) are getting on the same page. If we can get that all season long, I want to play in the Open Division.”

Roebuck was coming off a freshman year, during which he was named MaxPreps Freshman of the Year. He was getting offers from Big 10 schools, including basketball power UCLA. His wizardry with the ball impressed everyone that covers basketball year-round.

Gomez had just finished his junior year and made a name for himself with his relentless play and ability to score from behind the 3-point arc and from anywhere on the court.

Throw in MJ Smith, another talented senior, and King Riley-Owens – a junior who has developed into another next-level player, and you can see why Oronoz was more than fired up for the 2024-25 season.

As the season heads to its final stages of the regular season, his Matadores are in a firm position. They’ve played one of the most demanding schedules of anyone in Southern California and have emerged with a 21-4 record and a projected five seed for the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs.

The Matadores are at the point of the season when they are expected to dominate Gateway League action. They have beaten their league opponents by an average of 25 points. But if you think La Mirada is resting on its laurels, you would be mistaken.

To prepare his team for the expected collisions in the Open Division playoffs, Oronoz decided to ramp up practice. He has matched his talent in separate practice groups with intense team periods.

At this point in the season, Oronoz is happy with what he sees at practice and game nights.

“We think this is where we want to be,” Oronoz said. “Our practices have been unbelievable. They are so hard and extremely intense, and the best part is that they’ve translated to our performance in league play.”

La Mirada's losses this year have been to excellent teams. Two of them have come to St. John Bosco, seeded third in the latest Open Division projections, and one has to come to Basha at the Classic at Damien Tournament. Basha is an Arizona school projected to be a potential state champion.

“The Basha loss is one that I take personal accountability for,” Oronoz said. “I don’t want to get into the details, but that one is on me. We are finding out that (Bosco) is an excellent team, and we’ve learned a lot about ourselves in those losses.”

With his team getting a bye this week, Oronoz has decided it was a good time for his team to get basketball’s version of a pit stop. He is keeping his guys off the court for the next couple of days and then gradually ramping them up again by the end of the week in preparation for next week’s home game against Dominguez.

“We have high standards for our program, and everyone is working on keeping those same standards,” Oronoz said. “Everything that we have done has a purpose behind it. We are doing everything the privates are doing except that we are a public school. It’s all about respecting the sport.”

SIERRA VISTA POISED FOR A DEEP PLAYOFF RUN

When Sierra Vista coach Earl Sanchez looked at the most recent playoff divisional projections and didn’t find his team in any of the divisions up to Division 4, he had mixed emotions.

“Obviously, we would love to be in Division 5,” Sanchez said. “But, we also know that a lot of basketball still needs to be played. Right now, I like the way that my team is playing.”

That’s because the Dons have a perfect 7-0 record in Montview League action and a big three-game lead on Duarte in the league title race. While many will point to Sierra Vista’s 15-10 record, Sanchez reminds everyone that he purposely scheduled tough games on the front side of his schedule.

“Our message to the team was ‘stay the course,” Sanchez said. “I constructed our schedule early in the season by purpose. It was a struggle for sure, but I made our team better.”

Among the losses were to California (80-58), Sunny Hills (72-40), and Warren (83-47), teams whose personnel is nowhere near as stout as it would be in league opposition.

It also helps that the Dons are getting terrific guard play from Aaron Buna, who is averaging 16.9 points per game and has consistently been the team’s leading scoring in many of their wins.

“Teams are playing a lot of Box And One defensive scheme against him, and he’s done a great job,” Sanchez said. “He brings a bit of a swagger to his game. In his first game against Woodbridge, he scored only four points. He has been in the double-digits in the rest of these games.”

For new basketball fans, a box-and-one defense is a hybrid basketball strategy that combines elements of zone and man-to-man defense. It's often used to shut down a single opposing player who is particularly dominant, such as a prolific scorer or playmaker—in this case, Buna.

To beat a Box And One defense, you need a low-post player who is a scoring threat. The Dons have one in Ethan Guevara, a sophomore who is the second-leading scorer on the team, averaging 13.5 points per game.

“Buna’s game has improved because of Guevara’s presence on the court,” Sanchez said. “What I like about this team is that any of our five guys on the court can score, which gives a lot of relief to (Buna). This is the most complete team we’ve had in a while.”

These are fun times around Sierra Vista basketball. Not only are the boys dominating, but the girls are having an equally impressive season, with a 7-0 league record and a 15-5 overall record.

It could be a very busy postseason for all Sierra Vista basketball fans.

WALNUT AND NORTHVIEW IMPRESS IN FINAL PREP FOR STATE

Last weekend was the final weekend of tournament action for area wrestlers, who are preparing for the CIF State Wrestling Tournament in February in Bakersfield.

The big wrestling tournament was the Bob Bellot Classic at Montclair HS, where Walnut (237) won the team points race, with Northview (192) taking second and Arroyo (128.5) capturing sixth place.

The Mustangs got the job done with five wrestlers winning individual titles. Returning state champion Ronnie Ramirez looked sharp in his 132-pound championship match as he pinned Gavin Austin of Centennial High of Nevada in the first period. Ramirez is a verbal commit to Oklahoma State.

Other Mustang wrestlers who won individual titles include Christian Garcia (120), Noah Lopez (138), Matthew Palacios (144), and Frank Emeterio (215).

Northview’s Elijah Bulter continues to make himself a solid contender for a state title with an impressive performance, winning four of his five matches in the first period to win the 106-pound title. The Vikings' other tournament champion was Michael Vassalle, who defeated Walnut’s Andrew Tsoy, 15-5, in the 190-pound final.

Chino Hills’ Roberto Santos advanced to the finals at 165 but lost in a second-period pin to Los Osos’ Aiden Patti. His teammate, Isacc Mendoza, also advanced to the finals at 285 pounds, where he was also pinned in the second period by Rancho Cucamonga’s Brayden Kilgore. South Hills’ Dario Ruiz took third at 175 pounds with teammate Rex Toopete also taking third at 165 pounds.

FINALLY

There are a couple of interesting football notes that we have some thoughts on.

The hiring of Mark Parades at Mountain View High School is very interesting. We’ve been watching this program for several years and have been very interested. They were part of the “My Surprise Team” of 2022 and finished with an above-.500 record (6-4), the first in two decades.

It is not as if there is no talent within the program. We watched them last summer at their passing league tournament, and you can immediately see that the talent is there. Everado Nunez is one of the top players in the league at RB/QB, and Isael Sanchez was the freshman Offensive MVP two years ago. Throw in returning offensive lineman Erick Vargas; you can see a solid nucleus there.

Paredes also enters a league with a lot of parity. South El Monte might be the dominant team, but after that, it’s wide open, and that might be why reports have circulated that Jim Singiser might be returning to Arroyo as head coach. This is interesting because he told anyone who asked him several years ago if he would ever coach at Arroyo again that his answer was “No.”

If he decides to take over again as head coach, he will have to answer whether he has found it tough to see the program he built to become a Mission Valley League powerhouse come “back to earth. "

When he stepped down three years ago, he cited the “I’m burned out” excuse and wanted to spend more time with his family. He got his feet back in the pool this past year as the defensive coordinator at Arcadia HS, and he appeared to be just happy calling plays and not worrying about the everyday responsibilities that come with being the head coach.

Only he has the answers, and they will be asked if he decides to take over again in 2025. High School football is becoming a major chore in the area these days. Part of the reason why is that football coaches are not getting the support they need at the administrative level.

This is the only reason we can think of why Marcus Galan stepped down as the football coach at San Gabriel High School after taking his team to the final in 2024. This was on the heels of Kevin Encinas winning a sectional title in 2022 and then resigning that offseason.

When Encinas stepped down, he said it was for “family reasons.” That didn’t stop him from taking the offensive coordinator position at Nogales in 2024. Guess what Galan's reason was for stepping down? You guessed it: “Spend more time with his family.”

We don’t buy this excuse at all. We think the school administration is not giving a coach the support needed to run a successful program. It is a shame because, as I have opined in the past, many administrators treat football coaches as if they are “babysitters.” When support is needed, they say they are there to help, but in reality, they have no interest in a successful football program.

It is also dependent on young coaches to think very hard before taking a head football coaching position. They must develop a mindset that becoming a head football coach at the high school level is not easy.

It may seem simple on Friday nights when the lights are on, and it’s “Showtime,” but in reality, it is the most demanding job at the high school level, and the level of compensation that a coach gets (which is woefully lacking).

Young and veteran coaches would be strongly advised to read Chris Fore’s excellent book “The Head Coach Blueprint: A Comprehensive Game Plan for Coaches to Become Head Coaches.”

As former area football coach Pete Smolin said in the first sentence of the book's first chapter, “Be careful what you wish for.”

Every potential area football coaching candidate must heed those words before taking a football position with poor administrative support.