High School Football Blog

Tonight when Los Alamitos QB Dylan Lagarde takes the field, he will know considerably more players from the opposite sideline than some of his Griffin teammates.  Of course, because Lagarde began the season as the QB for Long Beach Poly, Los Al's first round opponent. 

Lagarde, who transferred from Gardena Serra to Poly before his sophomore season reportedly lost his starting job after the Jackrabbits lost at Oceanside earlier this season.  Lagarde left and enrolled in Los Alamitos.  According to reports, Los Al head coach John Barnes infomed then QB Dylan Cook that Lagarde would be given an opportunity to compete for the QB job.  Cook quit the team.  Lagarde takes over as the starter in a game vs Marina Week 7.  As a starter, the sophomore is 4-4 this season at both schools combined.  The funny thing is despite changing campuses, Lagarde still plays his home games at the same stadium.  Veterans Stadium is the home for Poly and Los Al plays a number of home games there as well. 

Tonight, Los Al will be the designated home team and Lagarde will be clad in the red, white, and blue of Los Al.  Here's the Press Telegram's take on tonight's events. 

RH

Crenshaw continued to build its resume towards a possible State Bowl berth by dismantling Birmingham 42-6 tonight at Crenshaw.  Patriots QB Max Smith's first pass of the game was intercepted by Crenshaw's Gregory Ducre and it was all downhill for BHam from there.  Minus one Crenshaw offensive play, the entire first quarter was played in the Patriots zone. RB  DeAnthony Thomas once again put together a string of sensational runs.  WR Geno Hall had a sensational punt return for a TD in the 3rd quarter but it was called back for a clip.  Hall took the punt on a hop going to his left, darted back to his right, came back left, found a crease and dashed towards the endzone able to out run all the Patriots at about half speed. 

LB Hayes Pullard led a Cougar defense that flew to the ball and hit harder than any unit I've seen this season.  RB/DB Geoffrey Norwood was dynamite on both sides of the ball and Thomas had a number of big hits on the defensive side of the ball, including a sack of Smith.  Long story short, the 'Shaw looks good.  Westchester will have their work cut out for them when the two "basketball schools" meet next Wednesday for a ticket to the City Semifinals. 

After the game however, Crenshaw head coach Robert Garret was clearly upset.  For the playoffs, each team gets two Nike balls for the game.  After the game has concluded, per City Section rules, its the losing teams responsibility to hand over there balls to the winner.  According to Garret, there was one ball missing that Birmingham failed to keep track of.  Also during the discussion, according to Garret, one of the coaches of the Birmingham staff asked Garret about his players grades, eluding to the fact that one or more of his inner city players were not eligible to play in Thursday night's postseason opener. 

There has always been a rivalry between LA City teams and Valley teams in the City Section.  Most of the LA City teams are in the innner city and tonight's events are just another example of that rivalry which Garret says he's sick of. 

Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian was in attendance, along with defensive coordinator Nick Holt. 

RH  

"Deshawn Beck is phenomenal" said Narbonne head coach Manuel Douglas after his team's 33-0 1st round win at LA Jordan.  Beck, who was named the Eastern League Player of the Year finishes the season with close to 3,000 all purpose yards.  Jordan head coach Elijah Asante says Beck is the best all around player he's coached since taking over at Jordan.  Beck will likely be considered for City Player of the Year as well as All State accolades. 

As USC head coach Pete Carroll, Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian, as well as spectators from the roof of their homes in the Jordan Downs Housing Projects looked on they saw a Jordan team handled pretty easily by a not so normal 11 seed in Narbonne.  RB Melvin Davis said his team did feel a little slighted by the low seed.  Douglas however feels the seeding could work in the Gauchos favor.  Its also an easier road back to the Coliseum than they had as the top seed in 09.

As for Jordan, the program continues to take strides.  This is the 3rd consecutive season the Bulldogs have been able to host a playoff game.  Something Asante takes a lot of pride in.  Five Jordan seniors addressed their teammates after today's game.  The common theme amongst all of their speeches was for the underclassmen to put in the work to continue to build the program.  The future looks bright for the Bulldogs with leading tackler Patrick Wooten, just a sophomore, and freshman QB Justin Lewis who Asante is high on.  Lewis took snaps late in the game and throws a really good ball.

As for Narbonne they take on 3rd seeded Venice, a 24-7  winner over Sylmar tonight, next Wednesday. 

RH

When Bishop Amat and Mater Dei collide tomorrow night, it will be their first meeting since 2005.  Amat won 28-7.  At the time, they were both members of the Serra League.  The game between the two former Serra and Angelus league rivals will also be new territory for the Monarchs.  Last week Mater Dei won 42-14 at St. John Bosco in the regular season finale.  This will be the first time since the 2005 playoffs that Mater Dei has traveled outside Orange County for back-to-back games. It is also the first time Mater Dei has left the O.C. for a non league game since the triple OT thriller vs Carson at Long Beach Veterans Stadium to open the 2008 season. 

RH

We did our weekly High School Preview Show from Long Beach Poly Wednesday.  I spoke with coach Raul Lara on a number of topics from the transfer of former QB Dylan Lagarde to the tough time he's had with his Jackrabbits finishing the regular season with a record of 5-5 and not winning at least a share of a league title for the first time since 1991.  Lara was very candid about this season and how he and the program have responded. 

The major storyline heading into Friday night's game, is that of Lagarde starting for Los Alamitos.  Meanwhile, Dylan Cook, the QB who Lagarde replaced at Los Al spoke out to the Press Telegram.  Its a very interesting read. 

RH

Palmdale DB Joshua Shaw is going to be a Gator.  Earlier today, the senior committed to the University of Florida, making him the 18th commit for the Gators 2010 recruiting class.  Shaw is ther 3rd rated cornerback in his class according to Rivals and has been compared to current San Diego Charger Antoine Cason, who played at Los Alamitos before going to the University of Arizona.  At 6-1, 195, Shaw has excellent size and could make an immediate impact at the next level.

The 8-2 Falcons are the 4th seed in the Western Division and open up against Santa Monica Friday.

RH

Culver City LB Victor Burnett has committed to Washington.  Burnett has 13 offers total, including Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Tennessee.  This season he leads the Centaurs with just under 14 tackles per game.  He also has 4 sacks and an INT.  Culver City (9-1) won the Ocean League this season and opens up play in the Western Division playoffs Friday against Compton Dominguez (4-5). 

UW has 23 commitments in the 2010 class.

RH 

It's the PAC-5.  Year in and year out the first round matchups in the PAC 5 are always intriguing.  There seems to be great games all throughout the bracket.  There is the matchup of perennial powers in Bishop Amat and Mater Dei.  The two are also foes from the old Angelus League.  Bishop Amat owns an 18-15 edge over Mater Dei all time.  There are 14 division titles between them, with Amat's five and Mater Dei's nine. 

The Servite/San Clemente game puts together two of the top quarterbacks in Orange County in the Friars' Cody Fajardo and the Tritons' Chase Rettig who is committed to Tennessee. 

But the most interesting matchup of all is Long Beach Poly and Los Alamitos.  You see those two teams on the bracket and it immediately jumps out at you.  There are so many storylines in this one.  Of course, there is the transfer of Dylan Lagarde.  The sophomore QB began the season as the favorite to win the starting job for the Jackrabbits.  Lagarde ended up splitting time at the position through the first few weeks of the season.  Abrubtly he transferred out of Poly and into Los Alamitos.  Exit Dylan Cook, who began the season as the starter for the Griffins.  Cook suddenly quit the team.  By Week 7, Lagarde was the starter at Los Alamitos.  There were a lot of teams and coaches throught the Sunset League upset about that. 

The Jackrabbits will definitely see a familiar face wearing uniform number 3 in red on Friday night.  The venue will also be familiar.  Los Al and Poly both play their home games at Long Beach Veterans Stadium. 

In John Barnes and Raul Lara, you have two of the most winningest coaches in the area.  Barnes is the all-time winningest head coach in Orange County, while Raul Lara has four CIF Championships as a head coach. 

Poly just happens to be back-to-back PAC-5 Champions.

The Vet in Long Beach.  Who's house is it?  We'll find out Friday night.

RH

Please be sure to check out our HS Rewind Show right here on the web with Gary Miller and myself.  We recap the final week of the regular season and preview the playoffs as pairings were released over the weekend.  We also have reaction from coaches around the Southland on their 1st round draws.  Click here to view the show. 

Also here are the playoff brackets:

Southern Section

City Section (Division I)

City Section (Division II)

RH

CIF Pairings will not be released until Sunday morning, but here is what I think the bracket in the PAC 5 will look like:

Edison (10-0) Sunset

Millikan (6-4) Moore

Mater Dei (6-4) Trinity

Dana Hills (8-2) South Coast

Bishop Amat (9-1) Serra

Fountain Valley (8-2) Sunset

Wilson (6-4) Moore

Servite (9-1) Trinity

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Lakewood (9-1) Moore

San Clemente (6-4) South Coast

Notre Dame (8-2) Serra

Newport Harbor (6-4) Sunset

Los Alamitos (8-2) Sunset

Long Beach Poly (5-5) Moore

Mission Viejo (10-0) South Coast

Orange Lutheran (6-4) Trinity

I have the top four seeds being: (1) Edison, (2) Mission Viejo, (3) Lakewood, (4) Servite.  Also, keep in mind, league opponents are not allowed to play each other until the semifinals. 

RH