Hemet Coach Puts Hands On San Jacinto Player During Game

On October 19th, 2019, the last Battle of the Bell (for the foreseeable future)  was played at Hemet High Stadium. Even though this was a rivalry game and was expected to be “chippy” based on the pregame antics of both schools, there’s no excuse for what happened that night on the field.  Early in the first quarter Kajiya Hollawayne (San Jacinto’s quarterback) scrambled out of the pocket to the right side of the field (towards Hemet’s sideline). Hollawayne was tackled out of bounds and was quickly surrounded by Hemet players. Hollawayne claims that players were, “Stomping me out” while on the ground. His offensive lineman rushed into the pile to pull him out.  Junior center Nimo Alo was one of the first San Jacinto Tigers on the side to pull his quarterback to safety. While in the pile, Alo claims that a Hemet Coach punched him in the jaw. This is what he said about the play,

 “Kajiya was running and I was following him. As he got towards their sideline Frankie (Frankie Castillo, cornerback from Hemet High) tackled him out of bounds. I fell over both of them. As I was trying to get up, someone was pushing my head down and I looked towards that direction and I saw the coach’s shoes. I know it was the coach because the players wear cleats, not sneakers. Then things started to get heated with me and Frankie…”  

Apparently, things got very heated.  

“…Then I seen the coach’s arm wrap around Frankie. Then the coach swung and hit me in the jaw. After we got separated, another coach just pushed me away. And if you watch the video, as I was walking away, the guy in the red (later identified as Will Dunn), said something like ‘Watch who you’re messing with MotherF*****,” but I’m positive he also said ‘Control yourself you dirty s***,” and other negative things to me. All I was trying to do was get up but if he didn’t push me down, the whole problem wouldn’t have escalated.”

Video has been obtained and enlarged, and you can clearly see the coach put his hands on Nimo Alo. It’s hard to tell if it’s a push or a punch, but either way, he is making contact with the San Jacinto player in an aggressive manner.  Several players and sideline reporters also saw the coach, at minimum, shove Nimo Alo.

Iseiya Serrano (San Jacinto Lineman) was standing right next to Alo when the incident took place, “I was running down to help my quarterback as well as my center, and as I was helping them up, the Hemet coach took a shot at his (Alo’s) face and then Hemet players joined in.  We pulled out our players but then we got flagged for it,” said Iseiya Serrano about the incident.

Noah Garcia (Owner and Operator of Noah’s Edits, a Youtube channel that records and edits videos of local athletes playing sports) saw the encounter and said this about the event, “after the run, I seen one of the Hemet High’s coaches shove a San Jacinto Player.”

The HSJ Chronicle contacted Head coach Dennis Gregovich and he had this to say about the matter, “If there is a video, it will be dealt with.  But I have no further comment until I see the video.” Coach Gregovich reached out again, after seeing the video and said, “I don’t see anything there.” in reference to his coach making contact with the San Jacinto player.

(Let’s not “get physical”)

The behavior during this event goes against everything that the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation-the High School sports governing body) stands for.  

The following is taken  directly from the CIF rule book & coaches handbook:
“Disrespectful Conduct — Seek to control the conduct of parents/guardians, spectators, coaches and players to prevent negative cheers, name-calling, insults, drinking or any other conduct inconsistent with a positive atmosphere of character development. Use proper authority to assure that rules against profanity, trash talking, taunting, arguing calls and other forms of bad sportsmanship are consistently and strictly enforced. Where appropriate, direct those responsible for game management to exercise control over spectators, bands and spirit groups.”

“Self-Control — Exercise and demand self control. Do not fight, scream or otherwise demonstrate uncontrolled anger or frustration. Do not permit players, coaches or spectators to display inappropriate anger.”

“PHYSICAL ASSAULT CIF State Constitution, Article 5, Section 522,” states: “Any student who physically assaults the person of a game or event official shall be banned from interscholastic athletics for the remainder of the student’s eligibility. A game or event official is defined as a referee, umpire or any other official assigned to interpret or enforce rules competition at an event. A student may, after a lapse of 18 calendar months from the date of the incident, apply for reinstatement of eligibility to the State CIF Commissioner. For this document, the Southern Section also includes coaches, administrators or other school personnel assigned to the contests or games as a game official.”

It’s important to note that all “Code of Conduct” policies apply to both players and coaches through CIF regulations. There is supposed to be no physical contact in an aggressive manner to players whether they are on your team or another team.

Hemet Unified School District’s Official Statement on 10/20/2019 is as follows: “Hemet High staff is working with San Jacinto’s staff to get a statement from the student who was involved and the Hemet resource officer is going to begin investigating the situation first thing Monday morning. HUSD doesn’t condone violence of any kind and we are working hard to make sure this situation gets resolved.” No further comment has been made by the school or district.

SJUSD’s spokesperson Dawn Lawrence released this statement: “We are going to trust the process and hope that Hemet High takes a good look at the event, and the statement of the players, and makes a fair judgment.  We understand that there is only one view of the video at this time and that it can be hard to see what really took place, but we trust that Hemet High and The Hemet Unified School District will make the right decision in the matter.”

We will have to wait for the CIF governing board to review the footage and hear the accounts of the players to find out what kind of action will be taken to prevent this from happening in the future. Nimo Alo was simply playing the game he loved, and didn’t deserve to be assaulted the way he was. There is no room for actions like this in High School Sports. 

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Odds Were Stacked Against Them

The Eastlake Titans made the trip from Chula Vista last Friday night. They entered Tiger Stadium with a 0-3 record and felt determined to not go home with a 0-4 record. San Jacinto’s defense was playing short-handed. Three key defensive starters sat out this week for various reasons — one in the second two on the defensive line. The backups tried their best to give pressure and shut down Eastlake’s running game, but it just wouldn’t be enough. Eastlake continued to punish San Jacinto inside basically running it up the middle over and over again without much variation. San Jacinto’s coaches consistently told the players what was going to happen, but it didn’t matter. Eastlake wanted to prove the point that they can run the football. Their Passing game was in-effective San Jacinto’s secondary did a great job of shutting that down. 

Junior Defensive Back/Safety Keith Hunter made a few great defensive plays, which made Eastlake re-think passing the football, he got his hands on the ball two plays in a row and barely missed out on the chance to come out with the interceptions. Senior Safety Kameron Rocha was laying down big hits and shedding blockers all night as well. One can’t help but think that this game would have been dramatically different if San Jacinto’s defensive unit would have been completed.

On the Offensive side of the ball, the team struggled to get anything going; it’s hard to tell if it was self-sabotage or Eastlakes energy and passion that was making hard for the Tigers. Kajiya Hollawayne (Tigers Dual-Threat QB) wasn’t seeing any openings when being forced to scramble out of the pocket, and Juan Denny (Tigers Senior RB) was being met at the line of scrimmage with two or three defenders every time he touched the ball. Eventually, Coach Galliano decided to start throwing the ball, and Kajiya Hollawayne started to connect with Junior Wide Receiver Damonce Williams on a consistent basis, but Eastlake figured out that Damonce was Kajiya’s most reliable receiver with other receivers on the roster dropping balls, and stop running mid-route.

San Jacinto ended up falling to Eastlake 31-14, there is no more time left to figure things out, with only one more game until League Play starts the Tigers need to come together and discover their identity. 

Player of the Game went to Eastlake’s Maximus Susi who played on all phases of the game and made a huge impact. After the game, Max made himself available for an interview and said, “We knew they were a tough team, but we needed to come out here and show that we could play with a chip on our shoulder too and that’s what we did.” It seems like the Eastlakes game plan was all about coming out and playing aggressive smash mouth football. It is safe to say that the strategy paid off. 

It was a tough week for half of the league Hemet and West Valley would lose close games this week. Tahquitz and Citrus Hills both won their games and Beaumont dominated their rivalry game against Banning.

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San Jacinto vs. Eastlake

In this week’s Game of the Week matchup, we bring you back to San Jacinto where the Tigers welcome Eastlake High into their stadium for a showdown that should bring great defense and offense for all spectators. Under center for the Tigers is Junior Quarterback Kajiya Hollawayne. Rivals.com currently has Kajiya as the 39th ranked player in the state and a 3-star recruit. He is coming off of arguably one of the best performances by a quarterback in San Jacinto High School History, three passing touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns, over 200 yards rushing and over 200 yards throwing. Hollawayne will need to bring the momentum and the same energy on Friday night if they are going to take down Eastlake. 

The Eastlake Titans are 0-3 to start the season but still ranked 109. They will be trying to come into San Jacinto to get their first win of the season. That means they are coming in hungry and willing to do whatever it takes to walk out of the stadium the victors. San Jacinto better is preparing for a dog fight, because it’s going to be a heck of a game. 

It appears that Eastlake is in the middle of an identity crisis; they are having a quarterback competition in the middle of the season between two juniors. That makes it difficult for both teams to prepare for the game. Eastlake is going to have a hard time rallying the team with no obvious leader to command the field and huddle. Ryan Cogdill (San Jacinto’s Defensive Coordinator) will have a hard time preparing for the week and adapting during the game, with quarterbacks coming in and out it’s hard to get a feel of what their tendencies and capabilities are. I expect Coach Cogdill to have it figured out by half time, that’s when San Jacinto’s defense will be able to exploit Eastlakes inconsistency. This game is going to be very entertaining and is a good preview of the quality of schools San Jacinto will have to play if they are going to make another deep run in the playoffs this season. 

In other Mountain Pass League games this week Hemet (395) travels to Riverside to take on John W North (287), Tahquitz (686) will head to Moreno Valley to play Canyon Springs (915), West Valley (564) is home and celebrating Homecoming against Vista Del Lago (568), Beaumont (229) has a home game against their rival Banning (746), and Citrus Hill(100) will take on Rancho Mirage (250). As always The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle will have a complete recap of this week’s action available on their Youtube channel, make sure to Comment, Like, Subscribe to stay updated on what’s happening in our valley’s high school sports.

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San Jacinto Needs To Make A Statement Coming Off A Loss

The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle is taking you to San Jacinto High School this week for the Game of the Week. This week San Jacinto High is welcoming Murrieta Mesa into “The Jungle” as the two teams look to show the rest of Southern California that they are serious contenders. San Jacinto started the season off with a huge win against Great Oaks showing dominance in every phase of the game, but their winning streak was quickly brought to an end when they traveled to Long Beach last week to play Woodrow High School. San Jacinto lost this matchup, causing them to drop from the 94th ranked school in California to the 144th ranked school. 

The team (lead by Junior Quarterback Kajiya Hollawayne) will be looking to come out hot and put a lot of points on the board tonight in order to make a statement to the rest of the division, “Just because we took one L doesn’t mean we are out of it.” Ryan Cogdil (Defensive Coordinator of the Tigers) isn’t happy that the team lost, but believes it could be good for them; now they can come together as a team and show everyone that they are a serious threat this year. 

Murrieta Mesa is ranked 302 in California. They are starting non-league play 0-2; their first game was a blowout loss to La Serna and last week they were involved in an offensive dog fight losing to Etiwanda High School in overtime 42-35. On paper San Jacinto should be able to control this game; they have the talent to do so. It all comes down to the players trusting their coaches play calls and sticking to their assignments. Football is as much of a chess match as it is a physical contest and it takes both Players and Coaches to trust each other and be in sync in order for the team to find success. 

San Jacinto needs to use this week to find their identity again and remember that they only went as far as they did last year by play as one team that fired on all cylinders. Coach Galliano and Kajiya Hollawayne will do everything in their power to get that high pace offense working as it should be, this week. Ryan Cogdill needs one of his defensive playmakers to step up and be a leader on the field after losing one of his captains to injury last week. Who on the defensive side of the ball is going to step up and become the leader in his absence?

Other Mountain Pass League Matchups tonight include: Beaumont vs. Perris, Hemet vs. Banning, Tahquitz vs. Lakeside, West Valley vs. Temecula Valley, and Citrus Hill vs. Pacific. You can see the winners and losers of this game in next week’s paper, but why wait? Subscribe to The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle Facebook/Youtube for faster updates on local sports news. Pictures of the game will be available on my personal Facebook page @AuthorKyleRaeHeadlee.

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