CIF playoffs are winding down, Semi-Finals are this week and it’s “win or go home.”. The San Jacinto Tigers looked impressive in their first two playoff games at home, but will travel this week to take on La Serna. La Serna comes in this matchup ranked 45 in the state. They have a perfect 12-0 record and have been steamrolling opponents all season. That is nothing new to San Jacinto, though their last opponent (Kaiser) was considered one of the favorites to win the whole thing heading into the playoffs. San Jacinto was able to get them out of their comfort zone and shut down their offense. It wasn’t without struggle and definitely wasn’t pretty, but they got the job done.

San Jacinto’s Offense is uniquely diverse. Kajiya Hollawayne, Juan Denny, and Kelvin Davis are all big threats on the ground and can make big plays at any given moment, but they aren’t scared to pass the ball. They have a couple of solid receivers on their roster.  Kameron Rocha who possesses next-level ball skills and speed…Antoine Sullivan has shown flashes of elite speed and route running this season. Damonce Williams is quietly making his case as a real possession receiver coming up with tough catches on a constant basis.

Finally Anthony Morales doesn’t look like your typical high school receiver, but every game he makes big catches; Morales runs clean routes, gets in and out of cuts, and catches just about anything that touches his hands. Coach Galliano is seemingly very inconsistent in his play-calling, but this is by design. He runs very similar formations with many different packages, causing opposing defenses to play on their toes. It seems like he has played the majority of the season with only a quarter of his playbook; when teams think they have it figured out, he comes out with something that no one has seen on film. He is also very comfortable with calling audibles from the sidelines and changing plays after the defense shows their cards.

(Tigers head to Whittier)

San Jacinto’s defense will also be key in this game. The defensive front will look to fill the run lanes and set outside contain in order to give the secondary as much help as they can. The Tigers have lost a few of their starting defensive backs this season to various injuries with Davon Banks and Keith Hunter being the two that hurt the most. Banks’ season ended before it really even got started and Keith Hunter was emerging as a top corner in the division this season with 18 tackles, 5 interceptions, 2 clear pass deflections, and being a shut-down man-to-man corner before going down with a serious injury against Citrus Hill.

La Serna’s offense is very balanced.  Their quarterback Andrew Henriquez has thrown for over 2000 yards, 27 touchdowns, and only 3 interceptions on the year. No one on the team rushed for 1,000 yards this season, but two Lancers are over 500 and have a combined for 22 touchdowns ( 17 touchdowns credited to Chandler Mccaffer); they also have another running back you have to watch out for: Joey Bustos.  They love to give him the ball in short yardage territory and let him make plays. He had 8 touchdowns on the year. La Serna’s approach to the game is refreshing. 

They play an old-school smash-mouth style of football that has been nearly forgotten. They will look to punish the Tigers in the first quarter, in order to set up play action and look to hit one of their two deep threat receivers, Milo Lopez or Jake George.  Kameron Rocha is going to have to shut one of them down. Elijah Torres will be called upon to lock up the other. Expect Antoine Sullivan to come in and play some safety. In a game like this, sometimes you just need your best athletes on the field in order to give your team the greatest chance to win the game.

The winner of this game will advance to the finals and play the winner of the Crespi vs Pacifica game.

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Big games for the two local teams.

Round two of the playoffs start this week.  There are only two teams standing in the Mountain Pass League. In our first game of the week Kaiser (out of Fontana) will take on San Jacinto. Kaiser comes into the game with a perfect regular season record of 10-0. They won their first round matchup last week against Redondo Union 16-3. Although Kaiser’s record looks impressive as well as their margin of victory, there is something to be said of their opponent’s and strength of schedule. They haven’t quite matched to another school with the same quality athletes that SJ has on their team. Kajiya Hollawayne (QB for SJ) is only a Junior and already has multiple D-1 offers. Other players that should be getting attention from colleges on the San Jacinto roster are; Sheldon Newton, Kameron Rocha, Juan Denny Jr, Antoine Sullivan, Damonce Williams, Keith Hunter, LJ Vaifanua. Kelvin Davis, and Nathan Ortiz.  All of these players possess the ability to change the game at any given moment. Kaiser’s game is based on running the ball…their quarterback Trey Tribble is the leading rusher. They run a lot of RPO (Run-Pass Option) and Option Read, in their play book. Their passing game is very minimum Tribble only threw for 19 more yards (1163) than he rushed (1144) for the season. He has thrown 10 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on the year. Tribble is also the team leader in rushing touchdowns (13). 

Compare this to San Jacinto’s Kajiya Hollawayne who has twice as many passing yards and touchdowns against much tougher opponents. Hollawayne has 200 less rushing yards than Tribble, but has the same amount (13)of rushing touchdowns. Both teams possess the capability to score quickly.  I expect this matchup to be tough for both offenses. We will see which team is able to impose their will against the other in order to advance into the next round. 

Hemet will be welcoming El Rancho into the Dog Pound this week. This will be a tough matchup for Hemet. El Rancho is ranked in the top 200 (188) while Hemet is ranked 262. The good thing for Hemet is that the two schools will be competing with each other on their best sides of the ball. El Rancho’s game is through the air. Hemet’s strength? Pass Defense. Two of their defensive backs made the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle All-Valley team (Bradley Fye & Frankie Castillo): that doesn’t mean you can forget about the always exciting Jeremiah Graves. Graves has over 1500 passing yards and over 500 rushing yards on the season. He can get the job done when he needs too. His number one receiver, Ethan Leonard (over 800 yards and 10 touchdowns) will be ready to control the game. 

Both teams are playing at home this week so go out and support them as they make bids to be CIF champions. Games start at 7:00 and tickets are $10.

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Search: Round two begins

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End of the Season Awards and Review for Local Girls’ Volleyball

The girls in the Mountain Pass League put on quite an exhibition this year.  Unfortunately everyone’s season has come to an end in the CIF bracket tournament. Hemet High and Beaumont finished as Co-Champs of the Mountain Pass League, both posting an impressive 9-1 record in league play.

Each only lost to each other splitting their season matchups in half.                                                                                                  

Hemet, Beaumont, and West Valley all made it into their divisions playoff bracket this season. Hemet was victorious in their first two matches against West and Calvary Chapel but fell in the third round to Saddleback Christian who lost in their Semi-Final matchup. Beaumont lost in their first match against Brentwood and was eliminated from the tournament quite early. Many expected them to make a deeper run in the bracket this season. West Valley won their first match in the playoffs against Patriot, but they turned lost the very next match against Cate. 

Tahquitz, San Jacinto, and Citrus Hill all failed to make the playoffs this season. San Jacinto has a rather young team, only graduating 3 seniors at the end of the school year. They will be poised to challenge West Valley for the Mountain Pass League Championship next year. West Valley will be a little younger next year as they are graduating six seniors and only have three juniors listed on their current roster.

It is important to note that the current  co-league champions, Hemet and Beaumont are leaving the league at the end of the season. Hemet’s team is graduating 4 seniors: that’s a third of their 12-girl active roster. It’s unknown how many seniors are on Beaumont’s roster, but both teams will want to assert themselves as top dogs in their new league next season.

The Hemet-San Jacinto Chronicle would like to congratulate the three teams on their playoff success.  We are looking forward to seeing how they come back next year.

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Four Mountain Pass League Teams Are Represented In The CIF Playoffs This Year.

The regular season is over and the Playoffs are upon us. In our matchup of the week Apple Valley (9-1 Record) will be traveling down to San Jacinto to take on the Mountain Pass League Champions. The San Jacinto Tigers come into this game fresh off a dominant performance against Tahquitz.  In general, the Tigers have dominated the entire league this year. Their last loss of the season came in week 4 against Eastlake who was a worthy opponent.

San Jacinto had a tough time in that game, missing quite a few key players on the defensive side of the ball and also missing one of their key playmakers on offense, senior wide-receiver Antoine Sullivan. Ever since that game they have been steam-rolling every opponent. Currently San Jacinto is ranked number 91 in the state, while their opponent Apple Valley is currently ranked 136.

The key for San Jacinto will be to contain sophomore quarterback Jayden Max Denegal who threw for over 2,000 yards, 33 touchdowns, and only 6 interceptions on the year. Apple Valley’s senior running back Kenyard Edwards is also going to be a threat he rushed for over 1,000 yards this season and has 19 touchdowns. The San Jacinto defensive line is going to be key in this matchup. Can Sheldon Newton and Mahe Hamala create enough pressure in the back field while the linebackers stay in pass coverage? I expect San Jacinto’s Defensive Back, Kameron Rocha to be playing the number one receiver for Apple Valley (Tyron Smith) all game long, in order to force Apple Valley to use another weapon. This match-up promises to be electric as both teams possess the ability to put up a lot of points in very little time.

Hemet High (6-4) will travel to El Monte to take on Arroyo. Hemet High finished the season ranked 256 in state, but was the first team this season to take out the previous league champs, Citrus Hill. Their opponent Arroyo finished the season with a .500 record, ranked 541 in the state.

This should be an easy game for Hemet as long as they can isolate Arroyo’s senior running back, Adrian Calvillo. Defense has really been Hemet’s backbone all year by forcing teams into dog fights and proving that they are the bullies. That’s the kind of game they like to play, and if they can force Arroyo into that, they should walk out of the first round as victors.

Beaumont (who finished the season with a 9-1 record, sole loss coming from San Jacinto in week 6) is entering the playoffs ranked 171 in state. They are in the same division as Hemet but they are on opposite sides of the bracket. This creates an interesting story-line: if both teams are able to make it all the way to the finals (Beaumont barely squeaked by Hemet in week 7, with a score of 14-10) Beaumont’s opponent is Linfield Christian who finished the regular season with a 7-3 record and ranked 411 in the state. Beaumont has to isolate junior quarterback Michael Harkins, who threw for over 1,000 yards, 17 touchdowns, with only 7 interceptions. Beaumont also has to worry about about the Linfield Christian running back Crispin Wong who ran for over 1,000 yards and 14 touchdowns this year.  He had a season-long touchdown run of 98 yards. Hemet Native and former Hemet Saints Running Back Justin Manqueros is also a threat out of the back field for Linfield Christian: he ran for over 1,000 yards and chipped in 18 touchdowns this season.

Citrus Hill (finishing the season with a 7-3 record, with all 3 losses coming from league opponents, ranked 230 in state) will match up with Yorba Linda. Yorba Linda is ranked 61 in the state and finished the season with a 9-1 record. Yorba Linda’s offense relies on a “Run-By-Committee” approach, getting a lot of different players “touches” throughout the game. On paper this seems like an easy game for Yorba Linda. Citrus Hill needs to have the game of their life to take out this opponent which will be an amazing David and Goliath tale which would help save face for Citrus Hill which has had a very unusual season by their standards. 

For pictures of the Apple Valley@San Jacinto game, please visit @authorkyleraeheadlee on Facebook and be on the lookout for updates online on how the games ended. 

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Search: One Common Goal

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Go Big or Go Home: Who is making the playoffs after week 10?

The last week of the regular season is here and there are some big, exciting matchups. In the first matchup of the night, Tahquitz travels across town to San Jacinto to take on the Tigers. San Jacinto is coming fresh off an amazing performance against Citrus Hill in which they  secured themselves as champions of the Mountain Pass League. This is San Jacinto’s last game before the playoffs: they will probably rest key players after they have a comfortable lead and try out some new things on the offense. For Tahquitz this game is merely for bragging rights, They will be trying to become the only team to take down the Tigers. There is another interesting narrative: Tigers deep threat and primary receiver Antoine Sullivan will be on the field. Sullivan was Tahquitz’s leading receiver for the last two years, but with uncertainty in their coaching staff, Sullivan’s family decided it would be a better move for Antoine to move over to San Jacinto’s program where Coach Galliano is notorious for running a well-organized football program. 

This game will be interesting for Antoine: he will want to have the game of his life to prove that he made the right decision.  He’ll  also be playing against a lot of his former teammates (whom he considers family) in the matchup. San Jacinto is also celebrating their senior night, where over 20 seniors will be playing their last regular season game at Tiger stadium. It will be a game full of emotion and energy for the Tigers who are preparing for another deep playoff run this year. 

West Valley will host Hemet in the final game of the season. This is also West Valley’s senior night. West Valley’s season is basically over already, posting a 2-7 record on the year.  That said, they have one last chance to play spoiler to the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs have to win this game in order to make the playoffs and the more they dominate, the better for them. West Valley has a couple of players who are being recruited to play football at the next level and this will certainly be a prime opportunity for them to add to their resume. Hemet’s defense is no joke: it has anchored the team all season long. 

Beaumont will travel to Citrus Hill.  Beaumont has to win this game and pray for an upset at San Jacinto in order to be considered league champions together. That is a lot to ask: Citrus Hill’s defense is very good, even holding San Jacinto to only seven points in the first half. Beaumont’s defense is not quite as good, though they have a very high-power offense that can put up a lot of points in very little time. This game will be a fun one to watch.  If Citrus Hill’s defense doesn’t hold up, and they lose this game, it may mark the end of a dominant era for Citrus, having lost to three out of five teams in the league.

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Who will come out on top of the Mountain Pass League?

It feels like school just started, but the first half of fall sports is already over, and teams have begun to prepare for the CIF playoffs. Most of the non-league games are over, and the rest of the games are now vital if these girls want to play in the playoffs this year. San Jacinto Girls Volleyball team is barley over .500 with a non-league record of 6-5, they have played some tough opponents in this stretch and at times have looked poised to make a deep run. At other times it has seemed that they struggle to find their identity. 

Citrus Hill’s team isn’t much better hovering near the bottom of the league with a current record of 3-3. Beaumont High school is sitting at the very bottom of the Mountain Pass League a record of 1-7 including a seven-game losing streak. Tahquitz High School is also at the bottom with a 3-6 record. 

Right now Hemet High looks ready to make a run at the top spot, but that might be hard with West Valley in the way. Hemet High currently has an outstanding record of 14-4 and has played tough opponents like Heritage, Corona, and Citrus Valley. Their only losses have come from Paloma, Citrus Valley, Chaparral, and Palm Desert. If they continue to play the way they have, they are a big threat to the rest of the league.

However, West Valley is currently number one in league with a 12-0 record. The two teams won’t meet up until October first in what promises to be an exciting matchup. Many say that West Valleys Schedule isn’t as difficult as some of these other schools, so right now they are going to have to prove to the rest of the league that they are the real deal. Six seniors and three juniors anchor west Valleys team. That is nine upperclassmen on a thirteen player roster.

You can find all the schedules for the girl’s volleyball teams online. Come out and show your support for the girls and watch a match or two. The upcoming local games are; West Valley vs. Citrus Hill at West Valley on September 24th at 4:45 pm, Tahquitz vs. Beaumont at Tahquitz on September 24th at 4:45 pm, and Hemet High vs. San Jacinto at Hemet High on September 24th at 4:45 pm.

Schools usually charge a couple of dollars at the door to come to spectate and offer refreshments. All proceeds go to help the school keep its program and buy them nice equipment. So bring your wallet and an empty stomach when you come to watch these girls give it their all on the hardwood. 

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Search: Standings are looking tight

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(Ready For The Season) The Mountain Pass League, Which Consists of; Beaumont, Citrus Hills, San Jacinto, Tahquitz, Hemet, and West Valley High Schools are starting their season next week. Although they won’t play each other until week five these matchups are circled on everyone’s calendars because the winner of the league is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Last year Citrus Hill (5-0 league record 12-1 overall) claimed the league title but was eliminated in the playoffs. San Jacinto was right behind them finishing league play with a 4-1 record and a very respectable 12-2 record at the end of the season. These two teams will match up Oct. 25th, It will be the second to last game of the season and could hold some serious weight in the playoff picture for both teams. 

Hemet and Beaumont both shared an overall 8-5 record last season with Hemet edging Beaumont in league record (3-2 for Hemet, 2-3 for Beaumont.) This season Hemet has a new head coach, Jason Thronburg (Longtime coach in this Valley who coached at West Valley and Hemet) retired. Dennis Gregovich will be taking over the program. Not much is known about this coach or his playbook so it should be an exciting season to keep an eye out in Hemet. They could either shock the league or have some growing pains with the system changing. An interesting game to keep an eye on is Nov. 1st when Hemet takes on West Valley at West Valley. The games are always fun and filled with drama when these two teams play each other

Tahquitz also finished with a 6-4 overall record but went 1-4 in league play. Things are changing for the Titans this year as well, after some questions about the coaching staff. It appears the Stephen Pace is making a return as the coach this season, but Tahquitz lost their leading Receiver ( Antoine Sullivan, 407 total yards, 81 yards per game, and 8 touchdowns ) who transferred to San Jacinto after a very disappointing 2018 season. Speaking with him, he said, “it was just the best decision for me at this time.” Antoine will be available to play when San Jacinto takes on Tahquitz in the last game of the season which will be a very emotional game for him. 

Oh, how the mighty have fallen, West Valley was once considered the powerhouse in the Valley, it had a state of the art facility and field that all the local kids wanted to play in. Things have changed. West Valley went 0-5 in league play last year and finished the season with a 1-9 record, losing eight straight games. Matt Willard is returning as the coach this season and will be looking into getting the Mustangs back where they feel they belong, at the top of the division. He will have a new Quarterback at the helm this season, so let’s see what he is able to do with it.

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