So the first week of the Del Rio League play has come and gone, so let’s look back briefly at the opening week of play and who sits where in the Standings.
On top of the league La Serna, Pioneer and Santa Fe all sit tied for first right now, their overall records establishing the pecking order. El Rancho, Whittier and California are tied for fourth place with a league loss apiece, but by virtue of their 4-2 overall record, the Dons are poised to recover from their loss to La Serna, while Cal and Whittier are mired in six-game losing streaks each. Here’s the current breakdown for the league, based on the current standings:
1. La Serna (5-1, 1-0): So far the Lancers have not suffered from their trademark collapse in league as in years past. Since their 48-21 victory over Pac-5 perennial power Long Beach Wilson, the Lancers have rattled off four straight wins, including the last two where they held both Warren and El Rancho to one touchdown. Andrew Buenrostro has been on target so far, holding a .586 completion percentage from behind center and has thrown eight touchdowns against only one interception, coming in the loss to Downey in Week 2. However, the Lancers still need to take out both Santa Fe and Pioneer in order to lay claim to the League title. This week, they face the Chiefs at Whittier District Field on Thursday night.
2. Pioneer (4-2, 1-0): The Titans have not had a season like this in a while, and there’s no bigger reason for that than the rushing prowess of running back Tony Botello. Botello, the senior rusher, cracked the 1,000-yard mark Friday night against Whittier, but wasn’t a factor in the 14-0 shutout of the Cardinals. He has six straight games with more than 100 yards on the ground, and only two of those, the win over Whittier and the 21-13 loss to Salesian in week two were the only games he didn’t reach the End zone. Pioneer is better than the statistics show so far. They might have forced overtime against Sunny Hills in week three were it not for a sack of Daniel Castro that resulted in the safety that was the margin of victory. The Titans are in the middle of their three-game homestand as El Rancho comes into Titan Stadium on Friday night.
3. Santa Fe (3-3, 1-0): As usual, longtime head coach Jack Mahlstede spread his offense all around. Even though the Chiefs came into league play with a 2-3 record, the losses are not as devastating as one might assume. The blocked field goal against Bonita showed that they could come back from a deficit. The loss to Esperanza showed that they could hang with a grinding team, and despite getting shut out by Charter Oak, last year’s Southeast Division Champs, they held the Chargers to 17 points, their lowest output all season, including their two losses so far. Plus they did something La Serna couldn’t do this year, beat both Downey schools. Justin Rincon is showing his leadership at quarterback, and even though he doesn’t have the options he had last year, he’s showing that he can keep the Chiefs in a game with his arm if necessary. The Chiefs return to Whittier District Field on Thursday to take on La Serna for a first-place showdown.
4. El Rancho (4-2, 0-1): The Dons have been building up their street cred with wins over Northview and a struggling Montebello. But their two losses have hurt, especially the 24-7 loss to La Serna. The flag-filled loss at home could have been closer had the Dons capitalized on two interceptions off Lancer quarterback Andrew Buenrostro. Nevertheless, the Dons are on pace to contend for the title. The Dons’ best bet for scoring is the ground game, where five players have more than 150 yards rushing so far. The Dons take the short trip to Titan Stadium Friday to take on Pioneer. A win for the Ranch could create a four-way tie for second in the standings.
5. California (0-6, 0-1): This is an unprecedented year for the Condors. There have been two previous times where the Condors lost six in a row, in 2002 the Condors lost six straight before winning the last two games of the season for a 4-6 record then the Condors dropped the last five games of the 2004 season then opened up 2005 with a loss to Rowland. But the Condors have never opened a season winless. It hasn’t helped that senior quarterback Adam Contreras needed four weeks to recover from a shoulder injury he suffered in the season opener at Rowland. Although sophomore Drew Castro has been effective, there’s a feeling amongst the Condor faithful that the current team leaves a lot to be desired in terms of bringing the attitude needed to get over this slump. This week Whittier comes to Cal on Friday night in a battle to determine who gets left in the cellar all alone.
6. Whittier (0-6, 0-1): You would think that Coach Larry Scott would finally find a mix of athletes that could pull the Cardinals out of this persistent inability to produce wins. In fact, going into this year, the Cardinals have an overall record of 11-34 in league since 2001, of which only four seasons, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009 had the Cardinals finishing with a .500 or better regular season record, including their two playoff appearances in ’04 and ’06. There’s little that can be done short of a complete overhaul of the football program that can right this ship. Whittier heads to Whittier District Field to take on the other cellar dweller, Cal High, Friday night to see who moves up and who stands alone in last place.
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