COVINA – Ify Umodu remembers watching his older brothers capture South Hills High School’s last CIF-Southern Section divisional football title, a 41-16 victory over Orange in the 2005 Division VII championship game.
Tobi Umodu, a senior on that team, was named the CIF-SS Division VII defensive player of the year and is on scholarship at UCLA, where he is a junior fullback.
Kebin Umodu was just a sophomore linebacker at the time, but two years later he earned Southwest Division first-team honors, and received a scholarship to the Air Force Academy after graduating in 2008.
After watching his older brothers celebrate on the field, earn championship rings and scholarships to college, Ify Umodu is finally a senior and hoping to leave his own mark at South Hills.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound receiver/defensive back is preparing to face rival West Covina (3-3) in the San Antonio League opener on Friday at Covina District Field. It comes a week after his best game of the season. Umodu had six receptions for 121 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-9 victory over Rosemead.
The Huskies’ leading receiver has 17 receptions for 363 yards and five touchdowns, but is also a game-changing corner.
“As a defensive back, we do a fade drill that we call, `save the coaches job drill.”‘ South Hills coach Steve Bogan said. “Ify is a defier of the save the coaches job drill. He takes fades away from people. That might be the thing he is most prolific at.”
His size and athleticism also make him almost impossible to guard one-on-one.
“Obviously he’s athletic, can leap, jump and catch the football with the best of them,” Bogan said. “He can catch a two-yard hitch and turn in into a touchdown, or catch a 38-yard fade and turn it into a touchdown. Athletically, there is nothing he’s not capable of.”
But is he capable of leading his team to a championship, a question even Umodu has struggled with at times.
“The legacy my brothers left, I want that so bad,” Umodu said. “There are high expectations at South Hills, but it feels like forever since we won a championship.
“When I was younger, I was just thinking about making big plays. I was thinking about my stats, thinking of what I had to do to follow in (my brothers’) footsteps, but that’s not important anymore. I really want a ring and I want my teammates to get a ring, that’s all that matters.”
For South Hills, though, a championship seems so far away. It’s been a frustrating first half of the season on several fronts, even though the Huskies are 3-2 and ranked No. 4 in the Southeast Division.
The Huskies recently learned that running back Jordan Canada, a highly touted senior transfer from Duarte, lost his state-appeal to overturn the CIF-SS ruling that declared him ineligible to play at South Hills because of an “athletically motivated,” transfer.
That ruling came almost six months after Huskies quarterback Jacob Shirley also was declared ineligible by the CIF-SS after ruling that Shirley’s transfer from rival West Covina also was because of “athletically motivated,” reasons.
Because of the ruling, Shirley couldn’t participate on the Huskies’ CIF-SS Division III championship baseball team last spring, but has regained his eligibility after sitting out a year and is ready to face his old school on Friday.
Injuries also have hampered the Huskies. They are so thin in the backfield that receiver Geoffrey Vaughns is almost a full-time running back, putting more pressure on others like Umodu to perform if the Huskies are going to have any chance at a league or CIF-SS title.
“You know, it feels like everyone’s against us, like it’s us against the world,” Umodu said. “When you win a lot, there are a lot of haters, that’s what it feels like right now. But there’s a way to shut them all up, and that’s to win. We have to come together as a team and just win.
“That’s what our coaches emphasized the other day. They always have a great game plan for us, but we need to do a better job of concentrating and following it. We have to forget about all the outside distractions and do what we need to do to come together as a team.”
Shirley, a starting quarterback at West Covina when he was a sophomore, took some time getting acclimated to the Huskies’ offense, but it appears he’s starting to find his groove.
In his first start against Northview on Oct. 2, Shirley was a perfect 10 for 10 in a 62-0 victory, then completed nine of 19 last week against Rosemead, with six of those receptions to his new favorite receiver, Umodu.
“(Jacob) and I, we went to the same elementary,” Umodu said. “We have known each other since first grade.
“He’s really starting to (grasp) everything we do and our chemistry is getting better each week. He knows where to put the ball, I just have to get myself in the right spots.
“Seriously, I really feel good about what we’re doing right now, but it won’t matter unless we get a win on Friday to get ourselves back on the right track.”
San Gabriel Valley Tribune ~ http://www.sgvtribune.com/preps/ci_13565634
South Hills High School has controlled its nonleague series against Los Altos in recent years, and that didn’t change Friday night.