South Hills High School Varsity Football Team

Player of the decade: SHAUN CODY, LOS ALTOS – He never won player of the year, but he was USA Today’s 2000 national defensive player of the year. He had had 105 tackles and 22 sacks during his senior year, and holds the school record with 69 1/2 career sacks. He also was a two-time All-American at USC, and nearly every coach I spoke with felt he was the consensus best.

Team of the decade: 2003 LOS ALTOS – This was the 14-0 Division VI championship team led by Brigham Harwell, which also included Tribune first-team all-area standouts Kevin Montano (OL), Daniel Drayton (LB), Ronnie Rodriguez (LB), Randall Brown (DB) and Tau Alo (DB).

Coach of the decade: STEVE BOGAN, SOUTH HILLS – This was very difficult considering that Lou Farrar and Greg Gano won three championships, but allowing titles to be the deciding factor, Bogan had four. Not only that, his Huskies reached five title games, won nine league titles and reached at least the quarterfinals in all ten seasons.

The year is the year they graduated
First Team Offense
QB – Felipe Aguilar, Los Altos, 2000
RB – Adam Muema, Charter Oak, 2009
RB – Donnie McCleskey, Bishop Amat, 2001
AP – Mike McDonough, Covina, 2006
WR – Tommy Cogburn, South El Monte, 2007
* WR – Jeremy Payton, South Hills, 2003
WR – Walter Thurmond III, West Covina, 2004
OL – Mike Harris, Duarte, 2007
OL – Dominic Austin, Bishop Amat, 2008
OL – Brandon Bennett, Bishop Amat, 2005
OL – Sean Sheller, Walnut, 2005
OL – Evan Williams, Charter Oak, 2008
PK – Jose Camarena, Rosemead, 2005

First Team Defense
DL – Brigham Harwell, Los Altos, 2003
DL – Shaun Cody, Los Altos, 2000
* DL – Toby Umodu, South Hills, 2005
LB – Daniel Drayton, Los Altos, 2003
LB – Ronnie Williams, Arroyo, 2004
LB – Wesley Walker, Bishop Amat, 2001
LB – Keith Smith, Charter Oak, 2009
DB – Randall Brown, Los Altos, 2003
* DB – Bryan Payton, South Hills, 2003
DB – Will Harris, Charter Oak, 2004
DB – William Wallace, West Covina, 2006
P – Aaron Perez, Charter Oak, 2003

Fred Robledo ~ http://www.insidesocal.com/tribpreps/2009/12/happy-new-year-1.html

Diamond Ranch, down and out again, completes turnaround to reach finals

While South Hills contemplates the crucial call that went against them, Diamond Ranch proved again that it doesn’t matter how you play in September, it’s what you do in December that matters most.

After starting 1-6 and advancing to the championship game last year, the Panthers did it again, erasing a 1-6 start to reach the CIF-Southern Section Southeast Division title game with a come-from-behind 31-27 victory over South Hills at Covina District Field on Friday.

Panthers quarterback Gus Viramontes helped the Panthers overcome a 14-0 deficit by throwing for 213 yards and two touchdowns and running for another as the Panthers won their sixth straight and next week will face the winner of tonight’s other Southeast Division semifinal between Charter Oak and California.

South Hills had a chance to take the lead trailing 24-21 in the fourth quarter when Geoffrey Vaughns scored on a 9-yard run, but a late flag came over the middle – an offensive face mask on the Huskies – and they would eventually miss a 31-yard field goal with 8:32 left.

After Viramontes connected on a 33-yard pass to Ryan Gibson on a third-and-13 to the Huskies’ 1, Chase Price scored from a yard to make it 31-21 with 3:12 left, and they held on after a late Huskies touchdown.

“We talked about Gus and the beginning of the year, people don’t give him enough credit,” Layton said. “A quarterback is defined by his leadership and wins, and this is a guy who has taken his team to two straight championship games.”

For Bogan, the face mask call that would have given them the lead was was a difficult one to stomach.

“That’s the first time I have ever had that called on us, an offensive lineman called for face mask,” Bogan said. “It’s hard when you’re in a game like this to have points taken off the board, but you don’t want to let it take away from how yard you battled.

“My hats off to Diamond Ranch, and for us, this is an opportunity to suck it up and grow as men and learn that life isn’t always going to go your way when you give everything you have. You only lose when you quit and we didn’t quit.”

The Panthers might be the first team ever to start 1-6 in consecutive years and reach the championship in both seasons, which Layton says is a reflection of his teams character.

“This is what we do,” Layton said. “We don’t worry about the preseason. I know a lot of teams that were 5-0 in the preseason and they’re in the stands watching right now.”

Huskies quarterback Jacob Shirley threw for 162 yards, opening with a 13-yard touchdown to Andrew Roddy followed by Vaughns’ 9-yard touchdown to give the Huskies a 14-0 lead, but the Panthers scored 18 unanswered points to take an 18-14 halftime lead.

San Gabriel Valley Tribune ~ http://www.sgvtribune.com/preps/ci_13932719

With South Hills’ standout receiver Ify Umodu out with a high ankle sprain for today’s CIF-Southern Section Southeast Division semifinal against Diamond Ranch (6-6) at Covina District Field at 7 p.m., the No. 2 Huskies (10-2) may lean on all-purpose threat Geoffrey Vaughns more than ever.

Not that he hasn’t done enough already.

In addition to rushing for 1,037 yards and 18 touchdowns, Vaughns also is the team’s leading receiver with 33 receptions for 609 yards and five touchdowns.

He also has recovered a team-high three fumbles and leads the Valley with seven interceptions.

In other words, Panthers coach Roddy Layton knows exactly what the initial game plan is.

“(Vaughns) is their star player, runs well and catches the ball,” Layton said. “They’ve got a very balanced offense and they’re big up front so they know how to establish things. We’re faster and quicker, so we’ll have to use that to our advantage.”

Earlier in the week Layton said when he was hired in 2006, he told the athletic department in six years time they would advance to two CIF championship games and win one.

After advancing to last year’s championship and losing to Charter Oak, Layton has the opportunity to fulfill that promise should the Panthers advance and win next week’s championship, although their road to the finals have been anything but conventional.

It was surprising enough when the Panthers advanced to last year’s title game after starting the season 1-6, but that appears to be their blueprint for success after starting 1-6 again, then going undefeated in November and winners of five games in a row.

The winner of tonight’s game meets the winner of Saturday’s other semifinal between California (9-2-1) and Charter Oak (11-1).

“In the middle of the season the last two years everybody asks `What is Diamond Ranch doing?’ ” Layton said. “This isn’t college football. You only need to win at certain times in high school, and we have a formula that involves playing tougher teams early in the season. We weren’t able to finish some of those games but now we’re figuring out how to win.

“Each season is different and this year we lost a bunch of players to the flu early on and we had some injuries. But you don’t always have to win to learn. You probably learn more from losing. We got our second-string guys some starts and now it’s almost like we have two starting lineups.”

One of last year’s victims was South Hills, which was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Diamond Ranch in overtime, 15-12, a game that Huskies coach Steve Bogan remembers well.

“Listen, their record doesn’t mean anything. We know they’re very athletic, they play good football, there is no trick,” Bogan said. “They can throw the ball, they can run the ball and they bring pressure on defense.”

The Huskies will be without Umodu, but sophomore Jamel Hart has played well at running back and has allowed Bogan to use Vaughns more at receiver, which is where he is most comfortable.

San Gabriel Valley Tribune ~ http://www.sgvtribune.com/preps/ci_13923091