South Hills High School Varsity Football Team

One day after longtime Bonita coach Eric Podley and Covina’s Darryl Thomas resigned after spending more than a decade as head football coaches at their respective schools, one of the winningest in San Gabriel Valley history decided to hang it up after 19 years and a 70 percent winning clip in nearly two decades.

South Hills football coach Steve Bogan, who was named the Huskies’ head coach in 1992, resigned on Tuesday after winning four CIF-Southern Section titles, 13 league titles and compiling an overall record of 172-73 and 31-10 mark in the playoffs.

“It’s been a great, great ride,” Bogan said. “When I look back I’ve been very fortunate to be here this long. I’m not exactly sure where I’m going, but I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”

Bogan, a government and history teacher at South Hills since 1985, will remain at the school and continue to teach.

Bogan, who nearly left South Hills to take the Maranatha head coaching job last year, had thought about stepping aside in recent years.

“I just thought it was the right time,” Bogan said. “When I first got hired my goal was to go 10 years without being fired, because you heard of so many quality guys getting fired and you’re like, `It’s what have you done for me lately?’

“To be here this long and accomplish everything we did, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. South Hills is my home, it’s a great place and I will continue to be here. I’ve always thought I was a teacher first, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.”

Bogan said it’s too early to decide whether he’s finished coaching, he just knew he needed time off.

“I don’t know exactly what you want to call it,” Bogan said. “I’m going to look at possibly getting an administrative credential. I just felt like the Lord was saying you have to see what life is like on the other end. There were a lot of factors and the biggest one was our kids. I love them all, this is why we do what we do.”

Damien coach Greg Gano started his career as an assistant with Bogan in 1992 at South Hills. Gano later won four championships as the head coach at Los Altos and remains close friends with Bogan.

“I don’t think anybody has any perspective of what he’s accomplished at South Hills High School,” Gano said. “Not just the wins and losses, but his influence on kids, even after they graduated. He’s always been a class act.”

Bogan was named the San Gabriel Valley Tribune coach of the decade from 2000-09 – a span in which he won four CIF titles in five finals appearances, and reached at least the quarterfinals all 10 years during that stretch. He also was named the Tribune and CIF-SS divisional coach of the year twice.

Bogan won his first championship in 2000, a 19-14 victory over La Habra in the DivisionIX title game that gave South Hills its first football title in 26 years.

After getting knocked out in the divisional semifinals in 2001, the Huskies won again in 2002, beating Walnut 36-8 for the Division VII title.

South Hills’ back-to-back bid came in 2003, which might have been Bogan’s best team of all. The 2003 championship team, led by brothers Bryan and Jeremy Payton, who went to Oregon State and Arizona State, respectively, allowed just six points in the playoffs, and that came in the Division VII championship game, a 25-6 blowout over San Gabriel.

After losing to rival West Covina in the Division VII championship game in 2004, spoiling the Huskies’ three-peat bid, South Hills came right back the following season.

Bogan’s final championship campaign was a rout at Covina District Field for the 2005 Division VII crown with a 41-16 victory over Orange.

South Hills’ football program grew into a divisional and area power under Bogan, which promoted South Hills’ move to the more difficult Sierra League and the Inland Division (equivalent of Division 2) in 2009 – a climb of seven divisions since the Huskies won the Division IX crown in 2000.

South Hills struggled the past two years, going 3-7 in 2010 and ’11. The Huskies missed the playoffs both years, the first time they had missed the playoffs since 1998.

“I thought about leaving two years ago, but we were in transition,” Bogan said. “Our principal (Judy North) was retiring and we were moving into a much tougher league and division.

“I wasn’t at peace with leaving then, but I just got to the point where it was time, and I’ll still be here to help make the transition (for the next coach) as smooth as possible.”

Read more: http://www.sgvtribune.com/preps/ci_19717630#ixzz1jGYT5qhl

Danny Sheehan’s role on the South Hills High School football team is a week-to-week thing.

Need him to fill in at quarterback for injured starter Vince Hernandez? No problem.

Need him to play wide receiver when Hernandez is healthy? No problem.

Need him to hit the game-winning field goal as a place-kicker?

Consider it done.

All this from a senior who strongly considered not playing this season because of a serious concussion suffered last year. For the Huskies’ sake, though, thank goodness football is in Sheehan’s blood.

“We’d be in a lot of trouble if we didn’t have him,” South Hills coach Steve Bogan said. “He has a Jim Thorpe-like quality; multi-talented and can kick, throw, play baseball, play football. It’s not surprising to us that he can step in and play any role we need filled.

“We’re grateful, but we’re not surprised.”

The original plan this season was for Sheehan to handle kicking duties and serve as a nice No. 2 receiver next to standout Jamie Canada. Due to Hernandez’s shoulder injury, that plan has been scrapped. Sheehan is the quarterback until Hernandez returns. His foot is also the one South Hills turns to when the Huskies are in a close game.

Thursday, Sheehan’s job was to drive the Huskies from their own 20-yard line into scoring position to break a 28-28 tie against powerful Los Osos in the final two minutes. Sheehan did just that, then hit the game-winning 27-yard field goal with 10.1 seconds left to send South Hills to a 31-28 victory.

“I’m just going to do whatever Coach Bogan asks me to do to help our team win,” Sheehan said. “If he needs me to play quarterback, I will play quarterback. My team needs me to step up, so I do it. It’s not like I also play defense.”

Sheehan’s game-winning kick Thursday took the sting off of a potential game-tying extra point he missed earlier in the season against Colony. In that game, the Huskies scored near the end of the game, decided to go for two, but a penalty pushed the Huskies back and they decided to kick the extra point. Unfortunately, though, Sheehan missed and South Hills lost, 30-29.

“That one hurt,” Sheehan said. “I felt like if we went into overtime, we had the momentum on our side and we could have pulled through. I felt like I really let the team down, but they helped me and picked me up and helped me push through it.”

So when Sheehan again got a chance to help his team with his leg, he wasn’t about to pass it up. South Hills had blown a 21-0 lead against Los Osos, but had a chance to eek out the victory with a field goal from Sheehan. But things started eerily similar to the Colony miss as he set up for the kick.

“It was kind of deja vu because we had a false start again,” Sheehan said. “I was thinking I was going to nail it because I didn’t want that taste in my mouth again. I had all the confidence in the world. I didn’t want to let my team down again.

“When I hit it, I was super excited. It was a good team win.”

Handling multiple roles on a football field is no surprise given his bloodlines. Sheehan is the son of former Covina coach Dick Sheehan, who is now the Superintendent of the Glendale Unified School District.

Before that, Dick Sheehan was the principal at Northview.

Danny Sheehan also has two uncles who played football at South Hills.

“I know the game,” Sheehan said. “I grew up around football with my dad being a coach.”

Despite the family lineage, baseball is Sheehan’s first love. He’s a second baseman and leadoff hitter for the Huskies’ strong baseball program. And because baseball is Sheehan’s biggest endeavor, his dad gave him the OK to give up football, especially after last year’s head injury.

“I was deciding this year whether or not to play football again,” Sheehan said. “I really figured that down the line I would miss it if I didn’t because I come from a football family.”

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From: sgvtribune.com ~ Aram Tolegian, Staff Writer

You might think that after an entire offseason to stew over last year’s 3-7 record, the South Hills High School football team would be ready to come out on fire in today’s season opener and set things straight.

Not so, according to Huskies coach Steve Bogan, who will lead his team into action at Covina District Field against Colony at 7 p.m.

“We’re not about vengeance, or setting things right, or righting a past wrong,” Bogan said. “I’m very happy about last year’s season. The kids developed and got better and better. With what we have, our main goal every year is to get better, and I thought that team improved tremendously.

“Some of the kids now weren’t involved last year, and some were. It’s a mixed bag. Some guys are out there to maybe make a story right in their own minds, and others are out there just to play football.”

South Hills should give a much better account of itself this season thanks to several key returners, including quarterback Vince Hernandez and running back Jamel Hart. The real ace in the hole for Bogan is receiver Jamie Canada, who’s back from a knee injury and could give the offense the explosive element it was missing last year.

The Huskies must find improvement on defense, though, after allowing 35.6 points per game last season. Fortunately for Bogan, several defensive starters return, and Canada could be a force in the secondary.

Colony should present a nice test for South Hills after going 7-4 last year and finishing second behind Chino in the Mt. Baldy League. The Titans were the beneficiary of a transfer by quarterback Matt Simko to their team from Claremont.

The Huskies were able to get some information on Colony last week, and from what they saw, Bogan knows today’s game won’t be easy.

“They’ve got a lot of speed,” Bogan said. “They are up-tempo, no-huddle, and that’s always a bigger issue early in the year than later. You can just tell they’re very strong in the skill-athlete positions. You can tell they know what they’re doing and they’re well-coached.”

With expectations high again at South Hills, Bogan is like all Huskies fans: anxious to see just how improved this team will be. That makes tonight’s opener somewhat like opening a present.

“It’s like we’ve been working in the classroom but never taking any tests,” Bogan said. “Now we’re getting a chance to really find out what our strengths and weaknesses are.

“There’s definitely excitement. We want to find out where we’re at so we know what to do next.”

From: sgvtribune.com ~ Aram Tolegian, Staff Writer

Aram Tolegian, Staff Writer