La Habra replaces Espy in my county football poll
October 27th, 2008, 8:44 am · · posted by DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com
I must be feeling confident about who’s the best football team in the county when I’m writing about … my No. 10.
In my voting this for the county rankings, I welcome back the La Habra Highlanders and San Diego State-commit Ronnie Hillman (left) to my top-10, replacing Esperanza. The Aztecs have been hanging on for weeks and going overtime against Marina- even though the Vikings are vastly improved – creates enough doubt.
Esperanza, of course, will have a chance starting this week against Newport to change my mind, so I’m not forgetting about the Aztecs and that defense.
I like the Highlanders for handing South Hills’ its only loss to date and playing LosAl and San Clemente tough. Sure, I considered Dana but the Dolphins need at this point a higher quality victory than Foothill, another improving team.
Laguna Hills is out there, too, and I believe I’ll be seeing the Hawks live this week, so we’ll see.
Here’s my top-10 vote this week:
1. Tesoro
2. Los Alamitos
3. Orange Lutheran
4. Mater Dei
5. Edison
6. San Clemente
7. Mission Viejo
8. Servite
9. Newport Harbor
10. La Habra
RELATED:
Reader Comments
Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.- Keep it civil and stay on topic.
- No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.
- People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.
Comments Closed
-
-
LATEST SLIDE SHOWS
LATEST OCVARSITY VIDEOS
Media Partners :
KOCE |
MSNBC |
OCExcelsior |
Home Magazine |
Coast Magazine |
Preferred Destinations Magazine |
KPCC |
KMEX |
NguoiViet |
RSS Feed 
|
Contact us |
Privacy policy |
User agreement |
Corrections |
Career opportunities |
Advertise with us |
About us|
Archives |
Homes
Cars |
Jobs |
OC Single Scene |
California Lottery |
Register Insiders |
Register in Education |
Buy our Photos |
Feedback |
Local Businesses |
OC H.S. Sports
Are we basing these rankings on records or the plain ole truth? Here is my break down based on watching these teams play.
Edision (missing key players against LosAl, and they barely lost)
OLU (playing the best in OC)
Los Al (they are a good team with good record, will loose 2nd round)
Mater Dei (only because they beat Servite, will loose 2st round)
Servite (every loss to very good teams, look for them in playoffs)
Tesoro (good team, will loose 1st round)
Mission Viejo (good team, over ranked, will loose 1st round)
San Clemente (good team will loose 1st round)
Esperanza (much better then La Habra, will loose 1st round)
Newport Harbor (good team, will loose 1st round)
Listen, we can’t simply make our rankings based on their records? You have to consider who they have played to get those records? Look at Mission, they played nobodies and were ranked #1 for way to long? Tesoro beat Mission, big deal, they would still loose to Edison, Los Al, Servite, and Mater Dei. Listen, I don’t want to put down any of these top 10 teams because obviously OC has the most competitive HS Football around, but let’s consider more then just records…
Oh, and to answer your question; La Habra would be beat by every one of those top 10 teams, so no, they don’t deserve to be there.
Boy I hate when my team is loose. Especially when we are loose in the 1st or second round. The only thing worse is when we lose a game.
Da Truth – There’s a lot to like from Edison but you can’t give them to many bonus points for What If They Were Healthy? We have to go with the bottom line at some point.
I like OLu, too – the Lancers were my preseason No. 1 and I might have been too hard on them. That 10-0 win over Tustin might look pretty good if Tustin wins the Century and makes a playoff run — which I think the Tillers will
But LosAl is the No. 2 based on beating a OC #1 and LA City # 1.
And I don’t think LosAl or Tesoro will lose in the first round. Tesoro has the size on the OL, the balance on offense and enough playmakers to get out of the first round in the very tough Pac-5. The Titans also should get a decent draw for winning the South Coast, which I think they will do
Los Al also is on its way to a good playoff draw.
How about a LosAl-Tesoro quarterfinal or semifinal? They’re both that good
Dan, I agree with your quote about looking at who Dana Hills has beaten; “Sure, I considered Dana but the Dolphins need at this point a higher quality victory than Foothill, another improving team.”
So let’s examine their losses shall we?
Dana was tied in a wild shootout with SC 31-31 with a min. left in the 4th. They puked the ball up in the end zone and that’s how they lost. They scored more against SC than Tesoro did.
Against NH, they lost because they didn’t have a kicker that game. They scored 4 TD’s, and Harbor only scored 3 and a FG. Dana missed every extra point and a game winning 34 yd FG with one sec. left. (Most people in the stands thought the kick looked good.) Final was 25-24 Harbor. Dana brought up their Soph. kicker since, and he hasn’t missed.
Against Edison, turnovers killed them. No team is going to survive 5 turnovers. They still scored 20 against Edison in spite of their mistakes. The only team to score more on Edison is Los Al with 23 pts.
Still think La Harbra is better?
Are you kidding Newport Harbor gets a vote and not Fountain Valley. Fountain Valley beat Newport Harbor, Fountain Valley keep it close against Tesoro even after losing there starting QB in the 2nd QTR. Newport Harbor can’t lose in the first round if they don’t even make the playoffs.
The truth needs to learn how to spell!
But I am very confident all of your assumptions regarding the teams and the playoffsw is b\way off
Dan,
From what i have watched Dana Hills is a little better team than La Habra. Dan break it down. Quarterback , Running back, Receiver.
The Dolphins, are a high scoring team. That spread offense is tough to stop.Dana Hills is playing with a chip on their shoulder after that San Clemente loss….. so look out.
Once again Dan Albino…. my pick goes to Dana Hills
Hey Dana/truth,
Here is some truth to chew on. La habra against Los AL had 4 turnovers one on the Los Al 5yrd line and still scored 21pts and loss 28 to 21. When they played San Cle La habra was winning in the 4th qtr with 6 min to go and had a pass intercepted and gave up a score, they then drove the ball down had a 1st and goal at the San Clemete 6 and could not put it in with 1 min left.
Have either one of you seen La Habra play? I do not have a child on the team but live in the city and follow all HSfootball. They have a division 1 caliber team very capable of beating some OC top 10 teams. I have not seen Dana or Newport harbor play so can’t say much about them but i have seen Tesoro,Los Al and San Clem play.
In my opinion Tesoro is the best team in the So. Coast Leauge and Los Al is the best team in the Sunset leauge and Esparanza IS NOT better than (LA Habra) maybe in the past but not this year. Westminster beat Marina 35 to 28 and Esperanza beat Marina 17 to 14. La habra beat Westminster 52 TO 7 !!!!!!
BARON FAN – That was indeed a great victory by the Barons over Newport – and very close. Coach Shipp is doing a fine job and Middlebrooks is having an All-County type season.
I will very interested to see how the Barons close out league and they definitely will have a chance to crack my top-10 rankings soon.
can’t see newport harbor at #9. yes they are a good team but baron does have a point. kind of. i’m not quite convinced about fountain valley, yet. why?….not too impressed with wins over pacifica, palos verdes (1-6), and aliso niguel (0-7). the same with the close loss to an overrated esperanza team. friday’s game against los al and the esperanza-newport harbor game might shed some light on all 4 teams.