Preps: Drew Diller
Orange County: Five things from the weekend
2. Watching JSerra play (they were tough just not very deep), and listening to Servite coach Troy Thomas talk about the team he saw on film and beat, 41-7 (“They're good”), I'm left to marvel at where JSerra might be if receiver Bryan Keller and linebacker/quarterback Tre Madden had not transferred to Mission Viejo, and if Tyler Shirozono had not transferred to Dana Hills. Imagine how much better JSerra would be, and what impact that might have had on Mission Viejo and the South Coast League (not to mention the Trinity League)? I asked one of the JSerra boosters why Madden transferred after his freshman season and was told, “He didn't think the program would be where he wanted it to be in four years.” If players had stuck around, it might have been.
3. Most impressive victory of the weekend didn't belong to one of the powers that gets discussed here every week, it belonged to Yorba Linda, which scored a 12-6 win over Placentia Valencia for its first ever league victory. This is Yorba Linda's first varsity team, and for the senior-less Mustangs to post a win over such an established program and revered coach as Mike Marrujo says a lot about the state of the program under coach Jeff Bailey. Alex Bernstein rushed nine times for 51 yards and passed for 92 yards – including a 25-yard touchdown pass – and intercepted two passes (one returned 65 yards for a touchdown). Yorba Linda is 3-4, 1-2 in the seven-team Empire League, but that victory might have meant a playoff berth.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Blair Angulo
Blair Angulo is a general contributor for ESPNLA.com, is a co-author of the UCLA blog and also has covered the Angels, Dodgers, Sparks and soccer, among other things. He also was an intern at the L.A. Daily News.
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Dan Arritt
Dan Arritt has covered preps in SoCal for 17 of the last 19 seasons, beginning with the L.A. Times Orange County edition in 1993 and moving downtown from 2001-2008. A graduate of Long Beach State, he also covers the Kings for ESPNLA and Clippers home games for NBA.com. Follow him on Twitter.
Sean Ceglinsky
Sean Ceglinsky has covered sports in Southern California the past 15-plus years, including preps and colleges for the Los Angeles Times and L.A. Daily News, among others. Follow him on Twitter.
Tim Haddock
Tim Haddock is a writer and radio broadcaster who has covered preps, college sports and motor sports for the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Daily News and Long Beach Press-Telegram. Follow him on Twitter.
Martin Henderson
Martin Henderson is a local editor for Patch.com. He was a reporter for 18 years with the Los Angeles Times, and wrote on preps for the Orange County Register as well.
Jim Barrero
Jim Barrero is an editor for ESPNLA.com. He began covering preps in 1989 for the Pasadena Star-News, where he later became prep editor. He also worked for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, covered soccer for The Sporting News and was an editor-writer at the Los Angeles Times for 10 years.