Weekly football previews: La Cañada opens Rio Hondo League play at South Pasadena

In many ways, Friday marks a huge game for the La Cañada High football team as it opens Rio Hondo League play.

The Spartans (2-3) will travel to South Pasadena (5-0) for a 7 p.m. contest in rematch of a game last year that both teams are trying to get past.

Last season, the Spartans and Tigers met in La Cañada in the season finale won by South Pasadena, 21-3. When the Tigers boarded their buses, they had clinched third place in the Rio Hondo League and with that, the league’s final automatic playoff berth.

Not long after, though, the Tigers were informed that they had forfeited the contest and their playoff seed to La Cañada for an alleged illegal taping of a practice. With the forfeit, the Spartans finished the regular season 7-3 under then coach Ramsey Lambert, took third in league and advanced to the first round of the CIF Southern Section Central Division playoffs.

“I heard about what happened last year through the grapevine,” La Cañada first-year Coach Ryan Zerbel said. “Honestly, I don’t think anyone on this team even thinks about that. We’re focused on this year and this team and our goals.”

While Zerbel may not be interested in talking about the forfeit, the first-year coach is well aware of the importance in facing South Pasadena and then Temple City (2-3) to commence league.

Those three squads have jockeyed for third place and the final postseason spot the last three years behind eight-time league champion Monrovia (3-2) and runner-up San Marino (5-0), with the Spartans having made back-to-back playoff trips.

“It’s a huge game because of the playoffs,” Zerbel said. “If you want to get to the playoffs, you have to beat South Pasadena and Temple City.”

The Spartans are coming off a bye and will turn to quarterback Ryan Rubendall to start against the Tigers.

Rubendall is already the Spartans’ fourth player to take a snap at quarterback this season and is coming off a 64-yard performance against Rio Hondo Prep in a 29-13 nonleague loss on Sept. 25, the Spartans’ second loss in a row.

While San Marino’s demolition of five nonleague opponents by a combined score of 308-41 has certainly drawn its share of headlines, maybe the most unheralded coaching job has been done by new Tigers Coach CB Richards, who built the program back up after last year’s debacle.

“I’m a straight shooter and I treat my players with respect,” Richards said. “We spoke about last year and I said hey, ‘Stuff happened that was out of your control.’ This is a new year, let’s leave no doubt. That’s our goal Friday.”

The Tigers enter with a strong one-two punch of receivers Jalen Ross and Max Luck, senior running back Jason Takarabe and defensive back Emiliano Sornoso, who is coming off a three-interception game versus Beverly Hills last Friday.

Even though Zerbel and Richards are in agreement of who will finish one-two in league, there is a disagreement over who will stand on top.

“I’ve seen Monrovia and I don’t think they’re as bad as people say,” Richards said. “You know, you still have to beat the champs to be the champs. They’ve played some very good teams on their schedule and they’ve hung with everyone.”

Zerbel thinks it’s time for a changing of the guard.

“If I had to pick someone, I’d say San Marino,” Zerbel said. “They’ve played very well to this point. They look good.”

San Marino will open league hosting Temple City, while Blair (0-5) travels to Monrovia.

St. Francis (4-1) at Salesian (3-2) at 7 p.m. Friday: As the second half of the season begins and a four-game road trip winds down for the St. Francis High football team, it begins defense of its Angelus League title.

Having played a nonleague schedule that included games against West Covina, Moorpark and Calabasas, the Golden Knights are looking to win a second straight league title.

The Golden Knights and Mustangs are ranked third and ninth, respectively, in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division.

“With the turnover we’ve had from last year to this year, if you told me we’d be 4-1 going into league we’d have taken it,” said St. Francis Coach Jim Bonds, whose team fell, 34-0, to powerful Calabasas on Friday. “Obviously, we weren’t happy with the way we played against Calabasas, but now the playoff future will start with these five league games.

“It’s different for us, because now we have something to defend. At the same time, we told our guys that we can’t live off what we did last year. I think our league will be one of the toughest in the division. There are three teams from our league ranked [in the division] in Cathedral (first), Salesian and St. Francis. St. Paul and La Salle will be improved and Harvard-Westlake has its numbers down a bit. The biggest thing will be not falling behind early on, because it’s tough to play catch-up.”

St. Francis encountered a speed bump against Calabasas, ranked first in the Western Division. The Golden Knights finished with a season-low 105 yards of offense and quarterback Miles Bryant was sacked 11 times.

The Golden Knights will look to get back on track against the Mustangs, who had a bye after losing their previous two games to Loyola (55-22) and Bakersfield (44-8).

“We know they have a very good team that’s very athletic,” Bonds said. “They have a lot of speed and are very physical and it’s a team that went to the semifinals last year. It’s also a new venue for us, so we’ll see how we will adjust to that, too.”

Overall, Salesian quarterback Robbie Blosser has completed 59 of 123 passes for 723 yards. He’s tossed six touchdown passes and six interceptions in five games.

St. Francis recorded a 46-15 win against Salesian last season as part of an undefeated league title run.

Salesian finished fourth in league a season ago, but was the last Angelus League squad remaining, as it advanced to the semifinals. St. Francis and Cathedral both moved on to the quarterfinals, while Harvard-Westlake lost in the first round to eventual division champion Crescenta Valley.

Going off current division rankings and preseason talk, Cathedral (5-0) is considered the league favorite.

The Phantoms open up league play Friday hosting La Salle (4-1), which was last in the 2014 standings. St. Paul (3-2), which finished fifth in last year’s standings, hosts Harvard-Westlake (3-2) in the other league-opening tilt.

St. Francis will follow up its opener against Salesian with a Thursday game in its return to Friedman Field against Harvard-Westlake. Thereafter is a game that’s been circled on the calendar when Cathedral heads to St. Francis on Oct. 23, followed by another home game against St. Francis and a short drive to La Salle to culminate the regular season.

Flintridge Prep at Brentwood, 3:30 p.m. Friday: The Rebels (2-3) will look to end a two-game losing streak. Flintridge Prep suffered a 35-15 nonleague home defeat against Campbell Hall on Friday at Occidental College. The Rebels yielded a punt return and a kickoff return for touchdowns after building an 8-0 advantage. Quarterback Andrew Tsangeos completed 16 of 39 passes for 151 yards and rushed for a pair of touchdowns for the Rebels.

Brentwood fell, 27-20, on Friday in a nonleague road game against Viewpoint. The Eagles (3-2) trailed, 20-0, before making a late comeback bid.

Brentwood picked up a 42-14 road victory against Flintridge Prep last season.