Eagle Rock looks to continue flying high

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Jerry Chou is a lucky man.

With back-to-back City Invitational championships in his hip pocket, Eagle Rock’s coach can relax a bit in 2007. He can go back to coaching to win instead of trying not to lose.

‘The last two years we had a special group of kids, but we graduated 20 of 22 starters,’ Chou said. ‘Right now, we have kids who still believe in our system and who play hard. That’s where our success has come from. But I need to see a couple of games to have an idea what we have.’

Eagle Rock, which travels to Canoga Park on Friday got off to a winning start by defeating, La Salle, 35-14, last Saturday. But the Eagles aren’t favored to win the Northern League this season. And Chou said they shouldn’t be.

‘Franklin and Marshall should be the favorites because of who they have returning,’ he said.

While Chou has dialed down his expectation, or at least his anticipation, of how Eagle Rock will fare in 2007, he realizes some of the team’s fan base will be spoiled by the back-to-back championships.

‘Some of our fans now think we’re like Long Beach Poly; that we just reload,’ Chou said, laughing. ‘But win or lose, it’s going to be a fun season.’

- Mike Terry