I’m going out on a limb...

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Three Days in The Valley - This week the weekend kicksoff early with four games on Thursday.

Thursday, September 6 (all game at 7 p.m.)
Blair vs. Marshall at Muir; Northview vs. Montebello at Schurr; Baldwin Park vs. Azusa at Citrus College; Garey vs. Nogales at Ganesha

Friday, September 7 (all games at 7 p.m., unless noted)
#1 Mater Dei vs. West Covina at Santa Ana Stadium, 7:30 p.m.; Trabuco Hills vs. #25 South Hills at Covina District Field; Covina vs. Glendora at Citrus College; Rosemead at Los Altos; Monrovia at Duarte; Charter Oak at Upland; South El Monte at San Dimas; #11 Orange Lutheran at Bishop Amat, 7:30 p.m.; Bonita at West Valley; Diamond Bar at Walnut; Temple City at Arroyo; Rowland at California; Diamond Ranch at Chino Hills; El Monte at Sierra Vista; Gladstone at Ganesha; Damien at St. John Bosco, 7:30 p.m.; Workman at Keppel; Norwalk at Bassett; Wilson at La Puente; Bell-Jeff at Mountain View; Bosco Tech at Salesian; Crescenta Valley at La Canada; Gabrielino at San Marino; Glendale vs. Alhambra at Moor Field; Muir at Oaks Christian; Pasadena vs. Dominguez at Pasadena CC; South Pasadena at San Gabriel; St. Francis at Arcadia; La Salle at Huntington Park; Maranatha vs. Escondido Charter at Escondido; Rio Hondo Prep at Bakersfield Christian.

Friday, September 7 (all games at 7 p.m., unless noted)
Western Chrisitan vs Calvary Chapel at Clark Field; Campbell Hall at Poly, 2 p.m.; Flintridge Prep at Malibu, 2 p.m.

There are 5 game that really stand out (to me).

1- No. 1 Mater Dei (0-0) vs West Covina (0-0) at Santa Ana Stadium at 7:30 p.m.: This is the game I’ll be at and it involves the Times’ No. 1 team and All-Everything QB Matt Barkley, a junior. MD in the past has favored running the ball, but that won’t be the case this year. In an interview with Vootage.com, Monarchs Coach Bruce Rollinson said, ‘I’m going to ride his right arm for the next two years.’ Wow. That’s impressive and refreshing to hear. Also a little bit scary. I hope West Covina has good DBs. Rolly has some good things to say, so be sure to check out the video. Vootage will be broadcasting the game, though I don’t know if they do video or just audio.

2- No. 11 Orange Lutheran (1-0) at Bishop Amat (0-1) at 7:30 p.m.: This was the game I was originally going to cover. I talked to Bishop Amat Coach Mark Verti today and he is not ready to concede victory to OLU just yet, like everyone else seems to have. ‘We’ve heard that a lot that this off-season. I just told our kids that this is a great week for us to earn a lot of respect.’ I asked Verti if OLU looked the same (on video) this year as they did last year and he said no, but pointed out how OLU is still very dangerous with Seneca Tyson and Ricky and Alex Pemasa.

3- No. 25 South Hills (0-0) vs Trabuco Hills at Covina District Field at 7 p.m.: Are the Huskies rated too high? Especially coming off a 6-6 season? Is WR transfer Dorian Wells as good as people say? We’ll find out. Trabuco Hills is no pushover. The Mustangs were a CIF-SS Southwest semifinalist last year, losing to Charter Oak, 23-14.

4- Diamond Ranch (0-1) at Chino Hills (0-0) at 7 p.m.: After hanging-in with Edison, 27-13, last week, the Panthers take on the Huskies this week. Chino Hills comes into the game ranked No. 1 by the Daily Bulletin.

5- Charter Oak (0-0) at Upland (0-0) at 7 p.m.: Two teams that could get some consideration from me when it’s voting time next week. Upland comes in with a high octane offense, but the Chargers have some offensive power of their own with junior QB Chris Allen and trio of running backs. Should be a good one.

If you do go to the Mater Dei-West Covina game, stay after the the game and watch Mater Dei do what’s called the ‘Pride Drill.’ It’s one of those cool-high school-football-things that only happens at certain schools. Here is a link to a video of it on YouTube.

- Jaime Cárdenas