Notebook / Mitch Polin : Rowland High Band Director Tells Them to Play It Again

Prep football coaches aren’t the only ones in pursuit of perfection.

Take George Gullett, band director at Rowland High.

Before the Rowland vs. Canoga Park non-league game last week at Nogales High, Gullett conducted the combined bands of both schools through about three quarters of the national anthem and decided he had heard enough.

So he ordered the bands to stop and try it again--better, he hoped.

The bands didn’t sound much better the second time around, but Gullett must have been satisfied with the effort because he didn’t make them do it again. Of course, he could have felt sorry for the crowd or the football players who were waiting to play.

No, practice doesn’t always make perfect.

Several high school sports leagues in the San Gabriel Valley will have a new look for the 1986-87 season as a result of a re-leaguing plan adopted by the CIF Southern Section Council.

The changes affect the Mt. San Antonio area and involve the Hacienda, Montview and Sierra leagues.

Baldwin Park and Charter Oak will move from the Montview to the Sierra, Walnut and West Covina will switch from the Sierra to the Montview, and Bonita of La Verne will move from the Hacienda to the Montview.

That will increase the Montview to eight teams from seven and drop the Hacienda from eight teams to seven.

The plan will remain in effect through the 1988 season.

The addition of Walnut and West Covina should strengthen the Montview in football and track, and Bonita has been one of the top basketball schools in the valley in recent years.

Charter Oak and Baldwin Park, both football powers, should add to the already strong Sierra League in football and baseball.

In other league changes for next season, Maranatha of Sierra Madre has been moved from the Olympic League to the Alpha League, which it competed in two years ago, and Webb of Claremont has been shifted from the Alpha League to the Prep League.

Which is the best high school football league in the San Gabriel Valley?

The answer certainly is arguable, but if it were based on the first four games of this season it would be easy.

Through last week, the six-team Sierra League has a combined non-league record of 17-4-1 and there is no team with a mark under .500.

Leading the way are Rowland at 4-0 and West Covina at 3-0, followed by Nogales and Los Altos at 3-1, Walnut at 2-1-1 and Hacienda Heights Wilson at 2-2.

Next best has been the Pacific League, whose teams have a combined mark of 15-8-1, led by Hoover (4-0), Muir (3-1) and Glendale (3-1).

The best in the CIF may be the Angelus League, whose six teams have produced a 20-4 record, led by Bishop Amat (4-0) and Servite (4-0).

The two longest prep football winning streaks in the San Gabriel Valley are intact after four weeks of the season.

Both Diamond Bar, defending CIF Southeastern Conference champion, and Claremont, which won the CIF Eastern Conference last year, have won 18 straight games.

Both are 4-0, but it hasn’t been easy. Claremont has struggled to wins over Ramona (25-18) and Ganesha (24-15) and Diamond Bar has had tough games against La Serna (10-0), Nogales (14-9) and Pasadena (20-14).

Diamond Bar figures to receive its toughest test of the season against Hacienda League rival Ganesha on Oct. 18, and Claremont’s top remaining regular-season games may be against Baseline League rivals Pomona on Oct. 25 and Damien on Nov. 1.