Notebook / Mitch Polin : Pasadena Girds for Brutal Schedule

Which high school football team has the toughest non-league schedule in the San Gabriel Valley this fall?

It could be Pasadena, which opens Sept. 12 against Damien, ranked No. 1 in the CIF Eastern Conference, and later faces St. Francis, Diamond Bar, Monrovia and Temple City.

Temple City is ranked No. 2 in the CIF Northwestern Conference, Monrovia No. 8 in the Northwestern Conference and Diamond Bar No. 8 in the Eastern Conference. The only team on Pasadena’s non-league schedule that is not ranked is St. Francis, which is expected to be vastly improved over last year’s 2-8 team.

Bishop Amat and Monrovia also have rugged non-league schedules.

Among Amat’s opponents are Southern Section powers Long Beach Poly and Lynwood. That should help the Lancers prepare for Angelus League play when they will face powerhouses Servite, St. Paul and Mater Dei.

Monrovia is not taking it easy, either, in non-league play with Muir, Los Altos and Pasadena on its schedule. Muir is ranked No. 1 in the Coastal Conference and Los Altos No. 2 in the Eastern Conference.

San Marino High easily has the longest road trip of any 11-man football team in the San Gabriel Valley. The Titans have a non-league game against Torrey Pines on Sept. 26 at San Digueto High in Encinitas.

But the Titans will not have to travel as far as two eight-man teams, Rio Hondo Prep and Pasadena Poly.

Poly travels to Big Pine, about 20 miles south of Bishop, for a game Sept. 20, and Rio Hondo visits Templeton, about 20 miles north of San Luis Obispo, on Sept. 19.

Vic Nicoles, who coached the Cal Poly Pomona women’s gymnastics team for five years, has resigned.

Nicoles said he has accepted a full-time teaching position at Lorbeer Junior High in Diamond Bar that would have conflicted with his part-time coaching job.

“I feel I did as much as I could at Cal Poly with the position and I was fortunate enough to coach a national champion,” said Nicoles, who coached Jodi Mabb to the NCAA Division II title in the uneven parallel bars in 1982. “That’s an experience that can’t be replaced. We also had two athletes make the regionals last year.

“Professionally, I have to bow out and put my efforts into career advancement. But I’ll miss it. Cal Poly has a good crop of athletes returning and a good schedule. I left them in better shape than when I came here.”

Karen L. Miller, athletic director at Pomona, said the search for a successor is under way.