Temecula Coach Isn’t Looking Forward to Road Game

The Temecula Valley High football coach has voiced concern about the Bears’ CIF-Southern Section semifinal game Friday night against Morningside because of the “rough” area surrounding Sentinel Field in Inglewood.

In a story published in The Californian, a Temecula newspaper, Coach Bud Kane raised questions concerning the safety of Temecula Valley’s players and fans.

“It is a different environment than we are used to,” Kane said in the story written by Jim Gazzolo. “The area around the stadium is a rough one. The trip won’t be a day at the beach.

“This situation is something that we need to address. These are hard-nosed kids from a hard-nosed neighborhood. But what we have to make clear to all of our kids is that they are just high schoolers.”

Referring to Temecula Valley’s second trip to the South Bay in as many weeks--the team defeated West Torrance in a Division VIII quarterfinal, 31-17, last week--Gazzolo wrote:

“Temecula Valley overcame such a ride last week to defeat West Torrance. But that was West Torrance. This is Inglewood.”

At least one Temecula Valley player didn’t seem too concerned about playing in Inglewood.

“I don’t think it is any worse of an area than a Bloomington or a Banning (in Riverside County), and everything came out fine when we went to those places,” offensive guard Jon Paino said.