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Arleta showed it has championship mettle



Arleta 31.... Franklin 8

The question that kept popping into my head as I watched Arleta systematically take apart Franklin in the City Invitational final Friday night was this: How would the Mustangs have fared in the City Championship playoffs?

Its body of work, from the beginning of the season to the end, certainly suggests Arleta could've competed in the upper bracket. Ridiculous, you say? Well, check out these numbers...

Arleta outscored its opposition 557-100 and its smallest margin of victory was 17 points against Sylmar which, last I checked, made the upper division playoffs. The Mustangs posted three shutouts and won 12 games by at least three touchdowns.

Sure, the East Valley is one of the weakest leagues in the City, but Arleta's dominance can't be dismissed. One sign of a truly great team is being able to play at a high level game in and game out. No team in the City did that more consistently than Arleta this year.

And what about finishing strong? Well, the Mustangs earned plenty of style points in their last go-around, clobbering a Franklin team that hadn't lost to a City opponent all season (its only defeats were to Harvard-Westlake and Grace Brethren of the Southern Secton).

Hindsight is always 20-20, but I can understand why Coach Jeff Engilman opted for the lower division. His team went 3-6 last season, so who could've expected he'd right the Mustangs' ship as quickly as he did?

So is Arleta good enough to be playing in the championship final? We'll never know for sure but I doubt it. How deep the Mustangs could've gone is hard to predict because, let's face it, the best team doesn't always win. But they can take pride in the fact that, for 14 straight weeks, they were the best on that night.

Arleta looked very impressive Friday night, and, in retrospect, clearly belonged in the upper division. With their quarterback and top rusher returning, I'll be shocked if the Mustangs don't jump to the championship bracket next fall. Then they won't have to wonder what might have been.

-- Steve Galluzzo