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Eastside Players Look to Lead L.A. County to Fiesta Bowl Win

By Mario Villegas, Exclusive to EGP



Talented players with good attitudes and good work ethic are making practices a lot of fun for Roosevelt High School Coach Javier Cid and his assistants as they prepare the Los Angeles County All-Stars for Saturday night’s Southern California Fiesta Bowl at Whittier College.

“I’m having a ball coaching these guys,” says Cid, who expects to have 55 players suited up.

“We’ve got a lot of talent and some really nice kids, and have had great turnouts at all the practices. It’s great that these kids are getting to play in this game. We want everybody to come out and watch them.”

Cid’s L.A. County All-Stars will take on a team of all-stars from the Inland Empire. Kickoff for the game loaded with All-City and All-CIF players is scheduled for 7 p.m..

Roosevelt quarterback Jesse Diaz, running back-linebacker Jose Guillen, tackle Nelson Maldonado and linebacker Rafael Ortega are going to play one last game for their high school coach. Together they led Roosevelt to a 10-3 record last fall.
Roosevelt High School quarterback Jesse Diaz and Coach Javier Cid are preparing to lead the L.A. County All-Stars in Saturday night’s Southern California Fiesta Bowl at Whittier College. (EGP photo by Mario Villegas)

Roosevelt High School quarterback Jesse Diaz and Coach Javier Cid are preparing to lead the L.A. County All-Stars in Saturday night’s Southern California Fiesta Bowl at Whittier College. (EGP photo by Mario Villegas)

Diaz passed for 2,060 yards and was All-City, but the starting quarterback for L.A. County will be Brandon Mims of Palmdale who has looked very impressive in practices.

“He is a phenomenal player who makes the long drive to practice every day,” Cid says. “He’s a gamer who can run and throw, and looks like Michael Vick out there. He has stood out over the other two quarterbacks.”

Mims, who’s headed to Iowa State, passed for 1,799 yards and 25 touchdowns in leading Palmdale to an 11-2 record. He also rushed for 852 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Quarterback Lamonta Green of Locke, who Cid says could develop into a good college quarterback, is also going to get playing time.

“We’ve got three really good quarterbacks playing for us in the game,” Cid says.

The trio of quarterbacks will be looking for talented wide receivers Anthony Denham of Wilson and Marshall’s Carlos Portillo, or slot receiver Willie Hernandez of Franklin to throw to. Marshall’s Cameron Sentance is playing tight end.

The running back stable is deep with Roosevelt’s Guillen, Keith Holland (Downey), Kerronie White (Locke), Tevita Palu (Long Beach Jordan) and Marcus Galan (El Rancho).

Guillen is a multi-talented player who was an all-league running back and an All-City linebacker for the Rough Riders. He also excelled on special teams.

“He did everything for us,” Cid says. “You could say he played on three sides of the ball – offense, defense and special teams.”

Guillen was voted the team’s most valuable player and had the highest grade-point average (3.4 on a 4.0 scale) of any player.

“It’s hard to see a player like that leave,” Cid says.

Salesian’s Richard Avitia has earned a starting spot at right tackle. Bell Gardens’ All-CIF guard Cesar Estrada will start at left guard and Garfield’s Edgar Rosales is the starting center.

“Avitia moves great and works hard,” Cid says. “He is so athletic that he could play tight end. We’ve already got him penciled in at right tackle.”

Among the standouts for L.A. County on defense are cornerback Lanny Delgado and linebacker Gabriel Soto, a pair of All-City players from Garfield, and Roosevelt’s All-City linebacker Ortega.

Cid is being assisted by Alhambra’s Gil Ruedaflores, El Rancho’s Rick Zepeda, Marshall’s Andy Moran and San Gabriel’s Keith Jones, all of whom are head coaches, and a number of their assistant coaches.

“I’ve never coached a team with this much talent, but at the same time, the Inland Empire is loaded with talent,” Cid says. “There is so much growth out there that people are saying that the I.E. is the hotbed for high school football in California and is going to continue to be that way for a while.”

Anthony Rice who led Ontario Colony High School to consecutive CIF Southern Section championships is the head coach of the Inland Empire team. The I.E. stars include quarterback Lyle Negron (Murrieta Valley), running back A.J. Johnson (Chino Hills), wide receiver Jose Curiel (Diamond Ranch), defensive back James Herrera (Rancho Cucamonga) and two-way linemen Quashawn Buckey (Colony).

“It’s going to be interesting to see how we do against them,” Cid says. “I hope we can play with them.”

For more information log on to www.socalfiestabowl.com.

www.socalfiestabowl.com