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Roosevelt draws No. 1 seed in City Div. II playoffs



By RON GUILD, Sports Editor

Story Published: Nov 18, 2009 at 4:54 PM PST



Roosevelt High School’s selection as the No. 1 seed was not just a show of respect for the Rough Riders, but the entire Eastern League, as well, according to coach Javier Cid.

The league champion Rough Riders, who host Grant (5-5) at 7 p.m. Thursday in a first-round game, take a record of 9-1 into the City Section Division II football playoffs.

Considering defending division champion Arleta (9-1), whose only loss is a forfeit, drew the No. 2 seed and El Camino Real (9-1), which lost only to Hart of the Southern Section, drawing the top seed was somewhat of a surprise to the Rider coach.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Cid said. “We were voted the toughest league in Division II. The people who voted felt that other than Arleta, the other teams in that (East Valley) league were not that strong. It came down to strength of schedule.”

Cid felt second-place Jordan drawing the No. 6 seed in Division I helped his cause. The feeling the league was as strong as it was also helped South East (4-6) get the No. 6 seed in Division II to earn a home game against Poly (8-2) in the first round.

Records of 9-1, 8-2, 6-4 and 6-4 over the past four years have not gone unnoticed by the seeding committee, in Cid’s view.

“We’re finally getting more respect,” he said.

If Roosevelt does get past Grant, Cid sees a tough road ahead for his team if it is to advance to the Dec. 11 title game at East L.A. College.

A first-round win pits them against the Fairfax-Bell winner in the quarterfinals. Hamilton (No. 4) and Franklin (No. 5) are other potential opponents in the upper bracket.

“I think this is a tougher road for us this year,” he said. “Any of the top teams can win this. Arleta, El Camino Real, Hamilton and Reseda are all good teams.”

For the Riders to move on, they’ll need to do well what they’ve done all year.

“We’ll have to continue to run the ball and pass when we need to,” Cid said. “We’ll have to keep relying on our defense. They’ve been keeping us in games.”

The team’s best player, Manny Ayon, is ready to go after sitting out the final regular-season game with a bad ankle. Cid said he could have gone last week, but wasn’t needed in a 20-6 victory over South East.

The running attack, which has flourished most of the season, is led by tailback Jesse Lira, who has rushed for 1,016 yards and 15 touchdowns, and fullback Elgin Rosales, who run for 693 yards and three scores. Rosales ran for 106 yards and a TD (45-yarder) and Lira had 104 yards and a TD against South East.

Sifuentes, who Cid called the player of the game, was 7-of-9 for 69 yards passing and carried 12 times for 81 yards and a TD last week.

Their first-round opponent, Grant, finished third in the East Valley League behind Arleta and Poly.

“They run the spread offense and are in the shotgun a lot,” Cid said. “They’re pretty balanced and have some good athletes. Defensively, they run a 3-3, which we haven’t seen yet, so that’s a bit of a concern.”