HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: De Anza League
Oct 03, 2012 (Menafn - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --Is it time to preview or review football in the De Anza League?
While most of league play begins this week, the first league game actually was played more than a month ago, when Big Bear played its game against Desert Hot Springs on Sept. 1.
The game was moved to accommodate Big Bear's October vacation.
As a result of winning that game 48-28, Big Bear stands atop the league standings entering Week 6, when the other four teams in the league play their first league games.
What kind of an impact will that have on Big Bear?
"I don't know the answer to that one," Big Bear coach Dave Griffiths said. "I've never had that situation before."
Big Bear typically has to reschedule one league game for its break, but the Bears usually are able to do that in weeks 4 or 5, not Week 1 like this year.
Big Bear is atop the league and in the preseason was picked by several coaches to win the league.
But Griffiths knows a lot can happen.
"We expect ourselves to be competing for league titles every year," he said. "That's where we expect to be. (But) we have one heck of a league and it normally comes down to the last week."
The last two years, Big Bear and Twentynine Palms shared the league title and Big Bear got the No. 1 seed based on the head-to-head tiebreaker. But Twentynine Palms has won or shared the last five league championships.
"The league is pretty typical. Yucca (Valley) is big
and physical," Griffiths said. "Twentynine is fast and athletic, Shadow Hills is what we thought they were going to be. DHS (Desert Hot Springs) is going to knock some people off. They hung with Rim."
It was last year when Indio Shadow Hills had seniors for the first time, but the Knights seem to be taking that next step this year. Shadow Hills went just 3-7 a year ago, but at 3-2 this year it joins Big Bear as the only league teams with winning records.
Griffiths, for one, said whatever happens would not be a surprise.
"I would never be surprised," he said. "After 14 years, I would never be surprised at anything. One loss could win the league, or you could have a four-way tie for a playoff spot."
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