Best Valley football team of all time?
As the high school football season kicks off tonight, it got me thinking as to which team can be considered the best high school football team of all time from the Imperial Valley.
Now, I don’t have the indepth knowledge of every high school football team from the Imperial Valley through the history of time.
I do know that Imperial High was a powerhouse in the early 1970s, winning a Southern Section championship under coach John Tyree in 1973.
The Central Union High teams of the mid- to late-1980s was quite a force with legendary coach Cal Jones at the helm. The Spartan teams of 1985 and 1988 seem to be the most talked about.
Those teams produced NFL players like Stan Thomas, Glenn Cadrez and Neal Fort.
The 1974 Calexico squad is in the conversation as the best ever, and some want to even include the 1968 Calipatria and 1969 Holtville teams.
In 2004, Brawley Union High’s Zay Shepherd led the Wildcats to the San Diego Section finals and narrowly lost in the championship game at Qualcomm Stadium.
Let me throw a more recent group into the debate as to which team is the best to ever play football in the Imperial Valley.
The 2013 Imperial High School team that reached the San Diego Section Div. II semifinals before losing to Saint Augustine, 56-12.
That Saints team went on to win the Div. II championship game 49-0 over Mission Bay and many believe St. Augustine should have been in Div. I rather than sitting in Div. II.
The 2013 Tigers went 10-0 in the regular season, 5-0 in the Imperial Valley League and the closest regular season game was a 14-point win over Cibola High of Yuma.
They went on to earn the No. 3 seed in the playoffs and defeated El Capitan, 49-42, in the quarterfinals.
We all know the star of the team was running back Royce Freeman who is currently starring at the University of Oregon. He is in the Heisman Trophy debate this year and could likely be a first-round selection when the NFL draft rolls around in 2017.
While Freeman grabbed the headlines, quarterback Chris Carter ran the team and was incredibly effective during his time over center for the Tigers. Carter threw for 3,510 yards in his high school career with 45 TDs and just 12 INTs in three seasons.
He ran for 1,723 yards and 20 TDs and compiled a 29-7 career record in his three years at the helm of the Tigers.
And now he is the starting quarterback for Army as a sophomore.
He started two games last season for the Black Knights and performed quite well for a redshirt freshman against Rutgers, rushing for 111 yards and a TD and throwing for 140 yards and a TD.
In the biggest rivalry game in the country, Carter almost led Army to a huge upset of Navy, throwing for 208 yards in a 21-17 loss. The Black Knights led 17-14 at the half and had a late opportunity to get the win but came up short.
In addition to Carter and Freeman, Dajon Staton was the team’s top receiver and he has moved on to play at Arizona Christian University in Phoenix. Plus several members of the offensive line have played at the community college level.
“I was fortunate to be the coach at Imperial when those kids were there,” said Tigers’ head coach Kerry Legarra. “Those are some tremendous young men who grew up together and really fed off each other.”
While some will argue that the 2013 Tigers didn’t win a title and shouldn’t be in the conversation of best team ever, I have to disagree. When the running back and quarterback both turn into top Div. I college players, it’s clear that team was talented.